It’s a “remarkable time for our company,” according to Best Buy Chairman and CEO Hubert Joly.
Joly made this remark during the company’s first-quarter earnings call on May 24. Against a 1% to 2% guidance for the quarter, Best Buy delivered essentially flat comparable store sales. Online sales, which soared 24% over the same period last year, drove that performance
“We have an exciting set of assets and opportunities and a very strong team, committed to creating great results for all our stakeholders,” said Joly. “In our domestic business, we delivered better-than expected, essentially flat comparable sales, versus our guidance of 1% to 2% decline. Contributing to these better-than expected results was the strong performance in our online channel, which grew 24% in the quarter. And similar to last quarter's trends, from a merchandising perspective, we saw strong year-over-year sales growth in health and wearables, home theater and appliances, offset by continued softness in mobile phones and tablets.”
Domestic online revenue of $832 million increased 23.9% on a comparable basis, primarily due to higher conversion rates and increased traffic.
Joly said Best Buy’s first priority is to build on its strong industry position in multichannel capabilities to drive the existing business. This involves in implementing a number of initiatives across merchandising, marketing, digital, stores, supply chain, services, and customer care. These initiatives are aimed at cost reductions and efficiencies, along with future growth and differentiation.
“We are investing to make it easy for customers to learn about and enjoy the latest technology as they pursue their passions and take care of what is important to them in their lives,” Joly said. “With our combination of digital, store, and in-home assets, we feel we have a great opportunity to address key customer pain points, build stronger ongoing relationships with our customers, and unleash growth opportunities.”
Joly continued, “In our Domestic business, we are reporting essentially flat comparable sales versus guidance of a 1% to 2% decline driven by strong year-over-year sales growth in health & wearables, home theater and appliances offset by continued softness in mobile phones and tablets. Contributing to these better-than-expected results was the strong performance in our online channel, which grew 24% in the quarter.”