Online GMV reaches $6.7 billion, Best Buy accelerates omni-channel transformation

Recently, Best Buy released its fourth-quarter report, which showed that in the fourth quarter ending January 30, Best Buy 's online sales increased by 89% to US$6.7 billion, accounting for 43% of the company's total U.S. sales during the three-month period.

It is reported that many retailers have chosen to transform as the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way consumers shop, and Best Buy is a good example. It is reported that Best Buy is changing its workforce, store teams and sales strategies to focus more on e-commerce.

Remodeling stores to fulfill online orders

Data shows that Best Buy has closed about 20 large stores each year in the past two years . Recently, Best Buy stated that it will close more stores in 2021 and even in the future, but some stores will be converted as pilot fulfillment centers.

Best Buy is testing a hypothesis that could see offline stores serve as primary fulfillment centers by using smaller sales areas and larger spaces to fulfill online orders . Retailers like Target have already started such experiments to help fulfill more online orders.

Best Buy has slashed the shoppable square footage of its stores in half, from an average of 27,000 square feet to 15,000. The rest of the space is being used more as a warehouse, for curbside and in-store pickup of online orders and shipping some e-commerce items, and for employees to help customers (picking and packing products for them).

Health may be a growth area for online products

Customer shopping behavior will permanently change in a more digital way. As more and more people use wearable devices to exercise at home or use telemedicine to meet with doctors, many retailers see health as a growth area, especially health-related 3C products.

In addition, the epidemic has prompted more people to work from home, which has led to the development of many new products, such as high-tech chairs and standing desks . These novel and unique products are very popular among consumers, and sellers can focus on them.

In fact, whether offline or online, customers want to be able to buy the same things, and retailers need to constantly improve their sales channels, because only by meeting the needs of consumers can they achieve good results and complete product growth.

Best Buy

Fourth quarter report

Transformation