• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, November 6, 2024

Best Buy is serving up a fresh-baked batch of holiday ads starring Gram, the little holographic product advisor the retailer introduced several months ago. The company hopes Gram’s remarkably chill demeanor will help consumers power through their shopping lists and come up with the gifts that make people say “Wow.”

Created in-house, ads also focus on Best Buy digital doorbusters and the kind of tech that makes holiday hosting easier.

 “We know the moments that matter the most to our customers during the holidays is time together with their loved ones, the joy of gifting and the amazing deals that make it all possible,” said Jennie Weber, chief marketing and design officer at Best Buy, in the campaign announcement. “This is Gram’s first holiday season and he’s ready to show shoppers how technology can elevate those important moments... across our holiday campaign and inspire with what’s possible.” 

Expectations are low for the electronics category, even heading into the gift-giving season. Consumers spent so much on devices and appliances during the pandemic that it will be some time before these products need to be replaced. And a strained economic picture has slowed consumers’ appetite for shiny new tech.

Best Buy’s most recent quarterly results included a sales decline of 2.3%. And while that was better than had been expected, the Minneapolis-based company expects further sales declines for both the third quarter, which will be announced later this month, and the full year.

But the company says those declines are stabilizing, which observers say is welcome news.

“We were pleasantly surprised by improved topline trends,” writes Brian Nagel, an analyst who covers Best Buy for Oppenheimer. “We have for some time fretted over prospects for ongoing sales sluggishness at Best Buy, reflecting lingering impacts of a 'pandemic pull-forward' in sales and subdued consumer confidence …  We look upon clearer signals of fundamental strengthening as a potential, notable step forward.”