In a wide-ranging conversation, meet two of Best Buy Canada's standout veteran retail leaders: Mat Povse, Senior Vice President of Operations, and Eric Stockner, Vice President and Category Officer for Food, Home, and Baby. Mat and Eric join me on the mic to talk about big-picture trends, the current and future state of product innovation, this year's Black Friday performance (and what the point of Black Friday anyway), and what it takes to win the retail game in 2024 and beyond.
In a wide-ranging conversation, meet two of Best Buy Canada's standout veteran retail leaders: Mat Povse, Senior Vice President of Operations, and Eric Stockner, Vice President and Category Officer for Food, Home, and Baby. Mat and Eric join me on the mic to talk about big-picture trends, the current and future state of product innovation, this year's Black Friday performance (and what the point of Black Friday anyway), and what it takes to win the retail game in 2024 and beyond.
Mat highlights that technology is now seen as a fundamental human need rather than a mere desire, reshaping consumer behaviour and expectations. They both observe a shift from a digital-first approach during the pandemic to a more balanced omnichannel experience where customers appreciate in-store expert advice. Eric notes that Black Friday has lost some excitement and urgency over the years, becoming more of an extended shopping period than a single event. While e-commerce has been pivotal during the pandemic, they agree that physical stores remain crucial for customer engagement and conversions. Looking ahead to 2024, both see continued investment in in-store experience and technology as key differentiators, focusing on personalizing customer interactions across all touchpoints, including their newly launched Best Buy ads platform.
About Mat
Mat Povse is the Senior Vice President of Best Buy Retail Stores and Operations, Geek Squad Services, and Best Buy Business at Best Buy Canada. In this role, he is responsible for the employee and customer experience, sales and profits for over 180 retail stores across Canada as well as the development and fulfilment of Geek Squad programs and services. Mat joined Best Buy in March of 2014 as Vice President of Merchandising responsible for Home Theatre, Audio, Wireless, Digital Imaging, Geek Squad, and was instrumental in the development and execution of the Major Appliances expansion plan in Canada. Since then, he has held numerous leadership roles, most recently as Vice President of Geek Squad Services. Mat has a passion for inspiring people and teams, and has a knack for facilitating productive alignment between organizations. Mat’s multi-faceted experiences and work including service centric organizations has proven valuable in areas of convergence where he leads the optimization of current capabilities for future state, develops new and innovative partnerships, and integrates services at retail - all of which have helped to enhance Best Buy’s Total Retail experience and set foundations for future growth. Prior to Best Buy, Mat was Vice President of Sales for LG Electronics and has also held key positions at Compaq, TELUS & XM Satellite Radio. Mat holds a Bachelor of General Studies, Business and Liberal Arts from Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia.
About Eric
Twenty years of retail head office experience at Best Buy Canada. Executive level expertise in the fields of Merchandising, Buying, Business Development, Ecommerce, Inventory Management and Marketing. Comfortable leading a large team and passionate about business development and leveraging competitive advantages to win in this fast-changing and increasingly complex retail landscape.
Michael LeBlanc 00:05
Welcome to The Voice of Retail podcast. My name is Michael LeBlanc, and I am your host. This podcast is produced in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.
In a wide-ranging conversation, meet two of Best Buy Canada's standout veteran retail leaders: Mat Povse, Senior Vice President of Operations, and Eric Stockner, Vice President and Category Officer for Food, Home, and Baby. Mat and Eric join me on the mic to talk about big-picture trends, the current and future state of product innovation, this year's Black Friday performance (and what's the point of Black Friday anyway), and what it takes to win the retail game in 2024 and beyond.
Mat And Eric, welcome to The Voice of Retail podcast. How are you both doing? Mat, let's start with you.
Mat Povse 00:46
Great busy as always, this time of year is you know.
Michael LeBlanc 00:49
Yeah.
Mat Povse 00:50
Everybody's healthy, happy and in good spirits.
Michael LeBlanc 00:54
Fantastic and Mat, I should say welcome back, in a way, because it's the first time you and I've been on a mic like this directly, but you were, you and I were on the big stage with Ron two years ago or a year and a half ago, I guess, and I repurposed it. Yeah, I repurposed it onto the podcast. So, you're kind of a, you're kind of a repeat guest, but it's great to have you, have you back on the mic.
