What's going on?

Best Buy reported weaker-than-expected quarterly results on Thursday, but the electronics retailer wasn�t about to let investors lose their motivation.

What does this mean?

If you showed up at a Best Buy hoping to sort your holiday gifts last quarter, you might�ve been disappointed: the retailer quickly ran short of all the season�s must-have gadgets, from iPhones to PlayStation 5s. And that�s if you could even get through the front door, with Omicron-driven staff shortages forcing the company to cut its opening hours. So it follows that sales in existing stores were down from the same time the year before.

Best Buy�s profit outlook for this year wasn�t much more encouraging, partly because it�s putting so much money into major projects. But the retailer promised investors that these would pay off in the long term � if they just stick around. And to incentivize them to do just that, it announced it would buy back $1.5 billion worth of its own shares this year, which should push up the value of those left over. Consider them incentivized: Best Buy�s stock jumped 9%.

Why should I care?

The bigger picture: Keep those sales coming.
Those projects include an annual membership program � which offers things like unlimited tech support and special discounts � and Best Buy Health, which specializes in healthtech for older people. Best Buy could be onto something here: both avenues have the potential to be more reliable revenue streams for the retailer, reducing its reliance on much more seasonal product sales.

Zooming out: Kroger sticks to the plan.
Best Buy is a bit of an outlier among US retailers this earnings season. Just look at Kroger: hybrid working and the trend toward at-home cooking helped boost demand for the retailer�s groceries, pushing same-store revenue up a better-than-expected 4% (tweet this). And with more and more shoppers opting for home delivery and pick-up options, its digital sales were twice as high as they were before the pandemic too.