NEW YORK – Best Buy wants to win the next frontier in retail: the home.
It already sells products that end up in people's living rooms and kitchens. It delivers those items and sets them up in people's homes. And now it wants to be consumers' go-to when they can't figure out why their internet isn't working or to help aging adults live on their own longer.
"Think of us as the chief technology officer for your home," CEO Corie Barry told analysts in her first major event since taking the reins of the company in June.
Over the next five years, the Richfield-based electronics retailer plans to double the number of its customer relationships that touch the home such as its tech-support services, in-home consultations, and remote-monitoring services of seniors, the retailer's top executives told more than a hundred analysts gathered Wednesday in a gilded room on the sixth floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Those additional services — along with the growth Best Buy expects in its core business selling TVs, appliances and wireless headphones — should help fuel more profitable sales growth, executives said in the two-plus hour presentation. They set a target of reaching $50 billion in sales in five years, up from about $43 billion currently.
That amounts to a 2.9% compound annual growth rate, a bit slower than the last couple of blockbuster years when strong consumer spending and the struggles of retailers such as Sears have helped boost Best Buy. But that would still be better than many other retailers.
Analysts had mixed feelings about the goals. During the question-and-answer period, one analyst wondered if Best Buy's sales targets were too aggressive while another suggested the opportunity ahead of it could be much bigger.
The company also said it will cut another $1 billion in costs, on top of the $2.1 billion it has slashed since 2013, to help fund new initiatives and improve profitability over five years.