Is Best Buy thinking about leveraging the Geek Squad – and its fleet of vans and Volkswagen beetles – to roll out a same-day delivery service?
Moody's Investors Service thinks it could be. In a report out this week, its analysts said they think Best Buy could roll out a proprietary same-day delivery service "in a major fashion" in the next 12 to 18 months by utilizing the Geek Squad.
"It seems to us, the next battleground for online sales is going to be who can do same-day delivery," said Moody's analyst Charlie O'Shea in an interview.
Many retailers such as Target, Wal-Mart and Macy's have already begun testing same-day delivery, mostly using third party delivery services. Amazon is probably the furthest along in this realm, having already rolled it this service to more than a dozen cities.
But O'Shea said those retailers that can control the so-called last mile – the final leg on a package's journey to a customer's doorstep – will have a distinct advantage over others. Amazon is already reportedly testing its own fleet of delivery vans and trucks.
"Unless you have to, you don't want to outsource it," O'Shea added.
For its part, Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly told the Star Tribune earlier this year that the company is doing some "modest and humble" testing of same-day delivery. But the company has not elaborated on those tests.
A Best Buy spokesman also didn't have any comment about the Moody's report suggesting the retailer might tap into the Geek Squad.
