Item 1. Business.
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Item 1. Business.
Unless the context otherwise requires, the terms “we,” “us” and “our” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K refer to Best Buy Co., Inc. and, as applicable, its consolidated subsidiaries. Any references to our website addresses do not constitute incorporation by reference of the information contained on the websites.
Description of Business
We were incorporated in the state of Minnesota in 1966. We are driven by our purpose to enrich lives through technology and our vision to personalize and humanize technology solutions for every stage of life. We accomplish this by leveraging our unique combination of tech expertise and a human touch to meet our customers’ everyday needs, whether they come to us online, visit our stores or invite us into their homes. We have operations in the U.S. and Canada.
Segments and Geographic Areas
We have two reportable segments: Domestic and International. The Domestic segment is comprised of our operations in all states, districts and territories of the U.S. and our Best Buy Health business, and includes the brand names Best Buy, Best Buy Ads, Best Buy Business, Best Buy Health, CST, Current Health, Geek Squad, Lively, Magnolia, Pacific Kitchen and Home, TechLiquidators and Yardbird; and the domain names bestbuy.com, currenthealth.com, lively.com, techliquidators.com and yardbird.com. Our International segment is comprised of all operations in Canada under the brand names Best Buy, Best Buy Mobile and Geek Squad and the domain name bestbuy.ca.
Operations
Our Domestic and International segments are managed by leadership teams responsible for all areas of the business. Both segments operate an omnichannel platform that allows customers to come to us online, visit our stores or invite us into their homes.
Development of merchandise and service offerings, pricing and promotions, procurement and supply chain, online and mobile application operations, marketing and advertising and labor deployment across all channels are centrally managed. In addition, support capabilities (for example, human resources, finance, information technology and real estate management) operate from our corporate headquarters. We also have field operations that support retail, services and in-home teams from our corporate headquarters and regional locations. Our retail stores have procedures for inventory management, asset protection, transaction processing, customer relations, store administration, product sales and services, staff training and merchandise display that are largely standardized. All stores generally operate under standard procedures with a degree of flexibility for store management to address certain local market characteristics. While day-to-day operations of our stores are led by store management, more strategic decisions regarding, for example, store locations, format, category assortment and fulfillment strategy, are led by our corporate teams with input from market or regional leadership.
Our Best Buy Health business has a dedicated leadership team that manages the day-to-day affairs of all aspects of its business, while receiving support from certain Best Buy enterprise capabilities.
Merchandise and Services
Our Domestic and International segments have offerings in six revenue categories. The key components of each revenue category are as follows:
Computing and Mobile Phones - computing (including desktops, notebooks and peripherals), mobile phones (including related mobile network carrier commissions), networking, tablets (including e-readers) and wearables (including smartwatches);
Consumer Electronics - digital imaging, health and fitness products, home theater (including home theater accessories, soundbars and televisions), portable audio (including headphones and portable speakers) and smart home;
Appliances - large appliances (including dishwashers, laundry, ovens and refrigerators) and small appliances (including blenders, coffee makers, vacuums and personal care);
Entertainment - drones, gaming (including hardware, peripherals and software), movies, toys, virtual reality and other software;
Services - delivery, health-related services, installation, memberships, repair, set-up, technical support and warranty-related services; and
Other - other product offerings, including baby, food and beverage and outdoor living.
Distribution
Customers within our Domestic and International segments who purchase product online have the choice to pick up product at a Best Buy store (including curbside pick-up for many products at most Domestic stores) or at an alternative pick-up location or take delivery direct to their residence or place of business. Our ship-from-store capability allows us to offer additional fast and convenient delivery options for customers. Most merchandise is shipped directly from manufacturers to our distribution centers.
Suppliers and Inventory
Our Domestic and International segments purchase merchandise from a variety of suppliers. In fiscal 2024, our 20 largest suppliers accounted for approximately 80% of the merchandise we purchased, with five suppliers – Apple, Samsung, HP, Sony and LG – representing approximately 55% of total merchandise purchased. We generally do not have long-term written contracts with our vendors that would require them to continue supplying us with merchandise or that secure any of the key terms of our arrangements.
We carefully monitor and manage our inventory levels in an effort to match quantities on hand with consumer demand as closely as possible. Key elements to our inventory management process include the following: continuous monitoring of consumer demand, continuous monitoring and adjustment of inventory receipt levels and pricing, agreements with vendors relating to reimbursement for the cost of markdowns or sales incentives, and agreements with vendors relating to return privileges for certain products.
We also have a global sourcing operation to design, develop, test and contract-manufacture our exclusive brands products.
Store Development
We had 1,125 stores at the end of fiscal 2024 throughout our Domestic and International segments. Our stores are a vital component of our omnichannel strategy, and we believe they are an important competitive advantage. We also have vendor store-within-a-store concepts to allow closer vendor partnerships and a higher quality customer experience. We continuously look for opportunities to optimize our store space, renegotiate leases and selectively open or close locations to support our operations.
Refer to Item 7, Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, for tables reconciling our Domestic and International segment stores open at the end of each of the last three fiscal years.