And Eric, welcome. Tell me how are you doing, where are we finding you, Eric?
Eric Stockner 01:20
You are finding me in the great city of Vancouver, right now and like Mat doing well, surviving a pretty busy and hectic 2023, survived Black Friday and getting ready for-, for boxing day.
Michael LeBlanc 01:36
Well, like I always say to retailers about a hectic-, and surviving the Black Friday holiday period, the opposite is worse. Slow and boring is not great in our-, in our world. Anyway-
Mat Povse 01:49
True that.
Michael LeBlanc 01:51
Well, listen, like I said, thanks for being on. Let's start. Let's start at the beginning. Let's talk about who you are and what you do for a living. Mat, let's start with you.
Mat Povse 01:56
What do I do for a living, father, first and foremost, grandfather. So that's a full-time job and then there's this company called Best Buy that pays me every second Friday.
Michael LeBlanc 02:11
And it's been paying you for-, for a few years now, right.
Mat Povse 02:14
I check to make sure the check still comes in. I feel very privileged and-, and very-, very honored to be able to head up the stores, you know, our retails teams, the store performance, the store operations, all of our Geek Squad Army nation across Canada, and as well as all of the things that I would say are not products. We, we're-, you know, my team is responsible for membership, warranties, our service offerings, all the other things that we sell that we don't procure through vendors.
Michael LeBlanc 02:48
Okay and-, and I was not kidding, you've been around Best Buy since probably since I guess they came-, you came to Canada, yeah, is it 20 plus years, have I got that right?
Mat Povse 02:59
I joined just before the big consolidation. So, I joined in 2014, but I've always been a part of the Best Buy family. I was on the vendor side before that working with Best Buy as a partner and then they coaxed me to come over and join the retail side and I've been there ever since, and I've never looked back.
Michael LeBlanc 03:15
Fantastic. Now for listeners who may not know the consolidation was Future Shop, which was a two brand, two platform-, two platform go to market now consolidated into-, into Best Buy.
Eric, what about yourself, what's your-, what's your background and how did you find your way into the great retailer that is Best Buy Canada?
Eric Stockner 03:35
Yeah, so my, I've been with Best Buy, it'll be 25 years now.
Michael LeBlanc 03:40
Oh, look at you two. Look at you two guys.
Eric Stockner 03:42
I know. I know. So, I joined right out of school before the-, was even a Best Buy, joined in 1999 and when it was a Future Shop in Vancouver, and of course Best Buy bought Future Shop in 2000.
Michael LeBlanc 03:57
Yep.
Eric Stockner 03:58
I've been at it for a while now. I've worked with Mat for a good part of those 25 years before Mat worked at Best Buy. He was my rep when I was at Future Shop.
Michael LeBlanc 04:09
So, is that like a poacher becoming a gamekeeper kind of thing or the-?
Mat Povse 04:15
We've got an awkward relationship. Eric and I-,
Eric Stockner 04:17
Yes.
Mat Povse 04:19
But it works well,
Eric Stockner 04:20
But it doesn't work well, we have a lot of fun together.
Michael LeBlanc 04:23
20 years later, you're still bringing stuff up like you should have given me that deal. We were better off.
Michael LeBlanc 04:33
Well, that's fantastic and you guys are clearly not paying attention to retail trends because the retail trend is lots of turnover at the senior levels, but I think it's a-, it's a characteristic of Best Buy Canada that I know, right, that there's a lot of longevity and a lot of experience and I would say it must be a great place to work, yeah.
Eric Stockner 04:53
Absolutely.
Mat Povse 04:52
Yeah, we could talk this whole episode about just, you know that point, Michael, it's I've worked I've, I've, I had the privilege unlike, you know, Eric, who started when he was out of school to work for other companies, but there's no place like this one. It is, you know, a lot of companies would say, you know, you've got culture, you've got, you know, great teams, you've got, you know, a great outlook and a great strategy and stuff, but there's something about this place that makes it really, really special and I think, I think that's not only now, but it's certainly run the test of time and there's just, you know, it's unequivocal. Everybody agrees that Best Buy's a pretty awesome-, awesome place to call home.
Michael LeBlanc 05:30
Well, let's, Mat, let's not assume that everybody, of course, Best Buy would be a household name literally and figuratively, to folks, but let's not assume they know everything about Best Buy Canada, how many stores employees, and I guess, you know, the scope and scale of Best Buy, overall, give us a bit of 411 on, on the retailer itself.
