Best Buy Ads’ Patrick Albano: For Commerce Businesses, Sales Is the North Star
Most media businesses start with the audience and work down toward the sale. Best Buy Ads starts with the sale and works back up. That inversion shapes everything from how the company builds ad products to how it thinks about customer lifetime value.
“At a commerce business, sales is the north star. As we’re deciding to build a product or decide on a targeting criteria, you start to think about what people buy those products and then how do you work back up and how do you create different products that are geared towards actually selling products,” Patrick Albano, chief revenue officer at Best Buy Ads, told Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan. “In most classic media businesses, you take the audience first and decide these people are male, female, and you start to take these broad segments and work down to the sale.”
That commerce-first orientation becomes particularly powerful when combined with a consumer database spanning a decade of purchase history across one of the longest refresh cycles in retail.
CTV ads respond to where shoppers are
A recent Best Buy Ads connected TV product illustrates the approach. Rather than serving the same video creative regardless of purchase intent, the format identifies whether a consumer is months away from a buying decision or about to make one, then serves a brand-focused ad or an offer accordingly.
“A lot of consumers are at different points in the journey when they’re watching television. What we really wanted to do was give the consumer a more relevant ad experience,” Albano said. “If you are considering buying something in a few months, we’re able to give you an ad that’s a little bit more brand focused, or if you’re going to buy something tomorrow, maybe it’s more of an offer.”
Store-within-a-store model comes to AI
Best Buy is expanding not just its store footprint but the number of brand partners building experiences within those stores. Meta Lab, now live in roughly 50 locations, gives Meta a dedicated space to demo its AI glasses with trained staff and hands-on trials.
“People love to try these products on, see how they work, and understand the different use cases,” Albano said. “That is a great example of how you take insights and a consumer opportunity and build a really great win-win.”
The consumer electronics lifecycle
Consumer electronics purchases involve four distinct stages where Best Buy has a natural presence. Shoppers research products, then buy them. Most retailers stop there. Best Buy also handles installation and delivery, then ongoing service.
“Most electronics retailers stop at those two. What makes our view on retention unique is that we have the installation and delivery to your house, which is actually a core part of our business, and then the service,” Albano said. “That also helps us understand exactly where is somebody with their device needs and can we help them either service something, install something new, or are they ready to buy something new?”
That longitudinal view, combined with purchase history going back a decade, enables Best Buy Ads to identify who is entering a refresh cycle and reach them before competitors do.
“When you combine this relationship with the consumer as well as this 4D understanding of who they are and where they are in the journey, you really can create new products and services that help them on their journey,” Albano said.
You’re watching “The New Value Exchange: Creating Value before Asking for Attention” a Beet.TV Leadership Series, presented by Nift. For more videos from this series, please visit this page.
Most media businesses start with the audience and work down toward the sale. Best Buy Ads starts with the sale and works back up. That inversion shapes everything from how the company builds ad products to how it thinks about customer lifetime value.
“At a commerce business, sales is the north star. As we’re deciding to build a product or decide on a targeting criteria, you start to think about what people buy those products and then how do you work back up and how do you create different products that are geared towards actually selling products,” Patrick Albano, chief revenue officer at Best Buy Ads, told Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan. “In most classic media businesses, you take the audience first and decide these people are male, female, and you start to take these broad segments and work down to the sale.”
That commerce-first orientation becomes particularly powerful when combined with a consumer database spanning a decade of purchase history across one of the longest refresh cycles in retail.
CTV ads respond to where shoppers are
A recent Best Buy Ads connected TV product illustrates the approach. Rather than serving the same video creative regardless of purchase intent, the format identifies whether a consumer is months away from a buying decision or about to make one, then serves a brand-focused ad or an offer accordingly.
“A lot of consumers are at different points in the journey when they’re watching television. What we really wanted to do was give the consumer a more relevant ad experience,” Albano said. “If you are considering buying something in a few months, we’re able to give you an ad that’s a little bit more brand focused, or if you’re going to buy something tomorrow, maybe it’s more of an offer.”
Store-within-a-store model comes to AI
Best Buy is expanding not just its store footprint but the number of brand partners building experiences within those stores. Meta Lab, now live in roughly 50 locations, gives Meta a dedicated space to demo its AI glasses with trained staff and hands-on trials.
“People love to try these products on, see how they work, and understand the different use cases,” Albano said. “That is a great example of how you take insights and a consumer opportunity and build a really great win-win.”
The consumer electronics lifecycle
Consumer electronics purchases involve four distinct stages where Best Buy has a natural presence. Shoppers research products, then buy them. Most retailers stop there. Best Buy also handles installation and delivery, then ongoing service.
“Most electronics retailers stop at those two. What makes our view on retention unique is that we have the installation and delivery to your house, which is actually a core part of our business, and then the service,” Albano said. “That also helps us understand exactly where is somebody with their device needs and can we help them either service something, install something new, or are they ready to buy something new?”
That longitudinal view, combined with purchase history going back a decade, enables Best Buy Ads to identify who is entering a refresh cycle and reach them before competitors do.
“When you combine this relationship with the consumer as well as this 4D understanding of who they are and where they are in the journey, you really can create new products and services that help them on their journey,” Albano said.
You’re watching “The New Value Exchange: Creating Value before Asking for Attention” a Beet.TV Leadership Series, presented by Nift. For more videos from this series, please visit this page.