Intellectual Property
We own or have the right to use valuable intellectual property such as trademarks, service marks and trade names, including, but not limited to, Best Buy, Best Buy Ads, Best Buy Essentials, Best Buy Health, Best Buy Mobile, CST, Current Health, Dynex, Geek Squad, Insignia, Jitterbug, Lively, Magnolia, Modal, My Best Buy, Pacific Kitchen and Home, Pacific Sales, Platinum, Rocketfish, TechLiquidators, Yardbird and our Yellow Tag logo.
We have secured domestic and international trademark and service mark registrations for many of our brands. We have also secured patents for many of our inventions. We believe our intellectual property has significant value and is an important factor in the marketing of our company, our stores, our products and our websites.
Seasonality
Our business, like that of many retailers, is seasonal. A large proportion of our revenue and earnings is generated in the fiscal fourth quarter, which includes the majority of the holiday shopping season.
Working Capital
We fund our business operations through a combination of available cash and cash equivalents and cash flows generated from operations. In addition, our revolving credit facilities are available for additional working capital needs, for general corporate purposes, investments and growth opportunities. Our working capital needs typically increase in the months leading up to the holiday shopping season as we purchase inventory in advance of expected sales.
Competition
Our competitors are primarily multi-channel retailers, e-commerce businesses, technology service providers, traditional store-based retailers, vendors and mobile network carriers who offer their products and services directly to customers. We believe our ability to help customers online, in our stores and in their homes, and to connect technology product and solutions with customer needs, provide us key competitive advantages. Some of our competitors have lower cost operating structures and seek to compete for sales primarily on price. We carefully monitor pricing offered by other retailers and service providers, as maintaining price competitiveness is one of our ongoing priorities. In addition, we have price-matching policies that allow customers to request that we match a price offered by certain retail stores and online operators. In order to allow this, we are focused on maintaining efficient operations and leveraging the economies of scale available to us through our global vendor partnerships. We believe our dedicated and knowledgeable people; our integrated online, retail and in-home assets; our broad and curated product assortment; our strong vendor partnerships; our service and support offerings designed to solve real customer needs; our unique ability to showcase technology in distinct store formats; and our supply chain are important ways in which we maintain our competitive advantage.
Environmental and Social
As we pursue our purpose to enrich lives through technology, we are committed to having a positive impact on the world, the environment and the communities in which we operate through interactions with all of our stakeholders, including our customers, employees, vendor partners, community partners and shareholders.
The Nominating, Corporate Governance and Public Policy Committee of our Board of Directors (“Board”) advises and oversees management regarding the effectiveness and risks of our environmental, social and governance strategy, programs and initiatives, including environmental goals and progress, social responsibility programs, initiatives and public policy positions and advocacy.
Environmental
We are committed to propelling the circular economy forward, a system that aims to reduce waste and preserve resources. We focus on our highest-impact areas, including in our operations, through the energy we procure and through the products we sell.
In our operations, we strive to reduce the use of natural resources. We believe the following focus areas will help to reduce the use of natural resources and our impact on the environment while improving our efficiency and profitability:
In our ongoing efforts to reduce carbon emissions in our operations, we support energy efficiency programs, including investments in energy efficiency improvements, deploying small-scale onsite and utility-scale renewable energy systems and neutralizing residual emissions.
We monitor our water consumption across our business to identify and manage programs that lessen our dependence on water.
To reduce waste and maximize resource efficiency, we continue our efforts to build a more sustainable supply chain by focusing on certifying our warehousing operations as TRUE zero waste.
Our focus on sustainable products is centered on helping our customers reduce their impact on the environment through the products we sell. We do this by providing a variety of energy-efficient products to our customers.
We also support the circular economy by keeping consumer products in use for as long as possible through our repair and trade-in services. We put materials back into the manufacturing process when products reach the end of their lives through our electronics and appliance recycling program.
Social
Human Rights and Responsible Sourcing
We are committed to respecting and advancing human rights through our alignment with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Further, across all the products and services we procure, we seek to enhance our partnership with suppliers and create value for all stakeholders through our Responsible Sourcing Program. We are active members of the Responsible Business Alliance, which allows us to partner with many of the brands we sell, including Apple, Intel, Microsoft and Samsung. Collectively, we embrace a common Supplier Code of Conduct and audit methodology that seeks to improve working and environmental conditions in the supply chain.
Community Impact
Best Buy is committed to helping prepare teens from disinvested communities for the tech-reliant careers of the future. Employee volunteer programs like Geek Squad Academy spark excitement and interest in technology for young learners, while engaging our employees’ unique technical expertise.
Best Buy also serves as a fiscal sponsor of the Best Buy Foundation™, whose signature Best Buy Teen Tech Center® program consists of a network of youth-centered community hubs where teens can engage with the latest technology, learn career skills, and interact with safe and supportive mentors. As of February 3, 2024, the Best Buy Foundation™ supported a network of 59 Best Buy Teen Tech Center® locations across the U.S. and Canada, working toward a goal of supporting 100 locations.
Human Capital Management
We believe in the power of our people. Our culture is built on the belief that engaged and committed employees – supported by opportunities to learn, grow, innovate and explore – can lead to extraordinary outcomes. At the end of fiscal 2024, we employed more than 85,000 employees in the U.S. and Canada.
