Best Buy wants to be the hub for AI-powered hardware like glasses, laptops

The tech retailer is looking for growth, as its revenue was essentially flat this past fiscal year (which ended Jan. 31) from the year before, at almost $42 billion. CEO Corie Barry said its market share was at least flat, showing slightly softer consumer demand for consumer electronics during the fourth quarter.

Barry said, however, that the company has seen strong growth in newer or emerging categories, including AI glasses, 3D printers, collectibles and toys, health rings, and PC gaming handhelds. She also said the company expects growth in computing, due in part to “innovation driven by AI.”

AI glasses are “a significant growth trend for us,” Jason Bonfig, senior executive vp of customer offerings and fulfillment, said on the March 3 earnings call. “Our relationship with Meta is phenomenal — the way they show up in our stores and the way we’ve been able to bring their new products to market.” He said, with a “lot of noise at CES” around this category, he expects new AI glasses from not just Meta, but new partners, as well.

Meta and Ray-Ban have been releasing AI-powered glasses together since 2023 and released a new model last year with a display inside the lens. People can use them to ask AI about the things they see around them, like to pinpoint a monument or translate a sign. They also provide hands-free photo capture, speakers for audio calls and voice controls.

Best Buy plans to lean into AI glasses as well as other Meta products, like VR headsets, with dedicated spaces within stores. The company is making space for a larger assortment of Meta products in 70 stores by moving computing to the center of the store and consolidating space. In other stores, the company is piloting either outlet sections or outdoor furniture from its Yardbird brand, which it acquired in 2021.

“The idea of AI for the consumer is kind of a long-tail space where we will have a unique advantage,” Barry said. “Some of that we’ve already been leaning into, which is about enhancing existing technology.”

She mentioned Copilot+, a category of PCs from Microsoft that launched in 2024 — they feature a dedicated neural processing unit chip that powers AI features like automatically framing video calls and refining writing in documents. Back in August, she said, the company offered 125 laptop and desktop models with enhanced AI capabilities, like Copilot+, and almost 70% were retail-exclusive to Best Buy.

Barry also said there are some categories, like smart home, that she expects to get much smarter. She added that the retailer’s goal is to be the place vendors rely on to explain to customers how AI will change consumer electronics.

Outside of the AI-powered consumer products, Best Buy, alongside its earnings last week, announced a partnership with OpenAI to display its product catalog in ChatGPT. It also announced a partnership with Google on its Universal Commerce Protocol for Google Search’s AI mode and the Gemini app. Best Buy also said it is the first retail partner to launch native checkout integration with Wizard, an AI commerce platform.

Despite Best Buy and consumer tech brands promoting AI features, a recent Gartner survey found that consumer sentiment around AI is still mixed. The firm found 54% of customers said AI is being overhyped by the media, and 72% of U.S. consumers reported that generative AI functions appear in their internet or app use whether they asked for it or not.

According to Gartner, only 13% of consumers report actively using AI tools. These people tend to be Gen Z or millennial, male, living in urban areas and employed in higher-income knowledge-worker or management roles, the firm said.

Despite data showing that only a small subset of consumers are actively using it, AI is the latest technology that consumer electronics companies are pushing to customers as the exciting new tech trend, said Brad Jashinsky, a director analyst at Gartner. He said AI-powered software features, in addition to hardware like the Meta AI glasses, are rare examples of innovation within the space after years of stagnation, so brands and retailers are clinging to it.

“The smartphone revolution has tapered off a little bit. People aren’t updating their phones as much as they used to. Everybody in the industry — and especially Best Buy — is so reliant on what is going to get people to buy a new product,” Jashinsky said. “There is definitely a lot of excitement around AI, and also a feeling from both companies and consumers that if they don’t jump on the bandwagon, they’re going to miss out.”