US retailer Best Buy has moved into healthcare for older people as it seeks to expand beyond its core business. In Australia, Wesfarmers, JB Hi-Fi and The Good Guys are just some of the retailers who are also exploring the health and personal care category.

Best Buy has been investing heavily in health care services over the last few years as an alternative revenue stream to electronics sales, and has made several acquisitions in the sector, the most notable being its $800 million purchase of senior-citizen focused GreatCall Inc in 2018.

Health-care Company Masimo, who last year acquired Sound United, is set to launch a health-care watch in Australia later this year and is currently developing new heath-care products for the home and personal care market using the Heos OS that Sound United owned.

Best Buy’s comparable sales declined 9.3 per cent over the recent holiday quarter, as demand for computers, home theatre equipment, appliances and mobile phones slowed.

Best Buy Chief Financial Officer Matthew Bilunas predicted continued growth of the Company’s health services would contribute to gross profit rate expansion, even as it anticipates cooling demand throughout 2023.

The issue for retailers such as JB HI-Fi is and The Good Guys is whether consumers see their stores or their websites as a destination to buy technology-driven health-care products or whether it’s more a Chemist Warehouse purchase.

Best Buy has been investing heavily in health care services over the past few years as an alternative revenue stream to electronics sales, and has made several acquisitions in the sector, the most notable being its $800 million purchase of senior-citizen focused GreatCall Inc in 2018. They believe technology is set to drive health care and that consumers “will” go to a Best Buy store or take up a Best Buy health service in the future.

Australia has a high Asian population, this audience takes skin care seriously claims observers.

Korea’s exports of skincare devices hit a fresh high in 2022, new data shows, as people around the globe spent more money on technology-based beauty products amid eased social distancing rules.

Exports of skincare devices, including light-emitting diode (LED) masks and massage tools, reached $353 million last year, up 35.2 per cent from $261 million tallied in 2021, according to data compiled by the Korea Customs Service.

The strong demand for such devices also came as more people experienced skin problems after wearing protective masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency added.

Exports of skincare devices for clinics surged 49.6 percent to hit $264 million, and those for households reached $89 million, up 5.3 percent on-year in 2022.

The United States accounted for $73.4 million of the total outbound shipments in the sector, trailed by Japan and France with $50 million and $24.5 million respectively.

Major retailers including Best Buy. Walmart and Amazon have been increasing their offerings of healthcare and health-related products, as inflation-wary consumers become more conscious of health issues.

In Australia, brands such as Panasonic have been expanding their health care product range while at the same time several new Asian brands have entered the Australian market selling health measurement tools.

Brands such as Masimo, Samsung and Apple have invested significantly in health care technology for their smartwatches, with Apple facing more court cases this year after they were caught out stealing patented technology, this time from Masimo who now have their own pro health care watch.

Electronics retailer Best Buy recently kicked off a partnership with Atrium Health, part of Advocate Health, one of the country’s largest non-profit hospital systems, Best Buy Chief Executive Officer Corie Sue Barry announced Thursday on a call with analysts.

In 2021, the Company also bought Current Health, a home-care technology platform that offers monitoring through wearable devices in the home.

“The role of technology within health care is becoming more important than ever, and our strategy is to enable care at home for everyone,” Barry says.

New sign-ups for Best Buy’s health services are expected to help drive a 40 to 70 basis point improvement in gross margins this year, despite lower sales. To save costs, the Company is also removing some features from its tech-focused membership services, including free same-day delivery.

“It’s a very profitable business,” says Hilding Anderson, vice president and head of retail strategy for consulting firm Publicis Sapient.

“The margins you can make in some of the wellness and health product categories has become pretty significant. It also drives the foot traffic in physical stores and that’s the primary revenue source for most of these retailers.”

Both Walmart and Amazon also forecast lower-than-expected annual profits as consumers pull back on spending and gravitate toward lower-priced private label brands for essentials.

In the US, health spending – projected to reach $5.2 trillion nationally by 2025, according to the US Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services – has become an alluring growth avenue for some retailers.

In addition to its investment in One Medical, Amazon has added a generic drug subscription add-on as a way to attract new business.