BrandSensitize | Strategic Brand Evaluation & Marketing Advisory
Simple Tech, Total Confidence: Best Buy’s Recipe for Trust at Every Touchpoint
Tech made simple, confidence delivered. Best Buy turns every purchase into an experience that customers can trust and enjoy. By combining tailored service with advanced solutions, the company creates a memorable customer journey.
Neal Sample currently serves as the Chief Digital and Technology Officer, a role he took on July 14, 2025, guiding Best Buy’s digital transformation and tech-driven growth.
For its fiscal year 2025, which ended February 1, Best Buy reported total revenue of $41.53 billion, a 4.43% decline compared to FY2024. The company employs about 85,000 people worldwide.
At its core, Best Buy’s brand philosophy is anchored in the mission to enrich lives through technology by blending technical expertise with a genuine human connection.
The customer-centric ethos, rooted in values such as respect, humility, integrity, and unleashing employee potential, drives purposeful leadership that prioritises positive impact, sustainability initiatives, and seamless experiences across stores, apps, and services.
Best Buy’s customer approach emphasizes trusted guidance with seamless omnichannel service: knowledgeable Blue Shirts and Geek Squad provide expert advice and in-home support; a membership-driven model (e.g., My Best Buy) personalizes offers and care; and AI-powered assistants enhance support across the app, website, phone, and stores to resolve issues, schedule deliveries, and manage subscriptions efficiently.
The goal is to meet customers wherever they are, curbside, pickup, same-day delivery, or in-home, while simplifying choices, improving search and recommendations, and enabling associates to focus more on understanding customer needs rather than routine tasks.
BrandSensitize™ research and publicly available data indicate that Best Buy’s customer experience is powered by a proven tech ecosystem: Google Cloud supports its generative AI and contact center capabilities, with Accenture co-developing AI-driven customer care and associate tools. Microsoft enhances enterprise productivity and platforms, complementing AI initiatives. On the commercial side, partnerships like Meta help activate Best Buy’s first-party data for more targeted, AI-assisted advertising.
Together, these alliances improve support speed, personalization, and seamless omnichannel service.
TCS and Wipro also support Best Buy as IT partners, offering services such as application development, maintenance, updates, and routine IT solutions. TCS has a longstanding relationship, serving as the exclusive Application System Maintenance partner, while Best Buy has recognized Wipro for its operational excellence and partnership quality. Infosys, however, does not appear in public sources as a current major IT partner of Best Buy, unlike TCS and Wipro.
What has been your experience with Best Buy, and which do you find most impressive: advice, speed, or support after the sale?
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Keith Nicks is EVP and Chief Digital & Commercial Officer for Ahold Delhaize USA, overseeing
omnichannel marketing, retail media, and e-commerce for U.S. brands. Tim Bork is the Chief Commercial
Officer for Ahold Delhaize Europe & Indonesia, focusing on local brands and responsible for growth,
including marketing and customer experience.
With nearly €96 billion in projected 2025 revenue, Ahold Delhaize ranks among the top 10 global
retailers, operating over 6,700 stores across multiple formats, including Albert Heijn, Delhaize, Food Lion,
Giant, Hannaford, and Stop & Shop.
6,700 stores powered by one procurement platform – a scale that makes others jealous.
For customers, Ahold isn’t just a grocery retailer; it’s a trusted lifestyle partner that combines the
intimacy of local shopping with the innovation and value of global retail leadership.
Ahold’s brands, such as Albert Heijn, Stop & Shop, and Giant, represent 37 years of average customer
relationships—customers don’t just shop there; they grow up with these brands, creating emotional
connections that transcend transactions.
After gaining thirty million loyalty members, Ahold demonstrated that personalization consistently
outperforms promotion.
BrandSensitize™ research shows that Ahold Delhaize operates with a decentralized marketing and brand
building approach, where marketing functions are embedded within:
- Brand-specific leadership (each local brand has its own marketing teams.
- Regional commercial officers who oversee marketing alongside broader commercial
responsibilities. - Digital and omnichannel specialists who handle modern marketing channels.
Ahold Delhaize’s Brand Building Initiatives:
Sustainability campaign: €50M investment reached 10M consumers, delivering a 20% boost in
sustainable product sales and generating €400M in revenue.
Digital Marketing: €150M digital budget achieved 25% higher engagement, 2.6% click-through rates (vs
1.9% industry standard), and built 500K+ social media following.
Loyalty Program: 30M members across brands with 85% customer penetration, driving 75% of total sales
and contributing €1B annually—10% better retention than competitors.
Strategic Brand Partnerships: 100+ collaborative campaigns with CPG brands, including Coca-Cola,
generated €600M in additional revenue through joint promotions.
Omnichannel Investment: A $1 billion price investment initiative, combined with AI-powered
personalization, aims to achieve an 80% loyalty sales penetration by 2028.
Strategic marketing drives measurable business results—from sustainability messaging to digital-first
loyalty programs, Ahold Delhaize demonstrates that well-executed brand-building campaigns deliver
both customer engagement and bottom-line growth on a global scale.
Ahold Delhaize’s Strategic Technology Partnerships:
- W23 Global VC Fund: $125M investment with Tesco, Woolworths & others backing AI startups
like Harmonya & Protex AI - Zycus Partnership: Source-to-Pay suite powering procurement across 6,700+ stores globally
- Hanshow Technology: Electronic shelf labels + innovation labs across all European locations.
- Inmar Intelligence: $141M in customer savings delivered through personalized digital coupons.
- DoorDash Collaboration: Tripled order volumes through enhanced last-mile delivery integration.
- Internal AI Innovation: MaxiGPT, LionGPT & Albot assistants deployed across the Serbian,
Belgian, and Czech markets. - New Tech Studio: AD/01 in Bucharest targeting 250+ tech talents for digital acceleration.
Zycus has licensed its comprehensive Source-to-Pay suite to Ahold Delhaize, including eSourcing,
Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM), and Supplier Management platforms.
TCS’s relationship with Ahold Delhaize marks a mature, strategic partnership focused on digital
transformation and supply chain technology.
Wipro partnered with Capgemini as one of the most significant retail transformation initiatives in the
world at Ahold USA.
Capgemini powers Ahold Delhaize’s end-to-end transformation, developing blockchain technology use
cases for Ahold Delhaize’s supply chain and leveraging its expertise in business transformation, as well as
its understanding of Ahold’s industry and operations.
Traditional retailers, equipped with AI and Robotics, will surpass pure digital players by 2030.
The key is to position Ahold not as just another retail success story, but as the company that has
rewritten the rules of digital transformation for every traditional business watching.
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