Best Buy

Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn said this week that the electronics retailer is launching plans to wall off parts of its big-box stores and sublease the space to smaller retailers such as grocers, beauty supply stores, home furnishing outlets and others. According to a Thursday report in the Los Angeles Times, Dunn said at the company’s annual shareholder’s meeting that the chain can “reduce our overall square footage while actually increasing our presence. It's an opportunity to capture cost savings and get ourselves 'rightsize,'" he said.

Best Buy is putting its European expansion plans on hold due to challenging economic conditions on the continent, the Financial Times reported. The newspaper quoted people familiar with situation as saying Best Buy's European "strategy continues to be under review," but the company hasn't made any final decisions.

The goal of the e-tailing group's second annual mCommerce Shopping Study is to keep abreast of the changes in the mobile landscape, tap into any emerging trends and share with the e-commerce industry important benchmarks that shape the customer-centric mobile user experience.

Listen in as Bernie Brennan, co-author of 
“Branded! How Retailers Engage Consumers With Social Media and Mobility," (with Lori Schafer) discusses how leading retailers Macy's, J.C. Penney and Best Buy are meeting the needs of their customers — and generating revenue — by communicating with them via the web, social media and smartphones. This podcast…

Amazon, Overstock.com and similar companies may be facing new taxes in California. The state has passed a bill in the Assembly which will tax e-commerce sales, and now the legislation is on its way to the Senate. 

I often check the clickthough rates of our daily e-newsletter of aggregated and orignal content, ROI Report, to gauge what our audience of cross-channel retailers are interested in and concerned about. Lately, the clickthrough rates for articles about hackers and scammers targeting retailers and shoppers are through the roof

As we reach the midpoint of 2011, it's clear that mobile has become a formidable marketing channel and will continue to blaze its trail into retail. Nielsen predicts that by the third quarter of 2011 smartphones will be the dominant mobile device in the U.S., overtaking feature phones. At some point we may stop referring to these handheld computers as phones and come up with a more accurate name that conveys the multidimensional communications and connectivity they provide.

Have you seen the new ad campaign from Newegg.com? The online electronics retailer recently began airing spots that take aim at Best Buy — the same way Best Buy ran ads in 2009 that took aim at Wal-Mart.

Best Buy is expanding its 257-store Shopkick pilot to a nationwide endeavor. Patrons who have the mobile app open whenever they walk into one of the retailer's locations will earn reward points for items like gift cards, song downloads and flat-screen TVs.

Crate and Barrel will begin doling out kickbucks — Shopkick currency redeemable for rewards — and special offers to Shopkick users who visit any of its U.S. stores.