The news: Corie Barry is stepping down as Best Buy CEO at the end of October and will be succeeded by Jason Bonfig, the company’s chief customer, product, and fulfillment officer.

Why is this happening? Best Buy benefited early in the pandemic as remote work and home learning drove demand for laptops, appliances, and home entertainment systems. But that surge proved temporary, pulling forward years of purchases and leaving the company with limited organic growth.

As behavior normalized, Barry faced a difficult backdrop as a frozen housing market further suppressed demand for big-ticket items like appliances and home theater systems. Some of Barry’s strategic moves, such as pushing Best Buy into noncore categories like outdoor furniture, raised questions about whether the company was compounding its core challenges rather than addressing them.

Nearly seven years after Barry took the helm, Best Buy is moving to set a fresh direction. While Bonfig is a company veteran of nearly 27 years, his current role overseeing key areas—including the US online marketplace and Best Buy Ads—positions him to identify and lean into faster-growing parts of the business.

Implications for marketers: Best Buy’s advertising business is outpacing its retail performance, and Bonfig is well positioned to build on that momentum. The retailer nearly doubled its retail media ad partners in fiscal 2026 and recently expanded Best Buy Ads into a multichannel platform with Social+ that allows brands to use its first-party data to target audiences on Facebook and Instagram.

At the same time, as the last major big-box consumer electronics retailer, Best Buy has an opportunity to make its stores more experiential. That could take the form of more interactive displays—such as demonstrating why one TV outperforms another or guiding shoppers through building a home theater system—to better showcase its expertise and drive consumers to spend. A stronger in-store experience would, in turn, expand its base of high-intent shoppers, further enhancing the value of Best Buy Ads.

Ultimately, Bonfig’s success will hinge on whether he can better align Best Buy’s physical retail strengths with its growing media and data capabilities to drive sustainable growth.

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