1st Tuesday Corie Barry: Faculty Reaction

At the 1st Tuesday Speaker Series in February, Best Buy CEO Corie Barry discussed how the consumer electronics retailer has adapted to meet changing customer habits. Being a “true multichannel retailer” is one of the company’s strengths, she explained, as her team blends the digital and in-store experiences.

“Sometimes [people think] either ‘it’s digital’ or ‘it’s stores,’” said Barry. “It’s so much more complex than that, and it is this ecosystem that is so lovely between our employees, our customers, and our vendors and the unique way we bring things to life.”

Professor George John, the Carlson School’s General Mills-Gerot Chair in Marketing, is an expert in marketing channels and technology markets. He says Carlson School research suggests catering to different customer journeys—both online and in-store—is a profitable strategy, supporting Best Buy’s recent moves.

“Best Buy has really been able to navigate the massive changes in the consumer electronics space better than anyone else,” says John.

One of the company’s strategies is taking a market-based approach to their store footprints. Barry shared how the majority of business at some urban Best Buy locations comes from in-store or curbside pickup. However, other locations in more suburban areas call for a more immersive experience where customers have more space to interact with the products.

“Every store for us used to be on average 33,000 square feet,” Barry described at 1st Tuesday. “Our [new Bozeman, Montana] store is 15,000 square feet. It’s a market we would never get into because the operating model would be too expensive, but now I can have this great smaller footprint store that can deliver digital and physical experiences to a market I never otherwise could have touched.”

While John praises Best Buy’s efforts in continuing to be adaptive, he acknowledges that “the challenge is staying on top of rising operational costs.” He says that’s where services, like Best Buy’s Geek Squad tech support, make a difference.

“Offering that in-home experience carves out a niche from competitors because it creates a complete customer experience,” says John. “These peripheral services can be very profitable for companies.”

Looking for more business insights? Check out the recap of Barry’s 1st Tuesday event. Register for the next 1st Tuesday with Tim Cofer, ‘92 MBA, the CEO of Keurig Dr Pepper, on April 1.