How Hubert Joly, outgoing CEO of Best Buy, saved the company

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Joly guided the retailer into the turmoil of the industry by lowering prices, strengthening customer service and transforming stores into modern-looking showrooms during his career as general manager. On Monday, Best Buy announced that it would be stepping down as CEO in June.

"Joly's strategy is an example that many retailers are striving to replicate," said Joseph Feldman, an analyst at Telsey Advisory Group.

"There is no room for mediocrity in retail," Barry said Monday during a call to reporters. "Whenever it's easier to do something digital, whether it's to book a plane ticket or buy a TV, your expectations as a customer keep growing."

Best Buy's decision to use Barry probably reflects retailers' focus on services. Barry oversaw the company's recent efforts to provide technology-based home care and connected healthcare for aging Americans.

On Monday, Joly said Barry would provide "continuity" in the company's leadership ranks and growth strategy. He added that Barry's "elevation" represents the kind of seamless leadership transition that companies aspire for. "

Analysts praised Barry's and Best Buy's succession plan, although the company's shares fell slightly on Monday. "Barry is a strong choice to be the next CEO of Best Buy, and is a strategic thinker who helped shape the turnaround strategy," said Feldman.

Joly withdrew at a high point for Best Buy. Its stock is up nearly 40% this year. However, he does not retire: he will move in June to the newly created position of executive chairman of the board of directors of the company.

Hubert Joly, CEO of Best Buy, leaves his post after a successful race.

"Make the best buy again"

Best buy (BBY) is one of the industry's elite retailers, dominating former consumer electronics competitors Circuit City, RadioShack and HH Gregg.

"Best Buy should have been the first in the line of sight of the rise of online retailers," said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail. "Thanks to his decisive action, Joly has not only survived, but has become a full-fledged online giant."

When Joly took office in 2012, the future of Best Buy was uncertain. Sales and profits slipped. The CEO of the company had resigned and his stock had been ravaged. Buyers went to Best Buy to check their TVs and laptops and then buy them at Amazon at lower prices.

Best Buy turned to Joly, a hotel manager, to end her collapse. He had no previous experience in retail. Joly's message to skeptical investors shortly after taking office as CEO, long before Donald Trump used something similar during the election campaign, was "Make the best buy again".

As part of this goal, Joly quickly set up a matching price guarantee in stores to prevent buyers from leaving for Amazon and the company improved its website and mobile app. He made sure that Best Buy stores have a dual purpose: to turn them into warehouses that can quickly send deliveries to customers and collect orders online. Today, 40% of Best Buy online orders are collected in the store.

Buyers used to see stacked boxes of CDs and DVDs at Best Buy, but Joly developed stores in mini-shops for Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Google (GOOG) and Microsoft (MSFT) show their products.

"Stores are a great asset," Joly said in an interview with CNN Business in December.

But Joly's main goal has been to strengthen Best Buy's customer service, its main advantage over Amazon. The retailer has recycled the sellers so that they can better advise the perplexed customers about the model of TV or camera to buy. Best Buy has increased salaries and expanded paid leave and child care benefits to keep store employees. In 2013, the turnover rate for Best Buy stores was in the mid-fifties. It was in his thirties last year.

Joly has recently taken risks.

Last year, Best Buy partnered with Amazon to sell exclusive ranges of Alexa-compatible Fire TVs in stores and on Amazon. Last year, Best Buy bought GreatCall, which makes Jitterbug cell phones with big buttons for the elderly, for $ 800 million.

"Retail is a business where the bar is high and where the differentiation between winners and losers is growing," Joly said last year. "We are clearly positioned to be a winner and it's not a zero-sum game between Best Buy and Amazon."

Technical services and health care

Although Best Buy is in great shape, Barry will face challenges in his new role.

Computers and cell phones still account for 44 percent of Best Buy's sales of nearly $ 43 billion, making it vulnerable to volatile product cycles.

Innovation in televisions, games and mobile phones is "a little less exciting than it has been in recent years," UBS analyst Michael Lasser told reporters on Monday. Even worse, iPhone sales are slowing down.

Best Buy's destiny is also closely tied to its major suppliers, such as Amazon, Apple, and Samsung, which are opening new physical stores and modifying their retail distribution strategies. For example, Apple and Sony have recently started selling to Costco (COST), which according to some analysts is a blow for Best Buy.

Best Buy hopes to reduce its dependence on external suppliers by offering technical consultations to customers' homes and expanding into new areas, such as healthcare for older Americans. The two most recent additions to the company's board of directors have a history in the health field.

"We want to go beyond selling products through transactions, but also selling solutions and building relationships," Joly told CNN Business last year. "We want to be the CIO of your home and we are uniquely positioned to do that."

The retailer has rolled out services such as In-Home Advisor, a home-based technical consulting service, and Total Tech Support, an annual subscription for on-demand repairs. Best Buy has about 530 advisors who visit customers and help them understand how to set up their speaker systems and equip their home with smart technologies.

But services only account for 5% of the current business figure.

Barry will also face difficult decisions regarding Best Buy's store footprint. Best Buy operates nearly 1,000 stores in the United States and has avoided massive store closings, just like other retailers.

"The stores, while remaining extremely relevant to Best Buy, require investment and must evolve continuously to remain relevant to consumers," Saunders said.

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