Dive Brief:
- Best Buy is harnessing generative AI to enhance its customer service operations and app while increasing training and hours for employees to drive better store experiences, executives said on a Q1 2025 earnings call last week.
- Half of Best Buy app users can now access AI-powered personalized home screens that change based on personal preferences, current location and loyalty membership status, among other factors, according to CEO Corie Barry. The feature will reach all app users by summer.
- The retailer is giving sales associates more hours than last year to ensure stores are better staffed. Best Buy is also expanding relationships with brands like Samsung to let their salespeople assist customers with relevant products.
Dive Insight:
Best Buy is investing in technology and staff to drive better experiences as an avenue for growth amid a recent sales decline.
Best Buy has added the ability to filter customer reviews of products by themes, like battery life, to help customers find reviews relevant to their needs.
“We know when people interact with reviews, they are much more likely to follow that transaction all the way through,” Barry said. “So there is a lot that is on just the flat out customer experience side of things that will drive incremental engagement and ultimately revenue.”
A dedicated computing department staff will further enhance the store experience, according to Barry. Best Buy has deployed these specialized experts at hundreds of stores, and plans to add dedicated workers to the major appliances and home theater departments in the summer.
“We want to ensure our customers receive the expert service interactions they want and Best Buy is known for when they come to our stores,” she said. “Extensive training is imperative to that experience.”
Last year, the company credited better trained associates for boosting NPS scores.
Despite good results, Best Buy has also made some labor cuts in response to operational changes, according to Barry. The retailer removed free installation services from its membership program last year and cut the number of Geek Squad employees in response.
The investments come as the retailer experienced a 6.1% comparable sales decline — that is, among stores open for at least a year — in Q1 2025 compared to the same quarter last year, according to an earnings release last week.
Its CX initiatives are aimed at attracting more sales from shoppers interested in buying new AI-powered computers in the coming quarters, according to Barry.
“We outperform when there is more technology innovation and we leverage our competitive differentiation to provide the best experience for customers,” she said.
