Best Buy Financial Analysis

Best Buy’s History & Main Characters: Best Buy is Minneapolis-based and is North America's leading specialty retailer of consumer electronics, personal computers, entertainment software and appliances. Throughout Best Buy's 37-year history, the company has maintained the tradition of making life fun and easy for customers and employees, while providing a significant return to partners and investors. It has 80,000 employees and over 550 stores in the U.S., in addition to the brands Best Buy Canada, Future Shop and Magnolia Hi-Fi. Their leadership is led by Dick Schulze, Founder and Chairman, Brad Anderson, Vice Chairman and CEO, Al Lenzmeier, President and COO, and Darren Jackson, Executive Vice

Best Buy Co., Inc. is a multinational company in the United States and it deals, with consumer electronics, and accounts 19% of the business. The company also operates in Mexico, Puerto Rico, China, and Canada. Some of the subsidiaries of the company include CinemaNow, Geek Squad, Pacific Sales, and Magnolia Audio Video and operates in both Future Shop label, and Best Buy in Canada. Best Buy Co. Inc and its subsidiaries operate more than 1,150 stores internationally and domestically. The company also operates more than 100 “ZoomShops” or Buy Express Automated retail Stores, operated by the Zoom Systems, in both malls and airports in the entire country of the U.S. The company is headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota, U.S (Scott,

Best Buy Co., Inc. is organized as a Richfield, Minnesota, based US Corporation and operates a multi-business unit structure. Company’s Board of directors consists of nine members with a Chairman and CEO and eight directors. Best Buy Co., Inc.’s operations consists of seven departments whose heads are directly responsible to the Chairman / CEO. The current organizational chart of the Best Buy Co., Inc. is as

Best Buy is a multinational retailer of consumer electronics, computing and mobile phone products, entertainment products, appliances, and related services. The company operates retail stores and call centers and conducts online retail operations under a variety of brand names such as Best Buy, Best Buy Mobile, The Carphone Warehouse, Five Star, Future Shop, Geek Squad, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and The Phone House (Bestbuy.com, 4). The domestic segment consists of all operations within the United States, while the international segment includes all operations in Canada, Europe, Mexico, and China. The Best Buy 's success is contingent on the market 's demand for electronics. The company 's strategy is to provide good customer service combined with lower prices (news.cnet.com). Best Buy 's success is directly related to economic conditions, the cost of goods, and other things like fuel prices. The company 's strategy depends upon the ability to offer customers a broad selection of name-brand products; therefore, leading its success to depend upon satisfactory supplier relationships (Bestbuy.com, 8). Best Buy, as it is included in the retail segment, is a seasonal store. Their stronger quarter is the fourth quarter, which they can contribute to the holiday season for their success.

Best Buy is a company that has 40 years of history with a very accomplished sense of success. In 1966 Best Buy was a small electronics store in that originated in St. Paul Minnesota by Richard Schulze and an acquainted business partner. Considering that technology changes so rapidly, Best Buy has had to transform from just being the little electronics store down the way into a competitive, customer-driven, talent-powered company that emphasizes on pleasing the customers as it pertains to the life of technology. In 1993 Best Buy was recognized as the nation’s second largest electronics retailer and was recognized by

A man named Richard M. Schulze and his partner started Best Buy in 1966. The original store was called “Sound of Music” which was an electronics store that specialized in stereo systems. In 1967, Sound of Music purchased Bergo Company and Kencraft Hi-Fi and pulled in about $1 million in revenue. In 1969, Schulze took his partners half and decided to become a public company on the NASDAQ exchange. What started as a single store in Saint Paul, Minnesota became a chain of nine stores by 1978. In the 1980’s, Sound of Music was left with seven stores because of unfortunate accidents caused by a tornado. In 1983, Sound of Music was renamed to Best Buy Company. Along side changing the name of the company they also decided to expand on business by selling other at home appliances such as VCRs.

- Best Buy stores offer the Best Buy Mobile store-within-a-store feature and access to Geek Squad services.

