Best Buy's defining moves.
The defining strategic moves at Best Buy — each one explained and grounded in the record.
The Turnaround · Decision Forks
Price-Matching Didn't Save Best Buy. It Just Stopped the Bleeding.
The legend says Best Buy beat Amazon by matching its prices. The receipts say otherwise: the policy neutralized showrooming, but the profit came from cutting $765M in costs. One lever got the credit; the other did the work.
7 min
The Turnaround · Decision Forks
Best Buy Didn't Beat Amazon. It Made Amazon Pay the Rent.
In 2012 Best Buy was the showroom where 71% of browsers walked out and bought from Amazon. The turnaround everyone calls 'fighting Amazon' was the opposite: Joly stopped fighting price, used the threat as leverage, and turned the enemy's own suppliers into landlords.
8 min
The Distribution Rebellion · Distribution
Best Buy Didn't Bypass the Channel. It Fired the Salesman and Bought the Leverage.
The legend says Best Buy disintermediated its suppliers. The truth runs the other way: it killed commissioned selling in 1989, won bargaining power over manufacturers, and today five suppliers still control roughly 55% of everything it buys.
7 min
The Distribution Rebellion · Decision Forks
Best Buy Beat Showrooming by Surrendering on Price. Then It Won on Everything Else.
In 2013 Best Buy made price-matching Amazon a permanent policy and was hailed for saving itself. But matching Amazon crushed its margin from 25.1% to 22.4%. The real save was the over $1 billion it cut — in annualized savings under Renew Blue — to survive the wound it chose to open.
7 min
The Adjacency Expansion · Growth & Expansion
Best Buy Could Install the Hospital in Your Home. It Couldn't Get the Hospital to Pay.
Best Buy spent over $1.3 billion buying its way into home health, betting Geek Squad's install skill was a moat. Then it took a $475 million impairment, booked $109 million in restructuring charges, and sold Current Health back to its own founder in 2025.
8 min