Best Buy Lets Advertisers Take Over In-Store Experience
New program opens up store windows, displays, and checkout counters for branded advertising takeovers.
Minneapolis, September 26 EST: Best Buy is betting that its sales floor can double as a billboard. Beginning next year, the retailer will sell 30-day “takeover packages” that let advertisers dominate portions of its stores, from the front windows to checkout screens, in a push to turn foot traffic into media revenue.
A Storefront Becomes an Ad Network
The initiative, announced Friday at Best Buy’s first Ads Showcase event, effectively turns the company’s 900 U.S. stores into physical ad inventory. For a fee, a brand can occupy the most visible touchpoints of the shopping journey: TV walls, Geek Squad counters, pickup areas, even the point-of-sale system.
Executives stressed that no new screens or installations are coming. Instead, Best Buy will reallocate its existing infrastructure, the same displays that already guide customers through aisles of laptops, appliances, and smart home gadgets. The idea is to sell the environment itself.
That approach mirrors the logic of streaming platforms and digital publishers that once resisted ads but now lean on them to offset costs. In Best Buy’s case, the “eyeballs” are shoppers with wallets already open.
Opening the Doors Beyond Electronics
The program is not limited to brands on Best Buy’s shelves. The company is inviting what it calls non-endemic advertisers such as restaurants, film studios, auto makers, and streaming services to buy space. That opens the door to, say, a movie trailer looping on the TV wall or a food delivery service greeting shoppers at checkout.
For Best Buy, the pitch is clear: you’re not just buying exposure, you’re buying exposure to consumers in a buying mindset.
The Measurement Angle
To sweeten the deal, Best Buy Ads will roll out new reporting and analytics tools. Advertisers will be able to track the impact of their in-store campaigns, whether that means sales lifts, app downloads, or ticket purchases. A self-service portal is also in the works, letting brands adjust placements and monitor performance without waiting on an account manager.
That kind of accountability has become table stakes in retail media. Amazon, Walmart, and Kroger already provide marketers with dashboards that link ad spend to cart behavior. Best Buy, which launched its retail media unit in 2021, is now trying to match that sophistication inside the physical store.
Why It Matters for Best Buy
Retailers have been leaning hard into retail media networks as margins on merchandise tighten. According to Insider Intelligence, U.S. retail media spending is expected to surpass $60 billion this year, with Amazon still the dominant player. Best Buy’s twist is that its stores, unlike most competitors, are already built for product demo and discovery.
Instead of simply stacking shampoo bottles at the end of an aisle, Best Buy can sell a brand the entire aisle, plus the playlist on the display TV, plus the messaging on the pickup kiosk. Few other retailers can bundle that level of experiential control.
The risk, of course, is clutter. Too many competing ads could make the store feel less like a showroom and more like Times Square. Best Buy executives acknowledged that concern and said placements will be curated to preserve the shopping experience.
A Hedge Against Flat Sales
Best Buy’s core business has been under pressure. Electronics demand cooled after the pandemic’s buying spree, and the company has trimmed forecasts multiple times in the past two years. Advertising, by contrast, offers high margins and recurring revenue.
By renting out its real estate, Best Buy is effectively re-monetizing the fixed costs of running brick-and-mortar stores. It is the same logic airports use when leasing space to luxury retailers: if you already have captive traffic, you might as well sell it twice.
The Broader Stakes
If the program works, Best Buy could redefine what it means to “shop” at a big-box retailer. A customer buying a washing machine may also get pitched a new streaming series or a takeout app, blurring the lines between commerce and culture.
For advertisers, the calculus is whether the foot traffic, about 1.8 million weekly visitors by some analyst estimates, is worth the premium. For Best Buy, the gamble is that shoppers will not mind if their store doubles as a media channel, so long as the ads feel additive, not intrusive.
As retail giants chase ad dollars, Best Buy’s move signals a willingness to treat every square foot as inventory. For a company fighting to stay relevant in a low-growth category, that may be less a marketing experiment than a survival strategy.
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A Wall Street veteran turned investigative journalist, Marcus brings over two decades of financial insight into boardrooms, IPOs, corporate chess games, and economic undercurrents. Known for asking uncomfortable questions in comfortable suits.