Mat Povse 05:49
Yeah. So, you know, Best Buy is a North American, you know, company based out of Minnesota, Minneapolis. In the US, they run around 900 plus stores and in Canada, we run 130 plus locations and then we also have our best buy mobile division, which has roughly around I think 28 or 30 locations, small format, mobile centric stores, and generally the malls.
Mat Povse 06:18
We employ in Canada, you know, it ranges obviously with seasonality from 10 to 12,000 employees across the board from our headquarters right there through to the stores and you know, today more than ever, we're running different types of store formats, different styles and shapes and sizes of Best Buy's, which is a bit of a step change from where we've been, which was sort of a one size fits all the big box location and your, your local area, but and then we're certainly quite a dominant retailer in terms of online as well with one of the top performing '.ca' sites in Canada.
Michael LeBlanc 06:54
Yeah, I was gonna say and you've been in-, in that game a long, long time, you've seen a lot?
Mat Povse 06:58
Yeah, we, I think they were, you know, during the Future Shop era and then certainly when Best Buy came to Canada, we were on the forefront pioneering that-, that-, that space, and we've been doing it ever since.
Eric Stockner 07:07
I think Future Shop was one of the first retail websites to get launched in Canada back in like, '98.
Michael LeBlanc 07:14
Yeah, I do. Remember I launched Hudson's Bay in '99, 2000 and you guys were already the model that we were all looking to, for sure. I remember those days. Remember those fun days very well.
Eric Stockner 07:26
The Dark Ages.
Michael LeBlanc 07:27
So, it was-, it was kind of you know, we all knew it was-, it wasn't going to last, you know, people basically bought two years with this stuff in a year, and it felt to me that manufacturers their focus was on building and then clearing maybe too much inventory. Maybe they you know, maybe they, you know, didn't land this-, didn't stick the landing exactly right and innovation wasn't at the forefront. A, do you-, do you kind of-, does this assessment resonate with you and B, is it your expectation, seeing what you see knowing what you know that we'll have a, an exciting 2024 in terms of the innovation that's going to get consumers off the couch and back into the game?
Michael LeBlanc 07:27
It is-, it is the-, it is the OG day. Look, it's been a pretty exciting year for retail, you both have been in retail for a long time, Eric, my perception-, I'm gonna start with you, my perception rightly or wrongly, for the electronics and home industry, because you cut you-, you sell, of course, more than just electronics. It's kind of a reset year. I've called it the great buy forward. You know, we all bought so much stuff for our homes, because of the unusual lies we're leading during COVID.
Eric Stockner 08:40
Yeah, I agree with you. I mean, unquestionably the last two years or three years, even through the pandemic, and then post pandemic, it's just we dealt with shock after shock from supply chains, and then material shortages. You're right, everyone's focus was just on just getting through it, keeping heads above water. I think we are seeing some stabilization now. There's no question. There is a ton of innovation that's in the pipeline that was in the pipeline.
Eric Stockner 09:11
You know, it started coming to market this year. But I think we're really going to have a chance to get back to the new normal and to launch innovation, which is by the way, what we're really good at Best Buy.
Michael LeBlanc 09:24
Yeah.
Eric Stockner 09:25
It's feeling like we're going to be back in our wheelhouse. In a big way next year.
Michael LeBlanc 09:30
Yeah.
Eric Stockner 09:31
We've always been, you know, about the latest and greatest, first to market and getting new, new innovation into customers' hands and it's going to, you know, it's going to feel good next year. I think when we-, when we go after those campaigns again, in a really meaningful way. It's going to be a big focus for us.
Michael LeBlanc 09:52
Well, you've always been such a great showcase for innovation and without innovation, then, you know, you kind of got one hand that is quite exactly tied behind your back and I and now, you must, you know, the-, these things are in a long run cycle. So, you must already be seeing the innovation, and you go down to, like, CES. So, the, the NRF Big Show, like, how do you find-, obviously the vendors find you, you're not hard to find, but how do you look for innovation, what's your process of finding the stuff that nobody else sees, and that you bring to your customers and all that value that you translate in innovation?
