Dive Brief:
- Best Buy is maintaining its ongoing CX push with improved in-app personalization, specialized employee training and updated in-store merchandise presentations, CEO Corie Barry said on a Q2 2025 earnings call last week.
- The electronics retailer enhanced operational efficiency to lower costs and improve CX. Best Buy’s technological and process improvements to its customer service capabilities reduced cost per customer contact by more than 20%, according to Barry.
- Best Buy’s financial results are improving as well, even if the company is still struggling to achieve sales growth. Comparable sales were down 2.3% year over year, compared to a 6.1% year-over-year decline in Q1 2025.
Dive Insight:
Best Buy’s CX strategy could provide the company the push it needs to stand out from competitors and regain sales growth.
But there is work to be done, according to Neil Saunders, managing director at GlobalData Retail. The retailer’s biggest rivals are generalist retailers like Target and Walmart, as well as e-commerce sites like Amazon. Best Buy needs to win shoppers from these companies to drive growth.
“Providing a strong customer experience is one of the ways of doing this, so this is a sensible area to focus on,” Saunders told CX Dive in an email.
One challenge is that many customers only visit Best Buy with a specific big-ticket purchase in mind, according to Saunders. If Best Buy wants to generate more traffic, and therefore sales, the company’s stores, site and app need to serve as places of discovery.
“The business needs to work harder at driving visits for smaller ticket items and in getting people to pop in to see what’s new,” Saunders said. “A lot of this relies on creating an interesting and engaging experience, including focusing on new technology.”
Best Buy completed the rollout of a personalized app home screen for all users during the quarter, which could help improve discovery. Customers who access the personalized app are almost 70% more likely to engage in content, products and tools than customers who didn't receive it, according to Barry.
The company is now introducing more sophisticated search options on its mobile site, which could make product discovery easier for non-app users.
The in-store experience is critical as well. Knowledgeable, well-trained associates are an important part of Best Buy’s overall solid customer experience, according to Saunders. However, the physical appearance and layouts of the stores can be boring.
“A lot of stores feel like huge boxes and don’t have enough inspiration or excitement about them,” Saunders said. “Best Buy has more work to do here.”
The work is underway. Best Buy is working on its in-store experience through a merchandising refresh that includes updated presentations across several categories, according to Barry.
Plans include refreshing the presentation for mobile phones, headphones and smart home areas, and creating new experiences for tablets, gaming and computer monitors. Barry expects the company to complete the presentation revamps in Q3 2025.
