Best Buy Company (NYSE: BBY), which is cautiously taking on market share from the now-defunct Circuit City while weathering the economic recession, is pouring more of its heart and soul into the mobile arena. The largest consumer electronics retailer in the U.S. wants to take double-digit market share command of the mobile handset industry within five years.Currently, the retailer takes in between 3% and 4% of mobile purchases made in the U.S., out of a total available market of 160 million handsets annually right now. It wants 10% of that pie by 2014, and it it continues to brand its "Best Buy Mobile" concept as hard as it can. In recent times, that category experienced rapid growth during a generally downtrodden time in retail consumer electronic sales. Wireless phones now are as indispensable as house and car keys.
They go with you everywhere and give that voice and data connection to the world at any time. No wonder growth continues to rack up even in uncertain economic times. And the good news: wireless handset and accessory sales are extremely profitable. This isn't a low-margin business. Best Buy Mobile standalone stores (targeted for shopping malls) and even airport kiosks (mostly for accessories) are giving Best Buy the leg up on retail competitors like Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT).
Best Buy's customer base is already shopping -- why not be the source for everything wireless from those same customers? But first, tell them about it as often as possible rather than not. As the ascendancy to wireless from home landlines continues, Best Buy has a chance to trump all the competition and ensure a $50 share price by the end of 2009 if not before.
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