Eric Stockner 10:26
Well, we're I mean, we're really privileged, you know, because of the size of our company, and who we are that we get early access to a lot of this innovation. You know, I just got back from a trip to Korea from, you know, four or five weeks ago, we were over in Europe, through the summer, you know, we get an opportunity to actually sit with vendors, and not just the salespeople, but we sit with the engineers, we sit with the designers and we get to look at the roadmaps for their, for their product innovation and lifecycle. So it's at that early stage, you know, we might be sitting in a room with a-, with an engineer, and they're talking about what they want to bring to market two years from now.
Eric Stockner 11:07
But that allows us to put some placeholders, you know, in, in, in the calendar, and allows us to kind of think about, okay, well, how do we, how do we want our stores to look two years from now so that we can properly sell that innovation, what do we need to do to ensure that our displays are capable of communicating and showing that innovation to customers so that we can do a good job of selling it, so it's really-, it starts early and it starts often in the boardrooms of, of some of these suppliers and innovators.
Eric Stockner 11:43
That's where we first see it and then we get chances, like at CES and at some of the trade shows and some of the-, the other opportunities for us to get together to kind of reinforce the message and reinforce the idea. Okay, that one does make sense. You know, or maybe now that I've seen a different version of, you know, another vendor's iteration of how they solve a particular problem, maybe that innovation is better, and we can start to change tack a little bit.
Michael LeBlanc 12:13
Now-
Eric Stockner 12:13
And then start early.
Michael LeBlanc 12:14
Yeah, let's talk about the other side of that equation. So, everybody's pitching you everything because your Best Buy, as a merchant, how do you triangulate what I mean, there's probably more choice than you have to offer. Of course, the website offers, you know, endless aisles, but you know, it's an 80/20 game, how do you figure out as a merchant, how do you triangulate what you think Canadian consumers want, or may think-, or may want with all the things you've seen.
Eric Stockner 12:42
Yeah.
Michael LeBlanc 12:42
And, you know, you gotta make some priority decisions, something's got to be a priority, or nothing is, you know, what, I mean, how do you-, how do you think about that?
Eric Stockner 12:49
Well, that's-, that's awesome and I think that's where, you know, you just gotta put your consumer hat on for a little while, and sometimes we don't do enough of that, but at the end of the day, we're all consumers, we're human beings, you know, we need products, you know, I need-, I need-, I need and use products the same as our customers do and you're right, like, as Best Buy, we get pitched so much by so many and often, just because an engineer can do something, that doesn't mea-, mean that a consumer is going to want it.
Michael LeBlanc 13:22
Metaverse.
Eric Stockner 13:23
And we see so many examples of vendors, manufacturers bringing things to market that are really cool, but don't really have a good practical use and so we've got to filter a lot of that out and to be totally honest, it's just putting on that customer at thinking of myself as a customer, or, you know, the buyers that we have just, you know, human first, customer first approach, and you can weed a lot of that out and that's where got really comes into play with buying, you know, if you've got a good gut feel that this is going to make sense for a customer go after it, but if it's not feeling right, if you just what is you know, really what problem we're trying to solve here. If you can't answer that question, then just move on.
Michael LeBlanc 14:14
Yeah, kind of the art and science of retail as it's often described, and the science of-, of merchandising, Mat, let's talk about let's take a step, kind of let's change track, take a step back and broaden the aperture of the lens. What-, what kind of changes have you perceived in not necessarily in retail itself but maybe but mostly about post COVID consumers, I mean, I've got to think work from home has been you know, both a positive and a negative for someone who sells a lot of productivity products. People-, are people's shopping more closer to home I've heard retailers say listen the-, you know, the downtown locations are a little draggy because you know, a couple of days a week people from home but we're making it up and in the rural or urban I should say location than e-commerce, just give me a me a sense of what for you has changed as an operator after post COVID, after the COVID era and what the world we live in today?
Mat Povse 15:11
Yes, it's super interesting. I think the fact that we're years afterwards almost, we're still talking about the
Mat Povse 15:19
Post COVID world says a lot about the time, because there still is certainly impacts that we're feeling today coming through that era, but, you know, I think during the pandemic, it was very easy to believe, especially for omni channel retailers that consumers were going to and had to migrate to a digital mindset, digital first attitude, shopping, engaging, relating, researching, procuring all that stuff through a digital venues or, and then that would stick post COVID and what I think we're finding very interesting is that, in a, you know, we, we certainly saw that first and foremost, as Best Buy is a technology destination.
