Selling with Best Buy is a must for electronics brands. The in-store exposure is unparalleled, and so is their digital growth, which consistently enjoys double-digit increases. Ranked 10 on the Internet Retailer Top 1000, their online presence is something to behold. For brands, taking advantage of every content option Best Buy offers is the ticket to increasing sales.
Just when experts were predicting Best Buy would fall victim to the brick and mortar apocalypse, they surprised everyone by growing their online sales faster than both Walmart and Amazon. In 2017, web sales were more than $6 billion. Forbes predicts Best Buy’s total revenue to reach $44 billion by 2020, with 20% from online sales.
Best Buy has and optimizes the best of both worlds: online and in-store experiences that inform, engage, and lure consumers to return again and again.
Because of their physical square-footage dedicated to electronics alone, Best Buy has a unique advantage over their competitors, and use their stores as a showroom asset and promote useful and relevant person-to-person or in-home services.
Digitally, their information- and media-rich product pages enjoy high traffic and conversion rates. At the heart of these experiences is content. The question for your brand is how to make the most of your Best Buy opportunities.
Brands must recognize, respect, and respond to consumers’ non-linear shopping journeys. Over 90% of consumers research their purchases online. Over 80% of consumers research their products online while in-store using their smartphones. For electronics, this is especially true. Buying high-ticket items online can still give consumers pause so there’s comfort in seeing the item and testing out its features in person. Housing current and accurate information at all research touch points is paramount. Brands never know where the conversion might occur.
More and more consumers will be asking: What’s 8K? Is 5G in my area? Can I program a light bulb from my phone? Do refrigerators really post to Twitter?
How will they be asking these questions? To voice assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Home. Phrasing content and product details to match consumer queries will boost search results rankings.
On their product pages alone, Best Buy has eight or more photos, plus lots of videos: testimonials, how to connect the product to other products, product overviews, and even sizzle reels. According the data we collected for Salsify’s 2018 Consumer Research Report, 73% of consumers need three or more images before purchasing. The more the merrier.
Best Buy’s enhanced content features a lavish and in-depth pop-out window called “info gallery.” This is a brand’s chance to tell a more complete story about their mission, product philosophy, history, awards and rankings, and stand-out features of the products.
Consumer reviews build a brand’s trustworthiness. Best Buy recognizes this and treats reviews as a premier product page section. They also break out comments and feedback by searchable buzzwords. For example, TV reviews have categories like price, picture quality, design, gaming capabilities, and color.
Reviews are also broken out by pro and con and display a graph indicating the percentage of customers who would recommend the product to a friend.
To ease consumer fears about shopping for such a permanent fixture in their homes, Best Buy product pages house all the details one could want. Energy ratings, what’s included in the box, key specs, compatibilities, product dimensions, box dimensions, estimated annual operating cost, estimated annual electricity use, warranties, and more.
All of these sections are in addition to the product features which is a long, spacious list of details that is easy to read and scroll through.
Having malleable content at the ready will also enable your brand to take advantage of Best Buy’s increasing capabilities on mobile and tablet devices.
Electronics can be bulky and heavy. They are great surprise gifts. Not everyone has personal transportation. Whatever the reason, consumers must be able to select their preferred means of delivery. Maintaining accurate and correct inventory details is critical.