Best Buy Experimentation: Ads vs. Conversion, Guardrail Metrics, and the “Job of the Page” (Kevin Washington)

What does experimentation look like when you’re optimising one of the biggest retail sites in the world?

In this episode, we talk with Kevin Washington (former Director of Product Management over Experimentation at Best Buy) about how large e-commerce teams think about testing when revenue comes from multiple directions: purchase conversion, retail media, and marketplace growth.

We cover:

• The “job of the page” mindset (homepage vs. PLP vs. PDP)

• Choosing primary metrics vs. guardrails (and why “purchase conversion” can mislead)

• How ad placements can cannibalise core retail performance

• Why short-term revenue wins can quietly damage long-term trust and LTV

• Non-endemic ads, emergency testing, and what “passes the smell test”

Note: This episode includes a screen-share walkthrough — watch the video version on YouTube for the full experience.

Bonus: Kevin will be speaking at UNITE Summit.