Mashery

Michele Azar, Vice President of Emerging Channels at Best Buy, gave the third presentation of the Conference. Best Buy just launched its API program, and is finding that exposing their API has internal as well as external ramifications.

Best Buy

There are over 1,330 Best Buy stores in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, and China. This retail company is big, and has aggressive growth goals. So why is it publishing an API on the Web?

Michele described the mindset behind Best Buy’s push to go beyond traditional online retail. While for years the goal of the online arm of Best Buy has been merely to drive customers to the website, the future lies in a broader online presence. She quoted Don Tapscott, author of Paradigm Shift, who noted: “Success in the old becomes the inertia of the new.”

Determined to avoid that fate, the company has published its API. As Michele put it, “We can open up a whole new channel for business innovation.” Best Buy is leveraging the 17,000 Geek Squad specialists who work for the company and are also driving innovative uses of the API.

Although the Best Buy API was only released a few weeks ago, an internal Jam Day has already resulted in the creation of Supportopedia.com, a social community for Geek Squad employees. An iPhone app for in-store use is already in the works, and more apps are on the way. Best Buy is still early in the API game, but Michele revealed how eye-opening the process has been internally. Ideas are percolating up from from employees to headquarters.

The company clearly sees this as the kind of change it needs to embrace. As Best Buy CEO Brad Anderson describes the challenge, “Leaders need to have the curiosity to do the right kind of listening.”