Michael LeBlanc 15:19
Yeah.
Mat Povse 15:21
The first thing we were shocked by was just, you know how, in demand for our products, and we were through that era, and it really shifted our mindset to kind of coming to realize that technology is no longer just this desirable, want, it's a fundamental human need. That's, that's the shift that's sort of-, that's taking hold, it's hard to imagine consumers at large living a life without technology and so that-, that creates a sort of an awareness and, and a reflection that says we've got to take this even more seriously than we ever have and so our problem isn't necessarily the demand for the products that we sell, but what we're seeing, and you've seen this before, we you know, retailers often segment customers based on what they buy, you know, or with their, with their ability to buy is how much money do they earn, what demographic do they come in, and so forth.
Mat Povse 17:01
And we're kind of shifting that thinking now we're, we're seeing, obviously, with the migration of work from, from home, that's been a huge migration. We play in the span of business-to-business and, you know, direct-to-consumer. So, we've got a view on both of those realms. And what we're seeing is, it's not as much about what they're buying. Certainly, we matter. Certainly, COVID kicked up sort of a-, sort of juiced the refreshment cycle, I think two years, three years later, we're going to see a lot of customers who bought products during COVID are going to be looking to upgrade those products.
Mat Povse 17:40
So we get the benefit of, of a new refresh cycle upon us, but I think back to the, the segmentation, we think about customers a little differently in terms of not what they want to buy, per se, but how they want to shop and we're seeing very distinct segments in-, in our-, in our popul-, population of customers that are choosing to shop a certain way, they're the ones that are digital first. They-, they like the convenience of online, they already know what they want to buy, they may still well choose to come to a store, either to validate their research, maybe they need an extra level of service that isn't offered online, or they just want it right away, it's the fastest way to get your product.
Mat Povse 18:26
There's another segment of customers who are still quite ready to walk in and want the help of an expert. And we get to play in both of those realms. And then the one thing that we've also noticed is just the attitude of customers in terms of I love my technology, but I just want it to work, I don't want to think about it, I don't want to set it up, you know, I don't want all the hassle. I just want it to do what-, it's what it's designed to do. And we've got the services armed to help there too and then the last thing I would say is, you know, it's not you know, obviously we use technology for very different things. You know, some-, some of us need stuff to work, you know, like we're doing right now I've got a camera, I've got a home office setup, but there's a lot of-, a lot of energy and inertia going into technology that helps people connect with other people.
Mat Povse 19:17
And we see this alive and well in our mobile business and we see this really alive and well and anything continued it would be considered gaming, you know, connectivity to that whole, you know, meta-realm as it were and you know, we often think about gaming as just a, as a form of entertainment, but it's actually more than anything. If you talk to gamers, it's a form of connectivity. It's how they stay in touch with their friends. It's how they socialize from the comfort of their home and we're just seeing that business take off and so, it buried in gaming, which is again perceived as entertainment in a-, in a-, in a post COVID world where we got used to being at home, but staying connected to be pull around this, we're seeing these categories really, really do well, and carry through.
Michael LeBlanc 20:05
Let's talk about holiday. Let's talk about, let's talk about the now, we've talked to these big picture things, but, you know, how does it all come together and how was Black Friday, Cyber Monday, the-, the first, the first kind of leg of the big marathon and what did you see and-, and I've heard and proceed, you know, I talked to a lot of retailers writing the retail conditions report and we've seen data coming out of everybody and anybody from the nearest RBC saying up, down and sideways, what was-, what was your experience, what was hot and what was not, and were consumers swinging the door and clicking the mouse, what-, give me all the 411, what happened?
Eric Stockner 20:40
Oh, in a word, meh. You know, I think it's just that kind of a Black Friday and here's the thing with Black Friday, you know, okay, so yeah, we-, we had an okay Black Friday it was-, it was decent.
Michael LeBlanc 20:59
Met-, would you say met, exceed or fall short of expectations?
Eric Stockner 21:04
I say meh, fall short of slightly short of expectations.
Michael LeBlanc 21:09
Okay.
Eric Stockner 21:10
But, you know, we know it's soft out there and I think the thing with Black Friday is, and as a retailer, you know, we've kind of created this monster. Although it's kind of a toothless monster, like, it feels to me like this. What was a very defined event is now a very amorphous kind of shopping period. It's not exciting anymore, right, it-, customers are cont-
Michael LeBlanc 21:43
It's hard to make it exciting-, it's hard to make it exciting.
