By Steven Levine

Richfield, Minnesota-based Best Buy’s (NYSE:BBY) bonds have been losing value, amid a recent rise in U.S. interest rates, intensified competition, as well as sector headwinds, tariffs, and reports of customer dissatisfaction.

Although traditional brick-and-mortar electronics retailers such as BBY generally face an uphill battle against e-commerce companies such as Amazon (Nasdaq:AMZN), it appears shoppers continue to flock to physical stores.

While online retailers have lured a loyal base of customers to their platforms, many shoppers continue to frequent concrete locations for their latest technology, telecom, media and appliance needs.

In fact, weekly store visits have been trending upwards, as consumers have increasingly viewed the activity as less of a physical errand and more as a “sensory and social experience,” according to advisory firm PwC’s 2018 Global Consumer Insights Survey, which polled roughly 2,500 persons.

PwC noted that ‘order online, pick up in store’ options may also be contributing to physical stores’ continued popularity.

However, despite the uptick in traditional, in-store shopping, products such as personal computers have seen a 7% drop-off to 20% over a six-year period, and buyers of tablets rose only 4% to 12%.

GreatCall, ‘2020’ strategy and earnings

PwC’s figures may provide a salient backdrop for BBY’s recent ‘2020’ strategy, which focuses on its customers’ needs, as well as building relationships.

Aligned with this strategy, the company said in mid-August it agreed to acquire GreatCall for US$800m, with an aim to exploit the health space by focusing on the aging population.

GreatCall is a provider of connected health and personal emergency response services to the aging population, with more than 900k paying subscribers.

The purchase was made amid upbeat earnings results for the second quarter ended August 4, 2018 (Q2 FY19), but a downbeat outlook for Q3 FY19, which generally spurred jitters among investors.