Best Buy is working with online sourcing platform RangeMe to help it discover and work with a more diverse range of suppliers. The partnership builds on the retailer’s commitment to spend at least $1.2 billion with Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) and diverse businesses by 2025 to increase representation in the tech industry. Some of the retailer’s efforts include:
- Providing advice and product feedback to emerging BIPOC companies;
- Helping BIPOC businesses deal with sourcing questions, find alternate suppliers for key components and make connections with suppliers; and
- Utilizing its distribution network to help fulfill products or house inventory for BIPOC businesses.
“Simply put, there’s not enough diverse representation in our industry right now, and we are dedicated to changing that,” said Mark Irvin, Chief Inclusion, Diversity and Talent Officer at Best Buy in a statement. “RangeMe will be incredibly helpful as we continue to partner with more of these immensely talented diverse-owned and operated businesses.”
Best Buy also has committed to investing up to $10 million with Brown Venture Group, a venture capital firm that focuses exclusively on Black, Latinx and Indigenous technology startups in emerging technology.
Walgreens also is working with RangeMe to expand the diversity of its suppliers. Walgreens buyers are using the platform to include multiple criteria in their searches, helping them to find the small and diverse suppliers from RangeMe’s database of more than 200,000 brands.
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