Best Buy Expands Into Massive Health Market For Seniors

Generally, Best Buy is the one stop shop for laptops, TVs, and other media devices. Soon however, customers, and in particular senior, will also have access to health oriented products. The company is expanding its health monitoring services, ranging from home sensors to other wearable devices, to reach more than five million seniors.

Currently, the company does offer these services to about one million, but it wants to broaden its reach and better tap into the $3.5 trillion healthcare market since sales of phones and TVs have been sluggish. The number of seniors, aged 65 and older, are projected to reach 82.3 million by 2040 and 98 million by 2060, so this boost in offerings could push Best Buy into $50 billion in revenues by 2025.

Overall, two out of three seniors live with several chronic conditions, so this move could help satisfy a growing need of the country’s aging population as they search for more affordable services. “This is an environment driven by constant innovation and people who need help with technology,” said Corie Barry, CEO, Best Buy during a recent investor conference.

Insurers have also been paying more for remote monitoring technology to help track chronic conditions and prevent patients from going to the hospital. As wireless technology scales, devices can monitor patients with congestive heart failure and refrigerator sensors can detect how often a patient is eating. Best Buy will offer such products to their customer base.

To oversee and push these efforts forward, the company has hired a chief medical officer and physician, Daniel Grossman, who reports directly to the head of Best Buy health, Asheesh Saksena.

As part of its “senior” growth over the past few years, Best Buy recently acquired predictive health care technology business, BioSensics and also hired the company’s data science and engineering team. In addition, it purchased Critical Signal Technologies, a provider of personal emergency response systems for seniors who live at home.

Other recent acquisitions and initiatives include Best Buy’s 2019 purchase of GreatCall, which offers emergency response devices for the aging and its 2017 launch of Assure Living, a line of remote-monitoring equipment for at-home seniors.