Mike Pratt, President and COO, Best Buy Canada

Pratt attributes his company’s growth to its expanded customer service offerings and strong employees.

Mike Pratt, president and COO of Best Buy Canada, talks about his social media tendencies and creating a great place to work and make a career. (Return to B.C.’s Top 100 of 2011.)


With everyone fully wired today, electronic gadgets are no longer the domain of the geeks. Need proof? Look no further than Mike Pratt, president and COO of Best Buy Canada Ltd., which operates over 200 Future Shop and Best Buy locations across the country.


Well-spoken, persuasive and personable, Pratt attributes the Burnaby-based company’s 2010 $5.5- billion revenue to its expanded customer service offerings and its strong employees. “I always say that our goals are twofold,” he says. “One is profitable growth; the other is providing our 20,000 employees with a great place to work and make a career.” 


The latter isn’t surprising, considering Pratt himself started as a sales associate at Future Shop in 1990 after graduating from the University of Western Ontario in his hometown of London, Ontario. In 2001, after Minnesota-based parent company Best Buy Co. Inc. acquired Future Shop, Pratt moved to the Best Buy Canada head office in Burnaby, where he was named vice-president of the Best Buy division and senior vice-president of operations, and was tasked with managing the company’s national expansion campaign. Since Best Buy serves a different customer than Future Shop, new locations, rather than rebranded existing ones, were seen as the appropriate strategy. “We’re not about stomping out competitors,” says Pratt. “We’re about learning from what has worked and complementing that space.” The company’s expansion started with eight stores in Toronto and eventually included 52 new stores in six provinces.

 

In February 2008, Pratt was promoted to his current role. “I’ve worked here for over 20 years and I really grew up with the organization,” explains the 42-year-old. “I’d like to see others do this, too.” He’s quick to note that the company’s turnover rate has decreased by approximately 40 per cent over the last two years, thanks in large part to an improved benefits and pension plan, flexible work hours and share-purchase programs.


The American-based parent company has taken note: “The enterprise has looked to Canada’s experience and leadership in selecting people to move overseas and launch the brand globally,” Pratt says, noting that more than a dozen Canadian executives have moved into key leadership roles in China, Mexico and the U.K.


Of course, having the right mix of products and services helps. “Services are a huge strength for us and have become more and more important for our customers,” boasts Pratt. Under his leadership, Best Buy’s Geek Squad and Future Shop’s ConnectPro support businesses have more than doubled since 2008. 


Pratt claims to be one of the few COOs in Canada who is an avid social media user, engaging directly with customers and employees on Facebook and Twitter (his handle on both is BBYC president). 
Further, his personal role models range from Steve Jobs and Richard Branson to Howard Stern, Dana White (the Ultimate Fighting Championship president, whom he credits with having “built a great brand”) and Australian children’s entertainers, The Wiggles. “They somehow manage to keep my 15-month-old son’s attention,” he says with a laugh. “They are true creative masterminds!”


The reference may be tongue-in-cheek, but it speaks to the diversity of Best Buy’s modern customer, something Pratt inherently understands. The company is now in a good position to achieve his goal of profitably doubling its revenues in five years. There’s nothing geeky about that.