However, with the dawn of the Internet era and arrival of online retailers, most brick-and-mortar companies suffered. Best Buy was and is one of those few offline electronics retailers that took up the challenge head on. Though, the company did not open multiple new stores for some time thereafter, it at least didn’t shut down the existing ones.
In 2018, the company did something totally unexpected. It opened a brand-new outlet in Farmington, UT, which is a part of the flourishing Salt Lake City metro region. It would be the company’s first new US outlet in seven years. Best Buy currently (as of October 2018) has more than 1,000 stores in operation and approximately 125,000 on roll in the US.
Best Buy, along with RadioShack, Circuit City, and some smaller players in the last few years were pushed against the wall by online retailers' underpricing strategies and lower-cost warehouse outlets. The company, however, stays unconquered by strongly focusing on buyer expectations both online and in store.
Best Buy is well placed to dominate its segment in the offline industry while also providing an array of pricing and alternative choices that buyers have come to know and appreciate online. It has executed a remarkable turnaround that effectively countered the market share gains of Amazon in a way other electronics companies couldn’t do.
The key to the company’s proposition is its at-home and in-store customer service. With that having set itself, Best Buy is now turning its focus on new places in the US that could accommodate a Best Buy store.
The new Farmington store would contribute to the firm’s continued streak of success by offering its competitive pricing and in-person customer service in a place that was under-served previously.
People living in and nearby Farmington, who were keen to shop at a Best Buy store, had to travel more than 15 miles south or north to reach the nearest outlet. By launching a store in Farmington, Best Buy would make a lot of its customers in that community very relieved and excited.
The new store would be staffed with close to 90 employees and hiring extra assistance just before the holiday season. Not to mention, the Farmington outlet would take the company’s employee count in Utah to 1,000. Utah already has eight Best Buy stores.
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