Winning Retail in 2024 with Mat Povse, SVP of Operation & Eric Stockner, VP & Category Officer Best Buy Canada

The Voice of Retail

In a wide-ranging conversation, meet two of Best Buy Canada's standout veteran retail leaders: Mat Povse, Senior Vice President of Operations, and Eric Stockner, Vice President and Category Officer for Food, Home, and Baby. Mat and Eric join me on the mic to talk about big-picture trends, the current and future state of product innovation, this year's Black Friday performance (and what the point of Black Friday anyway), and what it takes to win the retail game in 2024 and beyond.

Mat highlights that technology is now seen as a fundamental human need rather than a mere desire, reshaping consumer behaviour and expectations. They both observe a shift from a digital-first approach during the pandemic to a more balanced omnichannel experience where customers appreciate in-store expert advice. Eric notes that Black Friday has lost some excitement and urgency over the years, becoming more of an extended shopping period than a single event. While e-commerce has been pivotal during the pandemic, they agree that physical stores remain crucial for customer engagement and conversions. Looking ahead to 2024, both see continued investment in in-store experience and technology as key differentiators, focusing on personalizing customer interactions across all touchpoints, including their newly launched Best Buy ads platform.

About Mat

Mat Povse is the Senior Vice President of Best Buy Retail Stores and Operations, Geek Squad Services, and Best Buy Business at Best Buy Canada. In this role, he is responsible for the employee and customer experience, sales and profits for over 180 retail stores across Canada as well as the development and fulfilment of Geek Squad programs and services. Mat joined Best Buy in March of 2014 as Vice President of Merchandising responsible for Home Theatre, Audio, Wireless, Digital Imaging, Geek Squad, and was instrumental in the development and execution of the Major Appliances expansion plan in Canada. Since then, he has held numerous leadership roles, most recently as Vice President of Geek Squad Services. Mat has a passion for inspiring people and teams, and has a knack for facilitating productive alignment between organizations. Mat’s multi-faceted experiences and work including service centric organizations has proven valuable in areas of convergence where he leads the optimization of current capabilities for future state, develops new and innovative partnerships, and integrates services at retail - all of which have helped to enhance Best Buy’s Total Retail experience and set foundations for future growth. Prior to Best Buy, Mat was Vice President of Sales for LG Electronics and has also held key positions at Compaq, TELUS & XM Satellite Radio. Mat holds a Bachelor of General Studies, Business and Liberal Arts from Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia.

About Eric

Twenty years of retail head office experience at Best Buy Canada. Executive level expertise in the fields of Merchandising, Buying, Business Development, Ecommerce, Inventory Management and Marketing. Comfortable leading a large team and passionate about business development and leveraging competitive advantages to win in this fast-changing and increasingly complex retail landscape.

About Michael

Michael is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and media entrepreneur. He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. He has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Secure conference with leaders from The Gap and Kroger talking about violence in retail stores, keynotes on the state & future of retail in Orlando and Halifax, and at the 2023 Canadian GroceryConnex conference, hosting the CEOs of Walmart Canada, Longo's and Save-On-Foods Canada. Michael brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.
Michael also produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in North America, Remarkable Retail,
Canada's top retail industry podcast; the Voice of Retail; Canada's top food industry and the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor, with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois.
Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail influencers for the fourth year in a row, Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer, and you can tune into Michael’s cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.
Available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state of the retail industry in Canada and the U.S., and the future of retail.