Rudy Lai

AI @ Best Buy

Major electronics retailer
Industry
Last updated
July 3, 2025 at 10:44 AM

Summary

  • Best Buy has aggressively integrated AI technologies from Q2 2024 onwards, focusing initially on generative AI to revolutionize customer support, partnering with Google Cloud and Accenture, leading to improved personalized support and partial automation, alongside significant workforce restructuring.
  • In late 2024 and early 2025, Best Buy expanded AI applications to delivery tracking, personalized shopping experiences, dynamic pricing, and operational efficiency, introducing AI-powered search features and agentic AI tools, aiming to enhance product discovery and streamline customer interactions.
  • By 2025, Best Buy is leveraging AI not only internally but also pushing AI-enabled product sales such as AI-powered laptops and tablets, indicating an upward trend in AI adoption impacting both customer experience and revenue growth prospects under CEO Corie Barry's leadership.

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5 AI Use Cases at Best Buy

Search Experience
2025
Customer Facing
Traditional
Generative
Agentic
Outcome
Best Buy is rolling out AI-enhanced search on its website and app to provide fewer but more relevant search results, with conversational filtering and richer product information to help customers make quicker and more confident purchase decisions. [1][2]
Operational Efficiency
2025
Traditional
Generative
Agentic
Outcome
Costs
Best Buy employs agentic AI tools internally to optimize store operations, staff training, inventory management, and customer service workflows, aiming to streamline efficiencies and cost management across its retail footprint. [1][2]
Personalized Shopping
2025
Customer Facing
Traditional
Generative
Agentic
Outcome
Revenue
Best Buy applies AI-driven algorithms for personalized product recommendations and dynamic pricing, helping customers discover relevant products and enabling dynamic pricing to optimize sales and inventory. [1][2]
Delivery Tracking
2024
Customer Facing
Traditional
Generative
Agentic
Outcome
Best Buy utilizes AI to provide customers with live, minute-by-minute updates on deliveries and installation appointments, enabling better transparency, issue resolution, and scheduling management. [1][2]
Customer Support
2024
Customer Facing
Traditional
Generative
Agentic
Outcome
Best Buy deploys AI-powered virtual assistants and generative AI to provide real-time troubleshooting, order management, and personalized assistance across online and phone channels, enhancing customer service efficiency while supplementing human agents. [1][2][3][4]

Timeline

2026 Q1: no updates

2025 Q4

1 updates

Best Buy maintained focus on technology advancements including artificial intelligence during the holiday shopping surge. AI continued to be positioned as a resilience and growth factor, though mostly covered generally without new specific AI initiatives.

2025 Q3

1 updates

Best Buy continued to highlight AI-powered tech among its product offerings, including AI-integrated PCs (CoPilot+PCs) and gadgets. AI-enabled products became a notable theme reflecting technology upgrades aimed at consumer lifestyle enhancement.

2025 Q2

2 updates

Best Buy announced plans to integrate agentic AI to improve customer service, store operations, and efficiency. AI-powered search enhancements were planned for the website and app to provide more relevant and natural product discovery experiences, aiming to boost customer confidence and engagement.

2025 Q1

2 updates

Best Buy expanded AI applications to personalized product recommendations, dynamic pricing, and AI-powered customer support. The retailer also promoted AI-enabled devices like AI tablets and voice-activated gadgets. Accenture highlighted AI's role in enhancing both customer and employee experiences.

2024 Q4

1 updates

Best Buy joined other retailers in employing generative AI to assist holiday shoppers with gift ideas, expanding AI usage beyond support and logistics to enhance shopping decisions during peak season.

2024 Q3

3 updates

Best Buy launched AI-powered delivery tracking tools providing customers live updates on large-item deliveries and technician arrivals. The company aimed to improve operational efficiency and personalized shopping experiences using AI. CEO Corie Barry highlighted AI-enabled laptops and smartphones as a new growth avenue.

2024 Q2

4 updates

Best Buy announced and began implementing a generative AI strategy in customer support. The company partnered with Google Cloud and Accenture to develop AI-powered virtual assistants to help customers with troubleshooting and managing orders. This launch coincided with workforce layoffs as AI replaced some customer service roles. CEO Corie Barry emphasized readiness to sell AI-enabled personal computers.