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Posted
Jun 04 2009, 03:37 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Many big-box retailers, including Best Buy (BBY), Target (TGT), and Costco (COST), are struggling as the recession beats down their same-store sales. General retailers such as Sears (SHLD) are not faring any better. That means that the layoffs in the retail industry, which have already been extensive, are likely to continue, especially if the 2009 holiday season is weak.
Wal-Mart (WMT) is at the other end of the spectrum, by itself. The world’s largest retailer says it will add 22,000 jobs at its U.S. stores this year. That is down slightly from 2008, but in an economy that is forcing hundreds of thousands of people out of work each month, it is extremely impressive.
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Posted
Dec 18 2007, 08:52 AM
by
Robert Walberg
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Remember when it was cool to own/buy a Dell computer? Not that long ago it was Dell, not Apple, that had the laid back young kid starring in commercials that resonated with consumers. "Dude, it's a Dell," was the stuff of genius. Dell's were cool, they were cheap and they were everywhere.
Yet in little less than five years Dell has gone from cool to ice cold. Its share of the PC market has eroded due to misguided retail practices, poor customer service and outdated design. The company has also lost its price advantage. Despite the cheap prices you see on the company's web site, or in the flyers that arrive in the mail, once you configure the computer to match even the most basic of needs, the price ends up being as high or higher as PCs from Toshiba, Hewlett Packard and Acer.
Quite simply there's nothing that sets the company apart anymore -- at least nothing positive. Its abysmal technical service group certainly set it apart, as waiting on the Dell help desk was an exercise bordering on cruelty. To its credit, Dell's management team has begun to address this issue by adding staff, but once you get a bad reputation it can be very hard to change consumer perceptions. Dell has a lot of making up to do and some blunt talk from its back-in-the-saddle CEO, Michael Dell, just might help remake its image. Let's face it, Apple was left for dead a few years back and look at what the return of Steve Jobs did for that company.
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Posted
Jan 16 2009, 08:15 AM
by
Anthony Mirhaydari
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Tired of fighting activist investors, merger offers, and creditors, Circuit City (CCTYQ) can no longer avoid the inevitable.
The second-largest electronics retailer will be liquidated after it failed to attract a buyer. All 567 U.S. stores will be closed. Roughly 30,000 workers will be laid off. Shareholders will be wiped out.
According to reports from the WSJ, three potential bidders were interested in the beleaguered retailer and continued bidding for the company's future at its New York law firm late into the night on Thursday.
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Posted
Feb 27 2008, 06:53 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Apple's iTunes store has surpassed Best Buy to become the #2 music retailer in the country, second only to Wal-Mart in sales. And an analyst from the NPD Group, which tracks these sorts of things, said that Apple is on track to catch Wal-Mart this year. Apple shares dipped less than a percentage point yesterday to close at $119.15. Best Buy shares rose 3% to $46.50, and Wal-Mart shares rose 2% to $51.40.
This news says much about the way we consume music. NPD notes that 1 million people stopped buying CDs last year, a trend most apparent in young people. In 2007, 48% of teens didn't buy a single CD -- up from 38% in 2006. So retailers like Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Target -- who mainly sell physical CDs -- are going to see music sales slide. But what does the news say about Apple? Is the rise to No. 2 a result of its own sales savvy, or is iTunes the lucky beneficiary of the CD's decline? A closer look at the numbers sheds a little more light.
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Posted
Nov 03 2008, 09:49 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 How dreary will holiday retail sales get this year? Circuit City sees the writing on the wall, and is getting out before the first Christmas carol hits the muzak. The company is closing 155 stores -- a fifth of its total -- and will completely exit cities like Phoenix, Atlanta and Kansas City.
The No. 2 consumer electronics chain will lay off about 17% of its work force. It's hired a bankruptcy advisor and a liquidator, according to the Wall Street Journal, and is desperately trying to shore up some cash.
Circuit City is being hit with one crisis after another, starting with its vendors, who got worried after the company's gloomy
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Posted
Apr 09 2008, 11:08 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Walk into the Circuit City in my town, and you'll suddenly get a strange sensation. Look around...you're the only person there. Wait, someone must work here. Hello? Anyone? Then head over to Best Buy, which is packed with customers and ringing up sales.
