What: Best Buy in the US to reduce space allocated to customers, in favour of digital orders fulfilment.

Why it is important: They plan to reduce by up to 50% the store space, altering also one of their initial key features, the width of assortment.

US Electronics retailer Best Buy decided to take the bull by the horns after seeing its online sales tripling last quarter and decided to roll over a plan to reshape its stores. Their retail surface will be reduced by up to 50%, and the free space will be allocated to digital orders fulfilment capabilities. This also will lead to a new definition of roles among salespersons, including some layoffs that will be announced in the future.

This last point set aside is also the strategy that is followed by IADS member SM Store, who is “rightsizing” its retail surface in order to find the right match between physical retail and digital capabilities.

Best Buy tests smaller shopping areas to focus on e-commerce