Fast Five Shorts | Pro Or Con: Best Buy’s New Marketplace
In the latest edition of Omni Talk’s Retail Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Simbe, Ocampo Capital and Scratch Event DJs Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga discuss: If They're Pro Or Con: Best Buy’s New Marketplace
For the full episode head here: https://youtu.be/MHY9wOkZ0LI
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Transcript
CEO Corey Berry told investors about the new marketplace on an earnings call in November, saying it would give its customers access to a larger assortment and new categories.
Speaker A:It will also give sellers and advertisers a new avenue on which to increase their reach and build their brands.
Speaker A:She said the new platform is a partnership with Miracle, a software company that also powers third party marketplaces for Macy's, Nordstrom and Kroger, which.
Speaker A:Which you've definitely heard me say before because Miracle is also a sponsor of this podcast.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:Full disclosure.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:And it that complement this traditional e commerce sites with a larger selection from third party sellers.
Speaker A: , from: Speaker A: rson told E commerce bites in: Speaker A:Chris, this is also our A and M put you on the spot question.
Speaker B:Wow, I'm on a roll with these questions.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:All right, let's do it.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Chris, Marketplaces continue to thrive and multiply.
Speaker A:Call them the new retail media network.
Speaker A:To that end, will marketplaces like Best Buy stand on their own long term, or will this proliferation of independent retailer marketplaces end up significantly consolidating?
Speaker B:Interesting.
Speaker B:Interesting.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker B: ey're the new retail media of: Speaker B:Yeah, I think, I think they're a little bit different here.
Speaker B:And, and to answer that question, I don't really see any, I don't really see any consolidation.
Speaker B:I think, you know, some marketplace efforts will be more successful than others and some will get the traffic, therefore, and others won't.
Speaker B:But at the end of the day, running them has gotten so much more efficient because of the platforms that are out there that I think it makes it easier for people to try to do this and see to what degree a marketplace works for them.
Speaker B:But yeah, I don't see consolidation of marketplace efforts happening.
Speaker B: e thing I'd call it, it's not: Speaker B: now, it's not, it's two, it's: Speaker B:Yeah, and, and retail and Best Buy have both changed a lot.
Speaker B:In the last 10 years, like, I think this 10 years has seen the most change in retail that I can ever remember.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B: erent than, you know, back in: Speaker B:One, platforms like Miracle just make it easier.
Speaker B:Like I said already, like, they make it easier and you know, there's a lot of platforms you can do this with.
Speaker B:But, but you know, they're using Miracle, they're a sponsor, and it just makes it easier to do.
Speaker B:Second, the omnichannel sophistication with which retailers are operating is far greater than it ever was.
Speaker B:So the idea of returns being the hamstringing factor here isn't as large of a concern as it probably was before.
Speaker B:I think people have started to figure out how to do things around that.
Speaker B:Different business models, different technology solutions have come up around solving that problem and it will continue to get better and better.
Speaker B:And then here's the last point I'd add too, or no, second to last point.
Speaker B:Actually, I got another point after this.
Speaker B:Third, I think subscriptions are a bigger part of the game here.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So, and loyalty.
Speaker B:And we learned from Christian Ravo yesterday at the Reva Group that loyalty is a key piece of my fourth point, which is going to be retail media.
Speaker B:So teas.
Speaker B:But Best Buy has a pretty robust loyalty program with lots of great benefits.
Speaker B:So I could see customers going on their sites, on their site, wanting to purchase other items from Best Buy, given their loyalty and the fringe benefits that come with being a member.
Speaker B:And fourth, of course, the retail media landscape is way different.
Speaker B:We've talked about this a lot on our show.
Speaker B:But retail media, the marketplaces extend the reach of retail media.
Speaker B:And Best Buy is one of those retailers that has a national retail media reach.
Speaker B:So for all those reasons, those four reasons, I think, I think this is a great move by Best Buy Salute Corey Barry and hope we can get them on the show to talk about it more.
Speaker A:Yeah, I agree.
Speaker A:I mean, you kind of hit on all the points, Chris, that I, I, I agree with.
Speaker A:I think, you know, it's a search game.
Speaker A:If you, if you can show up to more people, you have more access.
Speaker A:And like you said, you know, Best Buy has a great loyalty program.
Speaker A:They also, I think, have things like that they can tie in down the road.
Speaker A:That makes sense, like Geek Squad support for those items.
Speaker A:I do also think that the returns issue can be solved.
Speaker A:I mean, you take a look at what Walmart's doing with their, Walmart, you know, with Walmart plus and what they're doing with their marketplace, like, they've got it figured out.
Speaker A:The solution is out there.
Speaker A:Best Buy is an intelligent retailer.
Speaker A:They can definitely figure that out.
Speaker A:And that's a great value to Best Buy's customers.
Speaker A:The other thing too, that I'm also curious to see if Best Buy starts to bring into this.
Speaker A:You know, they built that platform, platform where you can go on bestbuy.com and you can click the button and do a live demo with a blue shirt right then and there.
Speaker A:I mean, if they can expand that capability to offer that to their marketplace vendors too, where like, hey, you want to use our technology in order to like have a conversation with this person about the patio set that they're about to buy from Best Buy like this, this is a great opportunity.
Speaker A:And I think you're 100% right in that this isn't a one and done thing.
Speaker A:But Best Buy is coming back to this with new strategic measures in place to make sure that this is successful.
Speaker A:So I, I salute the move as well.
Speaker A:I think it's a great, great, great revisiting of the marketplace and definitely picking the right partner in Miracle.
Speaker A:We've, we've worked with them quite a bit and I think they, they've seen a lot of the retailers they're working with are seeing a lot of success from that.
Speaker A:So.
