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Martin Moylan

Best Buy CEO: Brick-and-mortar still a vital asset

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Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly said Tuesday that the retailer's stores are a vital asset in battling Amazon and other online rivals.

That stance runs counter to the conventional wisdom when Best Buy was struggling several years ago. But Joly, who spoke at the University of Minnesota, said the chain's roughly 1,400 U.S. stores allow the retailer to demonstrate new products for customers and deliver the goods faster than Internet-only merchants.

"Our advantage is we can help you online," he said. "We can help you in the stores, and we can also come to your home. And with technology, we believe it is a unique competitive advantage."

The synergy among those sales channels, hes aid, appeals to customers: Forty percent of Best Buy's online orders are picked up in stores. The company's earnings are on the rebound, and same store sales have grown three quarters in a row. In its most recent quarter, the retailer earned $129 million on sales of $8.6 billion.

Joly attributed the company's past struggles to a loss of focus on the customer, and losing sight of the approach that drove the retailer's early leaders: Dick Schultz and Brad Anderson.

"For a number of years, the facts are, it went sideways," he said. "I think we became negligent. This obsession about the customer was not as strong as when Dick and Brad started."