Best Buy Continues Focus on Health Technology With Latest Launch
Best Buy is continuing to grow its health and wellness technology product assortment through an exclusive partnership with French consumer electronics company Withings.
Withings’ latest health monitoring devices (a Body Scan Connected Health Station scale and ScanWatch 2 and ScanWatch Light smartwatches) are rolling out to Best Buy stores after launching on BestBuy.com in September. For the remainder of 2023, Best Buy will be the exclusive brick-and-mortar retailer to carry these new items, a Withings spokesperson told the Path to Purchase Institute.
The spokesperson said that the ScanWatch 2 and ScanWatch Light watches will be promoted online and then moved to displays in in the first quarter of 2024.
Best Buy also carries a slew of other Withings products, such as the previously launched Body Comp and Body Smart scales and Sleep Tracking Mat, though not exclusively.
Withings says its latest range of scales and hybrid smartwatches offers Best Buy customers “user-friendly” and innovative health tracking features devices that provide personal health data, reinforcing the retailer’s commitment to providing a comprehensive selection of health and wellness solutions, according to a media release shared with the Institute.
Withings Body Scan Health Station ($399.95) can monitor segmental body composition, heart rate and vascular age, providing users with in-depth understanding of their overall health. The ScanWatch 2 ($349.95) and ScanWatch Light ($249.95) smartwatches offer an elegant design along with advanced health monitoring features, including heart rate monitoring, ECG capabilities, SpO2 measurement, sleep tracking, body temperature tracking and cycle tracking for female health.
“As the category leader of the connected health market, we are thrilled to bring our most innovative range of health products to Best Buy customers,” Paul Buckley, director of sales and marketing, Americas, Withings, said in the release. “The latest range offers a sophisticated blend of style and functionality, allowing consumers to take control of their health and well-being."
In 2022, Best Buy shifted its focus to new categories, including health and wellness as technology’s role in the category has rapidly increased over the last few years, with the introduction of products that help monitor blood pressure and skin care devices, to name a couple.
And in October 2022, immediately after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared the way for over-the-counter hearing devices to be sold at retailers without a doctor’s visit, Best Buy was among the first retailers to roll out OTC hearing devices online and in stores.
In addition, earlier this year, Best Buy became the first U.S.-based, large-scale retailer to sell Oura, the company behind the emerging smart ring and mobile app for personalized health insights and daily guidance, across stores and online. Select Best Buy locations additionally rolled out a dedicated brand experience, including dynamic videos, educational information and the ability to see, touch and try on a variety of Oura smart rings.