Why is Circuit City struggling while Best Buy shines? There are many reasons: prices, marketing and sales strategy top the list. Look at the stock prices of the two: Circuit City shares have fallen from nearly $19 a year ago to $4.30 today, while Best Buy shares have stayed in the $40 to $50 range all year.
Circuit City might see some big changes soon. BusinessWeek reports that the retailer may have hired Goldman Sachs to look into sale possibilities. This comes after the company's turnaround plan has failed. Analysts say one of the worst decisions executives made was to fire 3,400 of the most experienced workers and replace them with lower-paid ones, according to Business Week. Customer service went out the window.
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Posted
Mar 07 2008, 11:59 AM
by
Anthony Mirhaydari
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Best Buy and Circuit City are reeling this week from the loss of their edge over discounters in the minds of high-definition television buyers -- just as total industry sales are beginning to slow. Yesterday's retail numbers showed that more consumers are trading down to price-focused shops for entertainment products, eschewing the better service and selection offered at specialty stores. Wal-Mart, the king of discounters, yesterday reported "extremely strong sales" of flat-panel TVs and home entertainment furniture.
This is a remarkable turn of events for specialty retailers that once had the high end of the business locked up. Vendors like Sony and Panasonic used to sell exclusively through the leading specialty stores to protect their brand image and leverage the service levels these outlets offer. But now, as the big electronics makers are fighting for their own lives, squeezed by low-cost competitors and a slowing consumer, they’ve become a lot less picky about where to sell their wares. At the end of the day, it's about the sales targets.
This backs up the findings of a recent survey by AlixPartners, a consultancy, which showed that U.S. consumers at all levels now rank "low prices as the most important determinant of what and where they buy, eclipsing product quality, customer service, the shopping experience and ease of shopping." In the words of AlixPartners managing director Fred Crawford: "It's a whole new ballgame."
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Posted
Jan 30 2008, 12:32 PM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
The shopping mall is no place for electronics sales, it seems. Unless you're Apple. First Palm shuts down its retail locations. Now Dell decides the mall is no place to be either. The computer maker is closing all 140 of its kiosks. Too bad for the Dell kiosk employees. The guys at the mall near me usually seemed bored, but at least they didn't harass me like the cell phone hawkers. Did anyone buy a Dell computer as a result of those kiosks? I'm wondering if they truly were worthless, as CrunchGear states, or if they served some tenuous sales purpose.
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Posted
May 18 2009, 03:30 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
It is the classic face-off between the king of bricks-and-mortar and the ruler of the e-commerce world. Wal-Mart (WMT) is about to up its bet on consumer electronics, a highly profitable and growing part of Amazon’s (AMZN) business.
At stake is whether physical stores can take back business from e-commerce sites which have been besting them at sales growth rates for nearly a decade.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Wal-Mart is "revamping the electronics departments in its more than 3,500 U.S. stores this week, ramping up an aggressive battle with Best Buy Co. (BBY) and Amazon.com."
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Posted
Nov 15 2007, 08:52 AM
by
Robert Walberg
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Within the past week Wal-Mart and Corning delivered positive earnings surprises due in part to the strength of large, flat-panel televisions. Investors responded by driving the share price of both stocks smartly higher. If you missed both of those moves, you might want to consider jumping into Best Buy ahead of that company's earnings report due in mid-December.
No company is better positioned to exploit the growing demand for large television sets this holiday season than the country's top electronics retailer. Price competition might keep margins from expanding greatly, but robust sales growth in the television/home theater area should result in some very favorable bottom-line comparisons. Best Buy is projected to earn 40 cents a share in its fiscal third quarter, up an impressive 30% from last year.
But Best Buy's results won't be driven only by big TV sets. Despite the difficult economic conditions, strong demand for other consumer electronic items such as gaming consoles, digital music players, high-end cell phones, portable navigational devices and laptop computers should make Best Buy a top holiday destination for shoppers. Most of these items are priced to move and even though consumers are feeling the pinch from higher energy prices and declining home values, crowded Best Buy stores suggest that, yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus -- and he will be filling his sleigh with consumer electronic goodies again this holiday season.
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