Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) has become the largest consumer electronics chain in the U.S. be using a combination of discount pricing across the board and a store count presence that has whipped much of the competition. As always, growth by store opening can only last so long. But Best Buy has a trick up its sleeve for even more growth. Mostly, its plans lay in urban growth instead of suburban growth.To accomplish this, the retailer is partnering with legendary professional basketball player Magic Earvin Johnson. Although part of its urban growth strategy will continue to involve specialty product retailing, the addition of a legend to its marketing arsenal is nothing short of a great idea. Just recently, Best Buy brought Johnson to Bloomington, Minnesota to talk at a sponsored kids' basketball tournament. Johnson's business involvement with many large national franchises like Starbucks and Burger King makes it easier for the retailer to center in on some of those locations Johnson's company owns as well.
Johnson has already spoken at many Best Buy store openings since the partnership began in 2008, and Best Buy's continued focus on the urban setting for stores is showing promise. It's no surprise that the mobile phone industry in addition to areas like laptop PCs are current and future sales focus areas -- but will many future urban areas like the idea of a big-box store setting up shop there?
Although Best Buy just opened 100 stores in its latest fiscal year, most of them were not urban-area stores. At the recent Minnesota Johnson event, new Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn said "This is right there at the core of our local growth strategy ... the way you grow a $40 billion business into an $80 billion business is by empowering local leaders to bring all of this amazing technology to the market in a way that makes sense." Looks like the strategy is a solid one.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-18-2009 @ 8:58AM
Insider Guy said...
I remember a little while back Magics Johnson was plugging Jackon Hewitt Tax Services, the stock went from 15 to 2.
Now I see him touting Rent a Center on TV.
Now Best Buy.