Eric Stockner 21:47
Well, now it doesn't really have a true beginning. It kind of starts somewhere in mid-October and it carries through to November doesn't really have a true end that kind of ends somewhere in early December and what's missing, and this, again, is no fault, it isn't the fault of best buy. It's not the fault of retail, but it's kind of what-, kind of, you-, we talked about the pandemic, you know, what happened during the pandemic is we suddenly didn't want customers lining up outside of our stores. We didn't want mass, you know, hordes of customers, stampeding to get deals. So we stopped doing the door crashers and we stopped doing the big, sort of, you know, we stopped creating urgency and we've created this-, this, as I said, this sort of shopping period, not an event, not an exciting thing to do, but just this period of shopping.
Eric Stockner 22:39
And so, it's taken a lot of the excitement out of what is, you know, shouldn't be a very exciting period. So that's kind of why I say meh, I mean, yeah, we hit you know, largely, we hit our targets, and you know, we get through it. It's just, you know, if you've been in retail 25 years, there's something about retail that you love, the excitement, you love the lineups, you love the door crashes, you love seeing customers get excited, right. So that's kind of what's happened with Black Friday. Now, there's kind of a silver lining to all of this. As far as I'm concerned, you know, we're lucky in Canada, because we still have this great event that sort of a Canadian event called Boxing Day, right and Boxing Day does have a hard start. You know, it's the day after Christmas and so you know, we've-
Michael LeBlanc 23:35
And a hard end too, like December 31, like January, pretty much unless there-, I remember one year, there's some bad weather, everybody extended it a bit in southern Ontario, but more or less. It's a very defined period. Okay, I’ve got a question for you.
Michael LeBlanc 23:46
Yeah.
Michael LeBlanc 23:47
You and I, you and I have been in the industry the same amount of time. I remember as I'm sure you both did when there was no Black Friday in Canada right. Now we would kind of pine for something that kicked off the event, but over the course of time, right, for a whole bunch of reasons. We, we adopted and everybody is an industry adopt of Black Friday, could we put the toothpaste back in the tube, could we all say together, not of course all, because that would be illegal, but could we all say, you know because America-, if you look at what happened in America, right.
Eric Stockner 24:19
I personally believe the genies out of the bottle, and I think it's going to morph into whatever, you know, consumers want it to morph into. I-, It's not the sense of, you know, as we've just talked about Black Friday is not the same as it was when we kind of launched in Canada, 10 years ago or whenever it was and you've got to remember that it's even, it's just an artificial thing in Canada anyways, because we don't even have Thanksgiving here in November.
Michael LeBlanc 24:19
A lot of retailers got together and said we're not going to open on Thanksgiving anymore because we want to give our people a break. We don't think it's the right thing to do for families that started with, like, the Patagonia's of the world but then pretty much everybody accepted it right e-commerce of course helped. Could we as an industry because I think, A, do you agree, would you agree that Black Friday doesn't really increase your annual sales. It just moves it around a bit. You get a big lull before the day you get a trough of death after the day and as you say, you know, there's it's kind of like done its time. Like, do these things have to go on forever, can we, can we start backing away, walk-back Black Friday.
Michael LeBlanc 25:29
Can we just cancel it like can we just cancel-, we love boxing day, that's our event. Everybody else does what you want. We love our event, and you know what, it's actually good for retail because you get the blow out stuff.
Mat Povse 25:42
I just have a couple of things to say, you know, you also have to remember but you know, as Canadians we pay a lot of attention to what goes on in the US whether it's politics, or, you know, current events, and, you know, pop culture and so forth, but when the dollar is at par, Black Friday's very material. The deals in the US are things that we've never seen before here in Canada. I think we forget, though, that I think now for the past 5, 6, 7 years, the dollar has not been at par and so we don't pay as much attention to the US as you know, sales-.
Michael LeBlanc 26:20
People aren't lining up at the borders the way that they used to.
Michael LeBlanc 26:22
Yeah, well, you're big-, you're big enough, you're big enough to create that, you be the change. That's like an [inaudible] episode, you guys be the change.
