History
Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE: BBY) began in 1966 by Richard Shultze and the original name of the company was Sound of Music. The companies name was changed to Best Buy in 1983. They had almost $50 billion dollars in revenue during 2013 with 145,000 plus employees and over 1,400 stores across the U.S and internationally (finance.yahoo.com). Their loyalty program is one of the largest in the U.S. which has more members than hotel, airline and other retailer programs and they continue to have the largest share of the electronics and appliances segment. In 2000 Best Buy decided to give Geek Squad a trial run.
The Geek Squad gives computer help online, by phone, they are located in many of the stores and even make house calls to make repairs. In 2002 Best Buy merged with Geek Squad. In 2006, they created the largest repair site ever. They called it Geek Squad City and it is located in Louisville (geeksquad.com). The facility is located on nearly four acres and houses the largest concentration of Geek Squad Agents anywhere. Those that are located in this facility would include the technicians that do the repairs on all of the different types of computer equipment people may have. Best Buy is proud of its recycling program because they are the only ones that have actually made a pledge “To recycle one billion pounds of consumer electronics and appliance by the end 2014” (2014 International CES Green Guide). On average the stores can collect a little over 400 pounds of electronics every minute they are open. At the moment they are half way to their goal.
Objectives and Strategies
In 2012 Best Buy changed what their strategy because they were falling on some hard times. They have renamed their strategy Renew Blue. They want to be recognized as the preferred authority and destination for technology products and services (Overview - Best Buy Co., Inc).