Inclusion, Diversity and Equity
We are proud and encouraged by what we have accomplished collectively to expand inclusion, diversity and equity at Best Buy over the past few years. Now we are evolving our strategic focus to advance four specific outcomes:
Employee Engagement: We want Best Buy employees to feel connected to the company’s values, vision and purpose, and have opportunities to thrive.
Retention: Best Buy seeks to establish and uphold a best-in-class retention approach across all demographics.
Representation: We aim to provide Best Buy employees from diverse backgrounds with equal opportunities at all levels in the organization.
Culture of Belonging: Best Buy endeavors to foster an environment where employees feel welcomed and can build strong relationships through demonstrating our inclusive behaviors: vulnerability, empathy, courage and grace.
The Compensation and Human Resources Committee of our Board supports the development of an inclusive and diverse culture through oversight of our human resources policies and program. The Nominating, Corporate Governance and Public Policy Committee of our Board recommends criteria for the selection of individuals to be considered as candidates for election to the Board.
Training and Development
We continue to invest in our employees and their skill development to enable customized learning experiences. This helps to create a more adaptable and resilient workforce and enhances our competitive advantage. With the continued goal of personalizing learning opportunities, we transitioned to offering new types of training experiences in fiscal 2024. This included side-by-side trainings, enabling employees to learn and grow alongside their peers and leaders in condensed training formats.
Examples of enhancements include:
We evolved the onboarding experience, optimizing this for new employees. We also created new, consistent onboarding experiences in our supply chain, services teams, call centers and project teams.
We built an internal program to apply industry-leading learning methodologies and focused on building enterprise leaders who are more equipped to lead through times of uncertainty and change, while growing and transforming Best Buy for the future.
Employee Benefits
Our benefits aim to support employees’ overall well-being. In fiscal 2024, we continued our focus on:
Caregiver support benefits through Joshin, a support system for employees and their loved ones with a focus on disabilities and neurodivergence;
Caregiver support benefits that enable employees to receive personalized help in a time of great need through Wellthy, a program that helps with emergency housing, healthcare, substance abuse, complex eldercare issues and other moments of crisis;
Pay continuation (paid leave) and caregiver pay so employees can care for themselves and their loved ones;
Parental leave that provides qualifying employees up to 10 weeks at 100% pay;
Dedicated support through Included Health, a benefit that connects members to culturally competent providers who understand the unique needs of their community;
Access to physical and mental health virtual visits;
Emergency assistance through the HOPE Fund – Helping Our People in Emergencies – in equal partnership with the Richard M. Schultze Family Foundation, providing employees in hardship situations an opportunity to receive up to $2,500 in financial assistance;
Mental health, including our commitment to raise awareness about mental health, equipping employees with training to notice issues in themselves or others, and then find help; and
Tuition assistance, including the expansion of our partnership schools giving eligible employees the opportunity to earn a degree with no out-of-pocket costs.
The Compensation and Human Resources Committee of our Board oversees risks related to our human capital management through its regular review of our practices, policies and programs, which includes overall employee wellness and engagement in these areas, employee benefit plan compliance, leadership succession planning and wage, retention and hiring programs.
For more information on environmental and social matters, as well as human capital management, please see Best Buy’s Fiscal 2024 Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Report expected to be published later this year, at https://corporate.bestbuy.com/sustainability. This website and the report are not part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and are not incorporated by reference herein.
Available Information
We are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act and its rules and regulations. The Exchange Act requires us to file reports, proxy statements and other information with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). We make available, free of charge on our website, our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, proxy statements and amendments to these reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file these documents with, or furnish them to, the SEC. These documents are posted on our website at https://investors.bestbuy.com. The SEC also maintains a website that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers, including us, that file electronically with the SEC at https://sec.gov.
We also make available, free of charge on our website, our Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation, Amended and Restated By-laws, the Corporate Governance Principles of our Board and our Code of Business Ethics adopted by our Board, as well as the charters of all of our Board's committees: Audit Committee; Compensation and Human Resources Committee; Finance and Investment Policy Committee; and Nominating, Corporate Governance and Public Policy Committee. These documents are posted on our website at https://investors.bestbuy.com.
Copies of any of the above-referenced documents will also be made available, free of charge, upon written request to Best Buy Co., Inc. Investor Relations Department at 7601 Penn Avenue South, Richfield, MN 55423-3645.
Website and Social Media Disclosure
We disclose information to the public concerning Best Buy, Best Buy’s products, content and services and other items through our websites in order to achieve broad, non-exclusionary distribution of information to the public. Some of the information distributed through this channel may be considered material information. Investors and others are encouraged to review the information we make public in the locations below.* This list may be updated from time to time.
For information concerning Best Buy and its products, content and services, please visit: https://bestbuy.com.
For information provided to the investment community, including news releases, events and presentations, and filings with the SEC, please visit: https://investors.bestbuy.com.
For the latest information from Best Buy, including press releases, please visit: https://corporate.bestbuy.com/archive/.
- These corporate websites, and the contents thereof, are not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K nor deemed filed with the SEC.
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