Mat Povse 26:22
That's right. And so-, so but to er-, to echo, Eric, I don't I do think the genies out of the bottle and one of the things that we're seeing is, again, in post COVID world, we're seeing where-, where retailers were forced to spread out, you know, that that key event-, that Black Friday event is cross as many weeks as possible. In the-, in the pursuit of safety for people. Our general memory of things is coming back to reality. I think over the last two years, we're starting to see, you know, people's sentiments migrate back towards the Black Friday day, not exactly to the day, but again, to Eric's point, we haven't really played that promotional game where there is a one day offer that is so crazy, you have to go and, you know, put a sleeping bag out in front of one of our stores in order to get it, you know, so to speak and so that that level of excitement and urgency and fanfare is not in the system right now, but as we all know, this business is interesting. It takes one person to move their pawn forward.
Mat Povse 27:35
Writing it down. This sounds like an invitation.
Michael LeBlanc 27:37
It starts right here right now on The Voice of Retail podcast with my exclusive interview.
Mat Povse 27:41
But as a business though it's really important to say is this actually, I think you're asking a really important question, is it a good thing that we get to take some pressure off the system, because at the end of the day, those big days when they're huge as they used to be, it puts an enormous strain on people.
Michael LeBlanc 27:58
Yeah.
Mat Povse 27:59
Customers and employees alike.
Michael LeBlanc 28:01
Supply chain, everything.
Mat Povse 28:02
There's a second order benefit of actually spreading out the sales across the board. So, everybody gets kind of the same deal and we make it a little easier to manage for everybody.
Michael LeBlanc 28:12
Eric, what's it going to take to-, moving on to 2024, what's it going to take to win for retailers in 2024, from-, and I'll focus on the product side, but, you know, I do think there's been a real drag on innovation. I think people are spending money on Taylor Swift concerts in Vancouver, not on other things and listen, I spent a bunch of years with Black and Decker and we made power drills that lasted a lifetime and we knew that you had to do something different to get somebody to set aside a working product to take a new one and that's something different was innovation, right, so what's your-, how are you feeling about 2024, you've kind of foreshadowed a little bit and can you give us any clues about products you're particularly excited about?
Eric Stockner 28:55
Thinking just about 2024 and what's it gonna take to win, I think that's, you know, we're getting we're getting back to basics and retail, right, and, you know, as my favorite question is, retail is a game of inches, right, like it's, it's, there's never one big silver bullet, it's going to be the cumulative effort of all the little things that you do, right and you know, and that's where Mat and his team and the store teams are really making the difference for us at Best Buy because we are, you know, when you think about our stores, and you think about the investments we make in the stores and the blue shirts in the stores, that to me is where we're going to be winning.
Eric Stockner 29:39
And that's how you win in retail is that final moment when the customer is in the store and they're about to make a purchase decision and you can give them that extra bit of service. You can give them that extra experience, you know, in the way that they interact with some of the merchandise we have in the store in the and the displays we have, I think it's-, what's going to take to win and retail is to meet customers at that level and make sure you, you convert that sale at that time. You know, we're investing, we've invested heavily in our stores over the last couple of years, and we're going to continue to invest heavily in the stores because that is where the customers, you know, at the end of the day, that's where the rubber meets the road.
Eric Stockner 30:24
And so is the level of interactivity of our displays, you know, is really important. So what we're working with our vendors on now, is making sure that they've got the right displays, that the displays are working, that they're engaging, and that customers can use them and to understand the technology that they're, they're buying and so for me, it's-, the stores are going to be the biggest differentiator for us, I think, in the years ahead. Not-, not to diminish the fact that that, you know, as Mat had previously said that the digital sphere is what's really allowed us to-, to grow and win in the market through the pandemic, but that omni channel environment that we're-, we've worked so hard on, is really going to pay off for us, I think in 2024.
Michael LeBlanc 31:21
Mat, last question for you. When you and I were together on stage, we were talking about how happy you were with the marketplace and how that was functioning. Let's talk about Best Buy Ads. So, the retail media network stuff. I don't know if that falls under your purview, but certainly, Best Buy and Best Buy Canada's a leader and getting into the retail media game. Any comments and thoughts on, you had some big, huge numbers thrown out like Dr. Evil size, billions and billions.
Mat Povse 31:48
I'm holding my pinky up to my mouth right now, as you ask this question.
