BEST BUY TESTS OUT REDUCED SHOPPING AREA FOR CUSTOMERS

Best Buy Co. is expanding its test of a new store format that reduces the space for customers to browse by nearly half to focus more on getting digital orders out the door, according to people familiar with the move. The electronics retailer’s experiment is the latest example of how retailers are tweaking their business models to cope with the sharp uptick in e-commerce. The company plans to shift stores in one or two more markets to the new setup, reducing square footage used for shoppers to about 15,000 square feet from an average of 27,000 square feet, said the people, who asked not to be identified. The new format — first tested late last year in four locations near Best Buy’s Minneapolis headquarters — provides additional space to prepare digital orders.