What to Know: Driving Sales at Best Buy this Holiday Season

What to Know:
Driving Sales at Best Buy this Holiday Season

Looking to grow sales in the final months of the year? As the 2024 holiday season quickly approaches, now is the time to fine-tune your strategies to boost sales and enhance customer engagement. If you’re out in the market doing retail visits, you may want to stop into a Best Buy to check things out.

As we know from experience, they’re willing to entertain new categories, so your product or brand may offer a unique opportunity for this retailer. Whether you’ve got a presence at Best Buy or elsewhere, these practical insights from CPG by MPG Director of Sales Rob Bader can help you maximize your impact this holiday season. Rob brings extensive national sales experience across the consumer-packaged goods, entertainment, and toy industries, at companies that include General Mills, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, and Funko, among others. With strong relationships at Target and Best Buy, he keenly understands both the retailer’s and consumer’s needs, adeptly leveraging this understanding to create value-added solutions that drive sales and profitable growth.

🎁 Why do brands need to approach this holiday season a little differently?

With a shorter shopping window of just 27 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, brands should create special promotions, like bundle deals and limited-time offers, that emphasize exclusivity. Run time-sensitive offers to stimulate impulse buying. With consumers cautious about inflation and prioritizing value, presenting compelling, early discounts will be key to attracting attention and driving sales.

🎁 What are the four top things brands must do this holiday season?

First, it goes without saying that a reliable supply chain is critical to meeting heightened and sometimes fluctuating demand. Brands should assess inventory levels and have real-time inventory tracking in place to avoid stockouts during this time period.

Also, given the important role of digital in product search and discovery, make sure you’ve optimized product listings on Best Buy’s website with relevant keywords and high-quality images. Investing in search engine marketing (SEM) can further increase visibility during this high-traffic shopping period, especially through Best Buy’s sponsored product listings.

The other thing to think about is social commerce. This is quickly emerging as a must-have to engage consumers and direct them to Best Buy. With nearly 54% of Gen Z shoppers and 45% of Millennials expected to use social media for holiday shopping, brands should share user-generated content, product demonstrations, and holiday-themed posts. Targeted ads can also help reach these demographics effectively.

And absolutely essential: Make sure you’re constantly analyzing your sales data and customer feedback. Set up periodic check-ins to evaluate what’s effective and what’s not, and be ready to adapt your strategies based on performance data. You’ve got to be ready to tweak your strategies based on real-time insights to capitalize on shifting consumer preferences during this busy period.

🎁 How important is in-store this year?

Very. A significant portion of Best Buy’s revenue is driven by in-store purchases. While online shopping continues to rise, in-store experiences remain critical, especially during the holiday season. Best Buy’s retail spaces are designed to allow hands-on interactions with products.

Many customers prefer to see and test products in person before purchasing, making the physical store a vital part of the overall shopping journey. Best Buy also uses in-store events around new technologies and product trends to drive excitement and foot traffic. They’re very receptive to brands offering interactive displays, in-store product demos, or events create memorable shopping experiences.

Is your Best Buy holiday strategy optimized for accelerated growth this season? Reach out to Rob Bader at rob.bader@thecpgretail.com for his actionable insights.