Michael LeBlanc 31:50
Yeah, I mean, you know, if you believe 10% of that number things, things look pretty good, but we all know, it's not going to be that easy, but again, you guys are in front of it. Any comments on the retail Media Network prospects?
Mat Povse 32:02
Yeah, I mean, it's part of a-, as part of a digital push. So, I mean, just-, just to build on what Eric was saying, and they tie together nicely, you know, if you-, if you just take a step back and follow the dollars, where's this company investing. You know, we've got, you know, our single biggest-, biggest expense lines in our organization would be, you know, the cost and of our store infrastructure. I mean, that's obvious and we continue to see investments in those stores, new store formats, you know, and investment in the existing stores, so that we put our best foot forward, not just on our behalf but on behalf of all of the many vendors that we do business-, brands that we do business with, who invest billions of dollars in R & D on their products, and keep this thing moving. The second line is talent and people and, you know, service agents and that whole notion, but, you know, right up there is a top investment for our organization is technology.
Mat Povse 32:54
Absolutely, unequivocally, we are technology forward and we are investing in data, data lakes, oceans, skies, clouds, whatever you want to call them and all in the pursuit of really being able to know our customers not on mass, but personally and so that, to Eric's point, when they walk into a store they're getting a level of experience that is unique to them and that's really where the-, where stores meet data, meet omni channel and it all comes together in some sort of fashion where the customer is in total control, they get to decide what they want, where they want, how they want it and they believe that that's how they're treated no matter which realm, they step foot in.
Mat Povse 33:31
So that's our ambition. That's what 2024 unlocks for us. We're making huge leaps and bounds there, and you know, the-, the-, the Best Buy Ads platform is just one component of that, which just basically exemplifies that we've got huge traffic on our dossier platforms, we've got huge traffic in our stores and screens galore and, you know, we don't have enough content to push against that. So let's-, let's-, let's invite others to participate on that-, on that-, on that-, on those railway tracks, as it were, and, you know, present something to the customer, no matter where they're shopping with us and it's, you know, I think we just kicked it off in a meaningful way this year and it's blowing-, it's blowing away our expectations so.
Michael LeBlanc 34:14
Fantastic.
Mat Povse 34:15
We're really happy with that too.
Michael LeBlanc 34:16
Well, you got a whole new set of competitors, right, you compete with the platforms for all those brand dollars. So good luck. I want to touch base with you. I'm asking everybody about this question, but thanks for giving us that perspective. All right. Well, this has been a fantastic conversation. Mat, if people want to, are you a LinkedIn person, if people want to get in touch, learn more. Where, how do we get in touch?
Mat Povse 34:37
Yeah, LinkedIn is a great platform for that. I'm there, I'm available and I poke my head in every single day.
Michael LeBlanc 34:43
Fantastic. Eric, what about you if there's a-, there's a vendor who somehow hasn't got your contact information yet or perhaps they have something else that you listen to.
Mat Povse 34:52
I can give you Eric's home address.
Eric Stockner 34:54
I was going to say reach out to Mat.
Michael LeBlanc 34:58
Let's talk-, right. Let's talk, you're right here and are you a LinkedIn guy, Eric, or what's the best way to get in touch?
Eric Stockner 35:02
Yes. LinkedIn guy. I may not be checking it daily, but I'm, I'm in there.
Michael LeBlanc 35:08
All right, fantastic. Well, gentlemen, it's been a real treat to chit and chatting with you. Congratulations on all your success and I wish you continued success. Thanks for joining me on the pod and I wish you and your families a great holiday and an exciting 2024, for-, for all of us.
Eric Stockner 35:25
Thanks for the opportunity, Michael. It was fun.
Mat Povse 35:28
Nice to be with you.
Michael LeBlanc 35:31
Thanks for tuning into this episode of The Voice of Retail. If you haven't already, follow on your favorite podcast platform so new episodes will land automatically each week and be sure and check out my other retail industry media properties, the Remarkable Retail podcast with Steve Dennis, and the Global E-Commerce Leaders podcast.
I'm your host Michael LeBlanc, senior retail advisor, keynote speaker, Rethink Retail 2023 Global Top Retail Influencer. If you want more content or to chat, follow me on LinkedIn.
Safe travels everyone.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
retail, buy, stores, customers, Black Friday, innovation, retailers, Canada, Eric, years, consumers, day, products, big, game, matt, home, talk, vendors, great