Dive Brief:

• Best Buy began selling furniture brand Lovesac, best known for its adaptable couches, online as of Nov. 2, the company announced Thursday.

• The electronics retailer last year began selling the brand within its physical stores through shop-in-shops, according to a company press release.

• The partnership allows Lovesac to further expand its reach and attract new customers. The brand already operates online, in addition to owned showrooms and pop-ups with third-party partners, the company said.

Dive Insight:

Expanding its partnership with a home goods brand may help Best Buy further capitalize on the boom the category has been experiencing since the start of the pandemic. 

As consumers shifted spending away from areas like travel and dining out, many started investing more into their homes where they began spending the majority of their time. Lovesac, which operates largely online, also benefited from the fact that more consumers preferred e-commerce over in-store shopping.

In its most recent quarter, the brand reported a 28.7% increase in net sales while comparable sales increased more than 72%.

"The end of this pandemic is not yet in sight and the nesting behavior has created an almost unprecedented demand for home-related products and solutions, particularly for products like ours that can be easily configured and shopped online and delivered quickly in a touchless way," Lovesac CEO Shawn Nelson said on a September call discussing second quarter financial results.

But Best Buy has also seen sales tick up recently as consumers invested in tech to accommodate working from home and remote learning. In its most recent quarter, the electronics retailer reported domestic revenue increased 3.5% from last year as domestic store comps rose 5%. Best Buy has also grown its digital presence since the pandemic began, which may help Lovesac expand its digital reach. Best Buy CFO Matt Bilunas told analysts in August its online revenue rose to represent 53.1% of domestic revenue, up from just 16.1% in the year-ago period.

"Through this partnership we will be able to reach a broader audience and accelerate adoption of the Sactionals Platform," Nelson said in a statement. "We believe the Best Buy brand and their customer profile is a great fit with the Lovesac brand and future product innovations."

As shopping is already well underway for the all-important holiday season, the partnership may position Best Buy as being a sort of "one-stop shop" for its target consumer. NPD Group this week reported video game sales in the third quarter broke records as they increased 24% year over year to $11.2 billion and analysts "anticipate another record-breaking quarter in Q4, in large part due to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles entering the market with one of the fastest-selling consoles in U.S. history, the Nintendo Switch." Adding Lovesac's bean bag-like chairs to its online assortment may go hand-in-hand with sales of other gaming accessories.