Long known as a reputable electronics retailer, Best Buy has spawned a number of profitable subsidiaries. Perhaps the best known iteration is its tech support service, the Geek Squad. But now Best Buy hopes to capitalize on a new revenue stream, by launching its own proprietary retail media network. (For insights pertaining to retail network media and their implications, see the previous abstracts, “Selling Point: Retail Media Must Evolve,” March 2025, and “Understanding the Retail Network Media Phenomenon,” August 2023.)

Amazon leads the retail media network space, by leaps and bounds (and profits). Yet for Best Buy, a specialized retail media network could enable it to corner the revenues of a dedicated consumer market segment, interested in connecting with suppliers of high-end audiovisual components, household appliances, and network gear. Beyond offering such informative links to consumers, the marketplace could represent an alternative revenue source for the retailer itself, earned through the advertising it would sell to those suppliers that want to connect with its loyal customers.

Thus far, the company’s advertising earnings have been concentrated around just a small number of supplier brands. To expand its retail media network, Best Buy has partnered with Mirakl, the technology company that also has enabled Kroger to establish its retail media network in the grocery sector. Yet it also can take some internal inspiration: Best Buy’s Canadian e-commerce platform has operated a successful third-party advertising site for several years.

Once Best Buy opened applications to advertise on its retail media network, near the end of 2024, it immediately began issuing new reports and promises about the platform’s expanding capabilities. It also has expressed continued confidence that this initiative will prove beneficial, and profitable, for customers, suppliers, and the retailer itself. Yet observers continue to express caution about the very idea of specialized retail media networks. Arguably, the third-party advertising and selling platforms can create conflicts of interest with other sales channels, such as Best Buy’s own digital commerce channels. In addition, compared with Amazon, with its nearly universal reach, across virtually every product category, networks focused solely on groceries or electronics might be at a persistent disadvantage that will constrain their viability.

Discussion Questions 

1. What are the potential benefits to Best Buy of launching a media retail network? What are the likely risks?
2. Which other retail sectors or companies that seem well-suited to launch their own, dedicated retail media networks?

Sources: Kiri Masters, “Best Buy’s Marketplace Bet Is Really About Ad Revenue,” Forbes, March 11, 2025; Nicole Silberstein, “Best Buy to Launch Third-Party Marketplace, Again,” Retail TouchPoints, December 19, 2024; Tatiana Walk-Morris, “Best Buy to Launch Third-Party Marketplace This Summer,” Retail Dive, January 21, 2025