Best Buy Sees Slight Sales Increase as Tariff Woes Persist

Best Buy saw quarterly sales creep up as consumers increased their tech spending.

The electronics retailer released second-quarter earnings Thursday (Aug. 28) that showed sales growth of 1.6%, the highest rate in three years. Sales were driven purchases in several product categories, including computing, mobile phones, wearables, headphones and gaming, thanks to the release of Nintendo’s Switch 2.

However, management said Best Buy would maintain its outlook for the coming year due to ongoing uncertainty around tariffs.

“Given the uncertainty of potential tariff impacts in the back half, both on consumers overall as well as our business, we feel it is prudent to maintain the annual guidance we provided last quarter,” CEO Corie Barry said during an earnings call.

Best Buy in May had forecast yearly revenue of $41.1 billion to $41.9 billion, below past guidance of $41.4 billion to $42.2 billion, and maintained those figures again Thursday.

Chief Financial Officer Matt Bilunas told analysts that the guidance takes into account projections that some consumers could hesitate to make purchases in the third quarter.

“So you oftentimes see a slowdown in business a little bit in October as people are waiting for those holiday deals to come,” he said.

“So our guidance would reflect the fact that we’re starting the quarter strong, feel good about the momentum, but also recognize that sometimes there is a little bit of a slowdown as you head into the deeper holiday season.”

The earnings call came amid the busy back-to-school shopping season, a critical time for Best Buy. Barry said the retailer had enjoyed “a strong customer response” to its sales events during the season. As PYMNTS wrote recently, back-to-school spending is at record levels, with parents spending more than $1,200 per household and turning to financing to cover expenses.

Best Buy’s earnings came the same day the Bureau of Economic Analysis published its second estimate for the second quarter of the year’s GDP, which grew 3.3% thanks to an uptick in consumer spending.

“There are indications, gleaned from earnings season, that the momentum may continue, although spending may be allocated toward low-priced merchants amid promotional activity,” PYMNTS wrote, again pointing to the record back-to-school spending.

Those patterns suggest “that items such as backpacks and dorm room essentials are non-negotiable for many families,” the report added, which in turns “signals an intent to spend that could last through August and into the fall.”