Best Buy Co., Inc. has recently released an expansion plan in which they plan to open additional smaller stores nationwide as well as in Canada. At this time there are approximately 673 Best Buy stores. This number is said to increase to about 1,000. Additionally, Future Shop stores will also be included in this new growth period. Future Shop stores are said to grow from 145 stores to approximately 200 (Best Buy Expansion Plans Include China). The new smaller stores are seen as being more profitable. With a 10% reduction in construction costs and the operating costs being much less, the new smaller stores will be much more profitable then the super stores that we are used to seeing. The growth period is said to last about 5 years and will not only

The consumer electronics giant, Best Buy, was first established in 1966 with a single location and a staff of three in St. Paul, Minnesota, selling audio equipment targeted at 18-25 year old males. Initially Sound of Music/Best Buy grew through acquisition, expanding to nine locations in the Twin Cities area by 1978. The name, Best Buy, and expanded product line, ranging from audio and video equipment to large appliances, were a result of a “best buy” sale of damaged inventory at bargain prices in 1981. In the mid-1980s, Best Buy launched superstores similar to those of their main competitor, Circuit City and expanded by 15 stores between 1985-86. In 1989, Best Buy launched itself as a

Best Buy Inc. has built a reputation as a ground-breaking retail giant. It is known as one of the first “big box” stores in

The current strategic plan implemented by Best Buy to focus on customer services and in-store experiences, enhances technical services, and customization of product availability to demographic location have given Best Buy the competitive advantage over its competitor. The strategic plan had carried Best Buy through tough economic times and achieved profitability. For Best Buy to maintain growth and expand product selection such as home good items, it is recommended that Best Buy uses the proven strategic principles to apply to these new market segment. Best Buy should adjust the strategy as necessary if the outcome does not meet

Domestically, store operations are organized by store brand. U.S. Best Buy store operations are separated into districts and are under the management of a retail field officer who oversees store performance through district managers. District managers meet regularly with store managers to discuss different things such as merchandising, new product introductions, sales promotions, customer loyalty programs, employee satisfaction surveys and store operating performance.

Unfortunately in the present day we are a culture that are not only more aware of the products we chose to purchase but are able to enjoy the flexibility of shopping from home. Customers shopping at Best Buy find themselves being “up-sold” instead of being “educated” on the products they are considering purchasing. Customer service is lacking and store associates do not have the appropriate product knowledge to satisfy customer questions. These are only a few concerns disrupting Best Buy’s position in the market today. Their dismal financial performance is a clear indication that customers are choosing alternatives. Retail stores can be successful if given the right tools. Apple stores are the perfect model to emulate. Apple provides a variety of sample products to navigate, hires and trains their personnel on the products they offer, and exudes an ambiance that is welcoming to the customer. Much like Lowe’s, Apple offers classes to customer to gain the knowledge necessary to operate their products in a fluent and enjoyable manner. The staff does not push sales, instead remaining laid back and offering an efficient check out

It makes sense for Best Buy to worry more about Wal-Mart, which is getting more involved in electronics retailing, and less about Circuit City. The competitors are a diverse lot today, and for them to continue to grow they're going to have to get much better at everything they do and define themselves in clear ways. Best Buy's plan is to revamp its stores according to the types of customers they serve. A strategy previously mentioned, customer centricity, focuses on targeting five prototypical customers, all of whom have been given names: "Jill," a busy suburban mom; "Buzz," a focused, active younger male; "Ray," a family man who likes his technology practical; "BB4B" (short for Best Buy for Business), a small professional employer; and "Barry," an affluent professional male who's likely to drop tens of thousands of dollars on a home theater system. Their most current focus is on a "Jill" based store, the soccer mom who has money to spend but typically hasn't a clue of where or how to find products in the store. According to the data Best Buy has collected, Jill shops a few times a year, usually twice at an electronics store, but she usually spends a significant amount.

Best Buy is a company that is a financially strong and profitable, that has generated a good few billion in cash flows from operating activities as is shown in its financial statements. They also delivered positive operating income through their trajectory. They grew total market share in the third quarter according to the most recent public data available. They have closed down certain operations that were not profitable (according to recent reports), which they expect to have a positive impact on their earnings going forward. And they are focusing the company on areas where they see the greatest opportunities for growth and profit: mobile devices and connection plans; enhanced digital and e-commerce strategies; growth in their services business; and expansion of their established business in China.