Best Buy Company Summary

Company Summary

Best Buy was originally founded in 1966 by Schulze and Gary Smoliak. It began as an audio specialty store but in 1983 was rebranded and expanded its product offerings. It expanded into video products and appliances. Best Buy became a publicly traded company in 1985. By 1993, Best Buy had become the second largest electronics retailer in the United States. From this time, it continued to flourish and open stores all over the world. In 1997 it became the first retailer to sell DVD hardware and software. In 2012, it experienced a revenue decline and began a new transformation strategy. Stores began to adopt a redesigned "Connected Store" format, providing the Geek Squad with a centralized service desk, as well as implementing "store-within-a-store" concept.

Best Buy has multiple competitors, but it’s biggest is Amazon. Amazon focuses on lower prices and a one-click shopping experience. Amazon also provides customers with instant access to product reviews. Due to the increasing popularity of Amazon, Best Buy has been forced to adopt a price matching policy. It has become increasingly difficult to compete against the convenience Amazon provides its customers.

Because their products are mostly luxury items such as iPads, Smart Phones, video games, DVDs, televisions, music albums, laptops, and home computers, Best Buy needs the Economy to be in good shape. Any type of recession or depression will have a serious impact on Best Buy’s sales.

In November, 2006, Best Buy’s stock was worth over $55.00 per share. In October, 2008, their stock price dipped all the way down to $20.71 per share. They had their lowest price per share in December of 2012 when it dropped all the way to

$11.85 per share. In 2012, Best Buy had over $50 billion in revenue. It has since dropped to $42 billion in 2014. The chart below shows the revenues (in billions) of each company.