Webcams Exemplify COVID-19 Unexpected Product Hit, Best Buy CEO Tells CES

Webcams became an unexpected product scarcity resulting from a computer trickle-down phenomenon during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Best Buy CEO Corie Barry in a Tuesday CES keynote. Home office shortages abounded when families suddenly began looking for computing solutions last spring, she said. After setting up a PC, households realized they needed webcams to look clearer on the other side and mics for better audio quality, said Barry. “As you had more time to think about what the best experience might be at home, then you started bolting on the ancillary products," she said. “Nobody knew there’d be a run on webcams at the pace we saw, yet suddenly it became the hottest item.” Best Buy’s “overnight” enabling of curbside fulfillment in response to safety concerns required employees to work differently and outside of familiar structured roles, she said: All employees had to pitch in to get tech gear to customers in the way they wanted to receive it, and that has become more important. E-commerce sales exploded -- Best Buy's online sales were up 175% year on year as of Q3 -- Barry said, with 40% of sales still being picked up in stores or curbside.