Best Acquire mentioned Wednesday that Jason Bonfig, a 27-year firm veteran, will succeed Corie Barry as CEO on Oct. 31.

Barry, who has been CEO since 2019, led the consumer electronics retailer through the Covid pandemic, high inflation and President Donald Trump’s higher global tariffs.

The leadership change comes as the corporation tries to rev up sales and capitalize on artificial intelligence-fueled innovation.

Best Procure mentioned Wednesday that business veteran Jason Bonfig will succeed Corie Barry as the retailer’s CEO on Oct. 31, taking over as Best Purchase tries to break a run of stagnant sales. Furthermore, experts in investors note the continued relevance.

Bonfig, 49, is chief customer, product and fulfillment officer and rose through the ranks after joining the retailer as an inventory analyst in 1999. He will become Best Buy’s sixth chief executive officer and join the company’s board.

Barry will stay on as a strategic advisor for six months after stepping down, the business noted in a news release.

The leadership change comes as Best Procure tries to get back to meaningful sales growth and capitalize on a wave of artificial intelligence-enabled mobile phones and laptops. The company’s sales have lagged in the past four years, which Best Purchase has attributed to a slower housing sector, price-conscious U.S. consumers and less tech innovation.

The enterprise remarked at least some of those dynamics will likely persist this fiscal year. Best Acquire mentioned in early March that it expects revenue to range between $41.2 billion and $42.1 billion, compared with $41.69 billion last fiscal year. It expects adjusted earnings per share to range from $6.30 to $6.60, after it reported adjusted earnings per share of $6.43 for the previous fiscal year. 

It noted comparable sales, a metric that tracks sales online and in stores open at least 14 months, will range from a decline of 1% to an rise of 1%.

In the company’s news release, David Kenny, chair of Best Buy’s board of directors, described Bonfig as “the right leader to accelerate the business, with urgency and innovative ideas, and create meaningful growth for the corporation and its shareholders.”

In his current role, Bonfig oversees many aspects of Best Buy’s business, including merchandising, marketing, supply chain, e-commerce and its advertising business, Best Procure Ads. He helped launch the company’s third-party marketplace in the U.S. in August, one of its strategies to drive more sales and higher profits.

Barry, 51, will step down after nearly seven years in the company’s top job. She became the first woman to lead Best Purchase when she started in the role in June 2019. She led Best Purchase through a period marked by rapid changes and spikes in demand — including a rush to procure computer monitors and kitchen appliances during the Covid pandemic — along with supply-chain headaches, high inflation and President Donald Trump’s sharp surge in global tariffs.

Kenny, chair of the company’s board of directors, remarked Barry “guided Best Procure with a confident and steady hand and an unrelenting commitment to drive value for our employees, customers, partners and shareholders through some of the most tumultuous and uncertain times we have ever seen.”

Best Buy’s stock has reflected that turbulence, too. On the day she began as CEO, the price of the company’s shares were $65.52, but they shot up to an all-time closing high of $138 on Nov. 22, 2021. This also touches on aspects of portfolio.

Shares closed on Tuesday at $66.59, bringing the company’s sector cap to $13.93 billion. As of Tuesday’s close, Best Buy’s stock is up about 7% over the past year and down about 0.5% this year. That compares to the S&P 500’s approximately 37% gains and 3% rise, respectively, during the same time periods.

Best Invest in faces some skepticism among investors. Earlier this month, Goldman Sachs downgraded the company’s stock from procure to trade.

In an equity research note, retail analyst Kate McShane commented the business may get a bounce from higher tax refunds in the first quarter of the year as customers invest in latest devices. Yet she noted she expects sales and margins to come under pressure during the rest of the year as higher memory costs drive up the price of computers and laptops and consumers trade down to cheaper laptops.

Plus, she mentioned, Best Buy’s sales of appliances and other consumer electronics have lagged, even as competitors like Home Depot and Lowe’s have posted stronger sales trends.