Best Buy navigates a pivotal moment as incoming CEO Jason Bonfig outlines a strategy to reignite growth for the consumer electronics giant. Facing years of declining sales, attributed to a confluence of factors including waning consumer confidence, a plateau in tech innovation, and a subdued housing market, Best Buy is banking on a fresh leadership vision. Bonfig, set to assume the CEO role this fall, shared his strategic blueprint with CNBC, emphasizing a multi-pronged approach designed to reposition the company.
Bonfig’s strategy is anchored in four core pillars: enhancing Best Buy’s identity as both a retail and technology leader, expanding its market reach, elevating the customer experience, and fostering a human-centric operational culture. A significant area of focus for Bonfig is leveraging the burgeoning artificial intelligence (AI) landscape. “Agentic commerce and commerce through AI platforms is happening today,” Bonfig stated. “We’re seeing traffic there, and we want to make sure that the Best Buy experience is represented.” This includes exploring new product categories, such as investing in advanced wearables like Meta’s glasses, and integrating AI tools for both customer engagement and internal operations, building on existing partnerships with tech giants.
A tangible manifestation of Bonfig’s expansion strategy is the recent opening of two new, smaller-format stores in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and Cape Cod, Massachusetts. These stores, ranging from 12,000 to 15,000 square feet, contrast with Best Buy’s traditional medium-format stores (20,000-25,000 square feet) and even its larger flagship locations. Bonfig explained that these smaller footprints are designed to penetrate markets that previously couldn’t sustain larger Best Buy outlets. “What we’re finding is that there are markets that we just can’t be in with a traditional size Best Buy store, but they’re markets that absolutely make sense for Best Buy from a reach perspective,” he remarked.
This localized approach, Bonfig noted, has a dual benefit: it not only increases physical store traffic but also spurs digital engagement. “We also know that when we put a store close to a customer, it doesn’t just change the customers’ behavior in the frequency of the visits of the store … it also changes their behavior digitally as well,” he observed. The Jonesboro store, notably, marks Best Buy’s return to the community after its previous location was lost to a tornado, symbolizing resilience and market demand. Bonfig highlighted that an 18,000-square-foot store in such a market allows for a comprehensive product offering without the overhead of a much larger footprint. While the Cape Cod store is slightly larger at 28,000 square feet, it still represents a tailored approach to market needs. He also pointed to Best Buy Canada’s successful deployment of even smaller, 7,000-square-foot stores, indicating a broader potential for optimized retail footprints.
However, Bonfig was keen to emphasize that these smaller formats are not intended to replace the company’s established store model. “It’s actually an enhancement of what we’re doing today,” he clarified. “But it actually allows us to reach more customers and more markets that we just were not in before.”
The strategic shift comes against a backdrop of financial headwinds. Best Buy’s stock has experienced a decline of approximately 20% over the past five years from its late 2021 peak. For the current fiscal year, the company projects comparable sales to range from a 1% decline to a 1% increase. While the most recent quarterly results surpassed analyst expectations, they follow a period of sustained sales contraction. For instance, the third fiscal quarter of 2026 saw net income drop to $140 million from $273 million the prior year. The retailer has also grappled with the impact of tariffs and the escalating cost of essential components like memory chips, which have driven up consumer electronics prices.
Bonfig attributes the recent stagnation to a pull-forward of consumer demand during the COVID-19 pandemic, which created an anomaly in the demand curve. Similar to sectors like home improvement, Best Buy witnessed an unprecedented surge in spending as consumers focused on upgrading their home environments. This period, he believes, reset the technology adoption cycle for many consumers and compelled manufacturers to shift focus from innovation to production. “I wouldn’t say that Best Buy’s lost its momentum,” Bonfig asserted. “I think there’s been a very interesting couple years, or maybe more than a couple years, in the market where there was an interesting demand curve where everything was pulled forward.”
Looking ahead, Bonfig’s vision includes a renewed emphasis on customer experience, encompassing upgrades to TV offerings and personalized support for existing electronics. He views customer response as the ultimate measure of his success as CEO. While acknowledging the importance of AI as an enhancement, Bonfig stressed that it will augment, rather than replace, the human element integral to Best Buy’s service model. He remains confident in the company’s fundamental strengths, stating, “Corie had an amazing strategy, and my strategy is built on top of that. There is a tremendous amount of momentum.”
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