Page 43 - HW March 2022

Best Buy branches out
Amazon winds back
encourage one-touch access to its Lively Health & Safety services.
On top of which, says the company: “Perhapsthemostexcitingopportunity lies within virtual care, where we enable patients to connect with their care teams.”
This ties in with its 2021 acquisition of Current Health, a leading care-at-home technology platform that brings together remote patient monitoring, tele-health, and patient engagement into a single solutionforhealthcareorganisations.
Best Buy is betting on using its strong position in electronics to leverage these new areas, with 40% of Americans using digital technology or the internet in new or different ways compared with before the pandemic, it says.
Indeed, 40% of Best Buy’s business currently comes from online sales, nearly double the pre-pandemic level.
At the same time, the company plans to shutter almost 10% of its 1,000 stores over the next three years – despite their increasing use as fulfilment centres – as customers shop more online.
www.bestbuy.com
Amazon is rethinking its retail experiments, having announced it was closing all 68 of its physical bookstores, pop-up locations and 4-Star shops in the US and UK.
The company opened its first physical bookstore in November 2015, and its first 4-Star outlet in September 2018.
Amazon’s experimenting with physical retail isn’t going away, however.
Indeed, the company has also reiterated that bricks & mortar retail
was still important and that it would continue to focus on its cashier-less
Just Walk Out technology, its Amazon
Go grocery stores and its recently announced clothing store in Los Angeles.
Amazon is also still working with third parties like Starbucks and Sainsbury’s testing Just Walk Out tech.
It also has a raft of Whole Foods locations and opened its first Amazon Fresh grocery store just two years ago.
As a result, commentators see
this shift not so much as a change of direction but a shift in focus, towards putting more energy into experimenting with other retailing types and sectors that may turn out to be more traditional Amazon-style disruptors.
www.amazon.com
global eyes
IN A RECENT update, US electronics giant Best Buy fired a warning shot across
the bows of other retailers that it is set
to expand further into non-traditional sectors, particularly in and around health and wellbeing.
Faced with a drop in recent sales overall, over the next two years, says the company, it plans on expanding further into new product categories such as:
• Fitnessandwellness–Inthelast
year, Best Buy’s product assortment grew more than 650% and it plans to introduce a larger, more premium experience in 90 stores.
• Personalelectrictransportation– Best Buy introduced 250 new products last holiday season, including e-bikes, scooters and “hundreds of accessories”; over the next 18 months, it’s going
to add products to 900 stores, with 90 stores getting a more premium experience.
• OutdoorLiving–Inadditionto partnerships with brands like Traeger, Weber and Bromic, Best Buy’s recent acquisition of premium outdoor furniture company Yardbird, a leading, lets us provide our customers with more options and complements outdoor technology.
Consumer health is another key growth sector for Best Buy. It already sells digital health solutions “for every stage of life”, from exercise equipment to blood pressure cuffs to sleep technology and more.
And last year, it launched the new Lively brand including its simplest ever Lively Smart smartphone to further
experimental retail
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