Best Buy is a pretty straightforward poster child for the concept of “traditional retail.” As such, if critics of retail are right, Best Buy should be in the process of drowning under the rising tide of online business. Instead, Best Buy stands as a prime example of what a legacy retailer can accomplish when they embrace new methodologies and focus on the needs and experience of their customers.
When Best Buy and other retailers were required to close their brick and mortar locations at the outbreak of the pandemic, the company was able to sustain the business with the investment and expansion of its online offerings. Best Buy has seen a significant increase in digital sales, reaching as high as a 242% increase in Q2 of 2020. While the transaction occurred online, Best Buy was able to leverage its stores to deliver products same day by offering curbside or in-store pickup, features that have remained popular even as stores have reopened. Best Buy customers will soon have the ability to track high and low traffic times for greater convenience during curbside pickups. The company announced it will utilize about a quarter of its stores to accommodate the increase in digital sales, 60% of which are picked up in-store or curbside.