Best Buy to lay off hundreds of employees in stores across the U.S. to focus on e-commerce

According to foreign media reports, as more and more people shop online and sales of consumer electronics are weak, Best Buy, the largest electronics retailer in the United States, will lay off hundreds of employees across the country. A company spokesperson has confirmed the layoffs but declined to disclose specific numbers.

But people familiar with the matter said the decision affects hundreds of jobs at Best Buy's more than 900 stores in the United States, mainly consultants who specialize in selling complex products such as computers and smartphones. The laid-off employees can receive severance pay or reapply for other positions within the company.

"We are evolving our stores and shopping experience to better reflect changes in customer shopping behaviors and to ensure our teams can deliver the best expertise, products and services," Best Buy said in a statement.

Best Buy sees the layoffs as a shift in its priorities, with plans to add thousands of customer-facing online employees and invest in growth areas such as its Totaltech membership program and health business, the report said.

Best Buy had more than 90,000 employees in the U.S. and Canada as of the end of January, down from nearly 125,000 at the beginning of 2020, financial documents show.

Online sales have become a more meaningful part of Best Buy’s business. About a third of Best Buy’s U.S. sales came from its online business in the fiscal year ended in late January, up from just 19% in the fiscal year ended in late January 2020, Chief Executive Officer Corie Barry said on its fourth-quarter earnings call.

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