Business Analysis: Best Buy

1. Political: “issues affecting our international vendors could materially adversely affect our business and financial performance.”(Page 8.)

Like any successful business, Best Buy has to be on the cutting edge to succeed in today’s market. They do this by exploring what technologies and services other companies display all around the world. Best Buy also pays attention to the changing of times, realizing what’s dated and what is on the cutting edge.

Best Buy Co., Inc. is a multinational company in the United States and it deals, with consumer electronics, and accounts 19% of the business. The company also operates in Mexico, Puerto Rico, China, and Canada. Some of the subsidiaries of the company include CinemaNow, Geek Squad, Pacific Sales, and Magnolia Audio Video and operates in both Future Shop label, and Best Buy in Canada. Best Buy Co. Inc and its subsidiaries operate more than 1,150 stores internationally and domestically. The company also operates more than 100 “ZoomShops” or Buy Express Automated retail Stores, operated by the Zoom Systems, in both malls and airports in the entire country of the U.S. The company is headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota, U.S (Scott,

Best Buy Co., Inc. is the largest electronics retailer in United States with international presence in Mexico, Canada and China. Best Buy Co., Inc. is headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota and currently operates more than one thousand brick & mortar stores. Founded in 1966 as “Sound of Music”, Best Buy Co., Inc. evolved from a small regional audio specialty store to a multinational consumer electronics retail chain within a short span of time. The company’s current name “Best Buy” was adopted in 1983 with an aim to emphasize a greater consumer electronics branding. Best Buy Co., Inc. went public in 1987 when it got listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Best Buy is one of the best electronic retailers in the North America and the leading name in the electronics industry. Best Buy has more than 4000 stores within U.S., Mexico, Canada, Turkey and China (Hoffman, 2010). Best Buy practices differentiation strategy by using customer centricity model that provides end-to-end service. Best Buy was first established in 1966. They changed their name from “Sound of Music” to the “Best Buy” in 1983. Globally, Best Buy has made great business by increased market share and acquisitions of companies. They acquired companies like Geek Squad, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales and most recently The Future shop.

Best Buy is a multinational retailer of consumer electronics, computing and mobile phone products, entertainment products, appliances, and related services. The company operates retail stores and call centers and conducts online retail operations under a variety of brand names such as Best Buy, Best Buy Mobile, The Carphone Warehouse, Five Star, Future Shop, Geek Squad, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and The Phone House (Bestbuy.com, 4). The domestic segment consists of all operations within the United States, while the international segment includes all operations in Canada, Europe, Mexico, and China. The Best Buy 's success is contingent on the market 's demand for electronics. The company 's strategy is to provide good customer service combined with lower prices (news.cnet.com). Best Buy 's success is directly related to economic conditions, the cost of goods, and other things like fuel prices. The company 's strategy depends upon the ability to offer customers a broad selection of name-brand products; therefore, leading its success to depend upon satisfactory supplier relationships (Bestbuy.com, 8). Best Buy, as it is included in the retail segment, is a seasonal store. Their stronger quarter is the fourth quarter, which they can contribute to the holiday season for their success.

Although it is the most established because of its long history and early start, competitors such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, AutoZone Inc., eBay Inc., Rakutenchi Inc., Netflix Inc., Jet.Com, Wal-Mart and Time Warner Cable among others exist (Yahoo Finance, 2015). Notably, apart from Jet.com, Amazon’s competitors are segmented according to products and services offered; for instance, Wal-Mart stores Inc. offers competition in general merchandise and electronics segment while eBay, Time Warner Cable and Apple offers competition in the media segment. Among the competitors, Apple Inc. and Google Inc. have the highest market capitalization; however, the Amazon’s dwarfs all other competitors. Amazon has a high market capitalization at $254.82 billion (Nassauer, 2015). The table below shows Amazon’s major competitors based on their market capitalization and 52-week share price range

Best Buy not only does business-to-consumer but also on business-to-business sales. This allow them to generate revenue from another market.

The company I selected to analyze is GameStop. I understand that GameStop isn’t necessarily a small business but I have only ever seen a handful of them throughout my life, so to my knowledge, it could fit within the small business parameters. GameStop currently utilizes digital media in a multitude of ways, ranging from customer awareness to company statistical information regarding customer traffic. GameStop, like many other companies, utilizes digital media to advertise and persuade the minds of customers across the world into purchasing “fun, new” digital content that they are selling. This is most important for GameStop’s success as it is the most likely reason for increasing the company’s revenue as well as the customer base of consumers who both play video games and are looking to purchase a product for someone else.

Best Buy started in Minnesota in 1966 as Sound of Music, Inc. and began as an audio components retailer, but with the introduction of the videocassette recorder in the early 1980’s it expanded into video products. In 1983 Sound of Music officially changed their name to Best Buy and began using mass-merchandising techniques, which included offering a wide variety of products under a “superstore” concept. In 1989, Best Buy changed their retailing methods by introducing a self-service, noncommissioned, discount-style store designed to give customers a variety of consumer electronics, home office products, entertainment products, appliances and

The consumer electronics giant, Best Buy, was first established in 1966 with a single location and a staff of three in St. Paul, Minnesota, selling audio equipment targeted at 18-25 year old males. Initially Sound of Music/Best Buy grew through acquisition, expanding to nine locations in the Twin Cities area by 1978. The name, Best Buy, and expanded product line, ranging from audio and video equipment to large appliances, were a result of a “best buy” sale of damaged inventory at bargain prices in 1981. In the mid-1980s, Best Buy launched superstores similar to those of their main competitor, Circuit City and expanded by 15 stores between 1985-86. In 1989, Best Buy launched itself as a

The organization that I have chosen for the purpose of this corporate finance analysis is Wal-Mart. As is well known, Wal-Mart is the global market leader of

Management, an activity in business and organization, is the act of getting people together to achieve goals. It includes planning, organizing, staffing, leading or directing, and controlling. Resourcing encompasses the deployment and manipulation of human resources, financial resources, technological resources, and natural resources. Organizations can be viewed as systems and management can be defined as human action, including design, to facilitate the production of useful outcomes from a system. This view opens the opportunity to 'manage' oneself, a pre-requisite to attempting to manage others (ccgold, 2011).

A competitive strategy is a plan of action that a company develops towards attaining a competitive advantage over its competitors in the industry. Companies examines and research their competitors strengthen and weaknesses and compare them to its own. A company strategy can incorporate efforts to please customers, ward off competitive threats, and meet a unique competitive advantage.

Although Best Buy has not been in business as long as other established brands, the company is becoming a well-known name both within and outside of the United States. This consumer electronics retailer is considered to be the largest specialty retailer within its sector throughout the U.S. with 21 percent of the market. With the bankruptcy of its main competitor Circuit City, Best Buy is geared to gain an increased market share and is looking for new opportunities in countries like China and Mexico.