Best Buy's New CEO Bonfig Bets on AI TVs, Ads and Marketplace

Jason Bonfig, a 27-year Best Buy veteran, became CEO of the largest U.S. electronics retailer on Nov. 1, inheriting a company that expects its third-party marketplace to hit $1.3 billion in GMV this quarter. He succeeds Corie Barry, who announced the move months earlier. "I've worked closely with Jason for many years and can confidently say he's the right person, with the right vision, to accelerate the company's strategy and take Best Buy into the future," Barry said in a press release at the time.

Best Buy needs the timing to work. Revenue declined 4.43% year over year in 2025, a hangover from consumers who splurged on big-ticket electronics in 2020 and 2021 with stimulus cash. Nobody buys a TV every year. The comps got brutal.

What does the replacement cycle change?

Bonfig and Barry argue a multiyear replenishment wave is starting. "There were about 49 million TVs that were purchased in 2020 in the industry, and we think this is a multiyear replacement cycle," Bonfig said on the second-quarter earnings call in August. That's roughly one TV per three U.S. households, if you want the scale.

Best Buy's play is the RGB LED TV, which it pitches as "the first major upgrade to television screens since OLED." The company secured launch exclusivity with vendors LG and Samsung and trained more than 15,000 employees and vendor reps to sell it.

It's a template Bonfig can repeat: coalesce around a new technology, get exclusivity from vendors, train staff. He has already called AI glasses "a significant growth trend." Home theater and appliances posted positive growth in Q2; gaming comps fell, mostly because 2024 had the Nintendo Switch 2 launch. Best Buy just launched Best Buy Gamers, a website section for gaming news, promotions and big-moment buzz.

"Consistent with the past several quarters, we see a customer who is still spending, but is value-focused and attracted to sales moments," Barry said. Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, put it more bluntly: "Many consumers remain cautious about big-ticket purchases, so every retailer, including Best Buy, needs to convince them to spend big."

Can stores become a destination again?

Two of Bonfig's four stated priorities — "elevating the Best Buy experience" and remaining a "human-powered and customer-focused company" — come down to the store. "The store experience is variable," Saunders said. "Some of the older stores need refurbishment and rejuvenation, as they look tired and are not sufficiently interesting or inspiring. However, Best Buy is aware of this and is making investments."

Bonfig's answer is "reallocating space to higher value experiences," starting with Meta Labs shop-in-shops. Best Buy was halfway through opening 50 of them as of August, many at the front of the store, staffed by employees specially trained on AI glasses and VR headsets. "It's creating something that gives customers a reason to make the trip to Best Buy, and it almost turns the stores into a bit of a playground again," chief revenue officer Patrick McGinnis said on the Modern Retail Podcast.

"Although still early, customer response has been exceptionally strong and has exceeded our initial expectations," Bonfig said in August. "Based on what we are seeing, we believe there is significant potential to expand this model to additional vendor partners."

Will the retail media flywheel keep spinning?

Best Buy Ads is on track for 10% growth this year, Bonfig said — no small feat when an eMarketer and Bain & Company survey found 31% of retail media leaders expect to miss their 2026 growth plans. The business is mature by retail standards: launched in 2010, rebranded as Best Buy Ads in 2022.

The marketplace is the newer bet. Best Buy's first attempt ran from 2011 to 2016 and drove only about 1% of revenue. The 2025 relaunch is curated and powered by Mirakl, and Bonfig reported "stronger-than-expected performance" with that $1.3 billion Q3 GMV target. Chief Ads and Media Officer Lisa Valentino launched Best Buy CTV in September, combining first-party shopper audiences, device ownership data and purchase-intent signals with premium connected-TV inventory.

Analyst Andrew Lipsman said the marketplace creates a predictable revenue stream that fuels advertising, and that Best Buy CTV "fit smartly into Best Buy's core competencies." "Best Buy's unique advantage is that it's a category leader in consumer electronics," he said. "Many of the world's largest advertisers have to be active with Best Buy Ads."

Bonfig's framing is that the pieces "reinforce each other": "A better experience delivered through the right footprints and formats drives reach. Greater reach generates customer insights that fuel us as a media and technology company." Keeping those engine parts humming — after one marketplace already failed once — is now his job.