By Dhanya Skariachan
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. consumer electronics chain Best Buy Co Inc
The news boosted its shares by about 2 percent.
"There is pent-up demand out there," Shari Ballard, executive vice president of Best Buy, told Reuters in an interview on Monday, adding that the retailer is planning for better holiday sales this year versus 2009.
"We are actually enormously excited about the holidays," Ballard said, adding: "From a year perspective, it has been a little bit lumpy in terms of customer demand."
After a year of uneven demand when consumers showed excitement only around launches of new products like Apple Inc's
The brick-and-mortar chain started holiday promotions earlier than usual this year and hired more phone agents and increased their level of training to cater better to customer queries on gadgets, Ballard said.
"We started earlier. We used online more distinctly than we did in the past ... We have been on television about 10 days earlier this year than last year to make sure that we are getting the message out," Ballard said.
Best Buy is also offering free shipping this year as it fights industry goliaths like Wal-Mart Stores Inc
The company has also been touting creative promotions like offering a different smartphone for free each week when a customer pays for a two-year calling plan.
Best Buy shares were up 97 cents at $44.51 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
(Reporting by Dhanya Skariachan, editing by Maureen Bavdek and Gerald E. McCormick)
