Walmart and Best Buy have long been two top national retailers for wireless sales, but they seem to be going in different directions. Walmart developed a concerted strategy to boost and foster wireless sales. Best Buy, however, has been shrinking as a factor for wireless sales.
Walmart announced its wireless strategy in June 2019. The retailer said that it would have “dedicated wireless experts” deployed to an additional 600 Walmarts in time for the 2019 holiday season. “With this expansion, more than 3,000 Walmart stores will have dedicated experts in wireless to help customers upgrade their phones and activate new lines with major U.S. carriers,” Walmart stated. The retailer also pointed to other enhancements of the electronics department and to carriers getting their own presence on Walmart.com.
The strategy worked
This strategy for selling wireless at Walmart prevails to this day. Wave7 Research reported in 2015 and 2016 that Walmart was a non-factor in U.S. postpaid sales, as there were no wireless specialists working there, and Walmart employees lacked the knowledge and the incentives to do postpaid activations.
Walmart has not disclosed its wireless activation counts, but these wireless specialists have solid quotas, and they say that they are meeting them. These specialists are compensated for activations, with postpaid spiffs greatly larger than those for prepaid activations.
All three national carriers have a visible presence at Walmart. In the past, Sprint had a solid presence there, but T-Mobile took over this presence by 2021.
Verizon’s prepaid brands have displays at Walmart. These include Straight Talk Wireless, Walmart Family Mobile, Verizon Prepaid, Total by Verizon, TracFone, and Simple Mobile. Displays are also seen from Cricket Wireless, AT&T Prepaid, and Metro by T-Mobile, with Consumer Cellular displayed at some Walmarts.
Not only are carriers staying with Walmart, there are some new brands being sold there. MobileX, a new MVNO operated by Boost Mobile founder Peter Adderton, has announced that it will be available at nearly 1,000 Walmarts by late 2023. Wave7 Research is seeing MobileX endcaps at some Walmarts. Red Pocket Mobile has launched sales of SIMs at some Walmarts. SIMs from Google Fi Wireless have also been seen at a Walmart. Ultra Mobile is sold at some Walmarts, and its visibility at the retailer has been improving.
An October report from Reuters said, “Walmart to upgrade 1,400 stores with $9 billion investment.” And in November, Walmart announced it had completed remodels of 117 stores as part of 700 remodels being done in 2023. Among the enhancements are digital touch points around the store, new signage, and a refresh of the store, including new displays and new flooring. A trio of dedicated wireless/electronics monitors above the electronics counter has been one of the changes. Also, Wave7 Research recently has observed pitches for wireless carriers on Walmart payment terminals, and there are some pitches on Walmart Radio, which shoppers hear inside Walmart.
One proof point of the success of wireless at Walmart is Straight Talk Wireless. When Verizon acquired TracFone in 2021, Straight Talk Wireless had 9.5 million subscribers, making it the third-leading prepaid brand. Walmart is the only retailer selling it.
Best Buy
While store counts are stable for Walmart, they're falling for Best Buy.
Walmart operates 3,548 Supercenters in the U.S. The retailer prunes the occasional store with bad profitability, but overall, few are closing. Business Insider reported that 22 Walmarts would close in 2023.
Meanwhile, Best Buy’s store count has been falling. Its Best Buy Mobile store chain – which sold nothing but wireless – closed its 250 stores in 2018. Best Buy had 907 stores open at mid-year 2023 and is in the process of closing 20-30 stores. In the three-year period prior to this summer, Best Buy closed 70 stores.
Best Buy had a layoff of retail personnel earlier this year, as seen in this April InvestorPlace report. Based on the report and based on sources, many employees trained to sell wireless lost their jobs.
Some carrier brands have exited Best Buy or have had a diminished presence. T-Mobile took over Sprint’s retail space at the retailer in 2020 after the acquisition, but in September, T-Mobile exited Best Buy. A source pointed to soft T-Mobile sales there as part of the reason. Wave7 Research tracked this beginning in early 2023, but Android Police also reported about it in August.
AT&T has not exited Best Buy, but it has a diminished presence at the retailer. Large, highly visible “pod” displays for AT&T have come down at some Best Buy stores.
Google Fi Wireless, however, recently has higher visibility at Best Buy. Its logo is now seen on screens above the wireless counter, and it has a place on the main prepaid display. Many locations also have an end-cap for Google Fi Wireless.
Target, Sam’s Club, and Costco
Little change has been seen this year for wireless at Target and Sam’s Club. Sam’s Club has a kiosk where a pair of AT&T third-party representatives are often seen pitching AT&T wireless and wireline services. Target has changed little in 2023. A minority of stores have MarketSource representatives largely pitching prepaid, although AT&T is also sold there. There are tables with third-party representatives pitching AT&T at some Target stores, although this presence is hit-and-miss.
Costco’s wireless efforts look very different in 2023. Until last December, there was a kiosk at Costco staffed by Wireless Advocates. These kiosks sold Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile. Wireless Advocates abruptly shut down last December. In the following months, new kiosks opened at Costco. Checks indicate that some kiosks sell Verizon, while others sell AT&T, and still others sell T-Mobile.
Walmart winning in wireless, while Best Buy is losing
Several years ago, Walmart hatched a well-considered plan to boost wireless sales, and this is working. It was trialed heavily. I think that the key element has been to staff roughly 3,000 Walmarts with dedicated wireless specialists. Best Buy has lost some of its focus on wireless and seems content to sell other things, like wide-screen TVs. Walmart is the world’s largest retailer, and it seems likely to only increase its share of national retail wireless sales.
Jeff Moore is Principal of Wave7 Research, a wireless research firm that covers U.S. postpaid, prepaid, and smartphone competition. Moore has 25 years of telecom industry experience, including 13 years of competitive intelligence work for Sprint. Follow him on Twitter @wave7jeff.
Industry Voices are opinion columns written by outside contributors—often industry experts or analysts—who are invited to the conversation by Fierce Wireless staff. They do not necessarily represent the opinions of Fierce Wireless.