Dive Brief:
- Best Buy is extending its store hours starting Nov. 3, the retailer said Monday. Shoppers can search on the company’s website to see specific information on their local store’s updated hours.
- Best Buy is offering multiple sales, including Black Friday discounts, starting Nov. 8. The retailer’s physical stores will be closed on Thanksgiving.
- The retailer is also extending its return and exchange policy, with most products purchased between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31 eligible for returns until Jan. 14, per the press release.
Dive Insight:
Over the summer, Best Buy reshaped its branding and made it easier for customers to track their big packages. In July, the company updated its tagline to “imagine that,” added magenta, teal and red to its iconic blue and yellow color palette and introduced “Gram,” its new hologram spokesperson. The following month, the company introduced a live product delivery feature that uses AI to track large items like refrigerators and big-screen TVs.
The company also recently opened its first small-format store in British Columbia in partnership with Bell Canada with plans to open 167 Best Buy Express-branded stores by the end of the year.
Those efforts come as the retailer has reported declining revenue. Its second quarter revenue dipped by 3% year over year to $9.3 billion and overall comparable sales fell 2.3%, results that analysts called “better than expected.” In Q1 revenue declined 6.5% to $8.8 billion year over year, which was attributed to macroeconomic conditions.
Overall electronics sales have been under pressure this year, with the segment down 6.6% in September, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Census Bureau.
With the holidays fast approaching, Best Buy is offering select Black Friday discounts on Nov. 8 and is kicking off its official Black Friday sales over a week early this year on Nov. 21, the retailer said in a press release.
Meanwhile, research suggests that many consumers have already begun their holiday shopping. A Garner survey released in September found that almost a third of shoppers (32%) said they planned to start their holiday shopping sometime between July and October, while nearly as many (29%) said they would start in November.
