Dec. Game Sales Decline for Best Buy

F

FrankT

Member
Best Buy said Friday that videogame sales suffered a decline during the fiscal month ending January 3, due in part to more cautious consumer spending.

Entertainment software, which includes games, DVDs and CDs, generated $1.9 billion during the month, a decline of 12.2 percent.

Total revenues were up 4 percent to $7.5 billion, driven by new store openings, but same store sales were down 6.5 percent.

Comparable store sales (in dollar terms) for videogames declined by the "mid single-digits," as consumers' interest shifted to software instead of pricier hardware. Best Buy also noted a tough comparison to last year.

"While the environment continues to be as challenging as we expected, consumers are being drawn to brands that they trust, and they are responding to our customer-centric model," said CEO Brad Anderson in a press statement.

The company also narrowed its earnings per share guidance for fiscal 2009 to the range of $2.50 to $2.70. Previously, guidance was for the range of $2.30 to $2.90.

Shares in Best Buy were down $1.59, or 5 percent, to $28.05 in early afternoon trading.
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http://www.edge-online.com/news/dec-game-sales-decline-best-buy

Looks like a mixed bag for games sales for the month between GS and BB.
 
I hope you guys like exclusive preorder bonuses that never get released as DLC, because there are about to be a shitload more of them.
 
So video gaming dropped by mid single digits, while weakness in music and movies showed the most declines. It also sounds like the drop is due to selling more software and less hardware...

The entertainment software revenue category, which comprised 25 percent of fiscal December domestic revenue, experienced a comparable store sales decline of 12.2 percent. Music and movies experienced double-digit comparable store sales declines. Video gaming comparable store sales declined by the mid single digits, primarily due to a shift toward software and reduced sales of large-ticket consoles, as well as comparisons with strong results in the prior year’s period.
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Ya, I've done 80% of all shopping on Amazon in the last year. Free shipping and no tax, not to mention good prices and no moron sales people.
 
DeadGzuz said:
... and no tax
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Not in New York. :(
Damn state legislature passed a bill last year requiring sales tax on all Internet purchases (it used to be tax only collected if the site had a physical presence in the state).
 
Amused_To_Death said:
So video gaming dropped by mid single digits, while weakness in music and movies showed the most declines. It also sounds like the drop is due to selling more software and less hardware...
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Pretty much my take away as well.
 
TJ Spyke said:
Not in New York. :(
Damn state legislature passed a bill last year requiring sales tax on all Internet purchases (it used to be tax only collected if the site had a physical presence in the state).
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Run to Newegg for gaming. Not as many deals, but still...
 
Davidion said:
Run to Newegg for gaming. Not as many deals, but still...
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I will check them out, but they will have to have great deals since the tax will still be applied. All Internet purchases in New York have sales tax now.
 
I guess that's what happens when other retailers are offering incentives to buy the games from them. Amazon ftw.
 
dead souls said:
My thoughts exactly. Between Amazon prime and Netflix I may never leave the house again.
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e-commerce has put retail in a chokehold, it won't be long until they go after it with sales taxes and more tariffs, we better enjoy the cheap labor passed onto us while we can.
 
So Gamestop is increasing (and reporting record trade-ins) and Best Buy is falling. I think the used game market issue is really going to come to the forefront in the next year. I just don't see how the current market can support a system wherein only the end retailer receives money for a product.
 
Xabora said:
Uhh...
I've been doing all my game shopping at amazon.
F**k Bestbuy and Gamestop.
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i don't necessarily disagree, amazon is pif, but at least if you buy a new game at best buy it's actually new & sealed. i fucking HATE that gamestop bullshit.
 
I can't remember the last time I bought a game at best buy. I don't think they ever have anything on sale. Can't say I'm surprised at this when other retailers have been agressively discounting.
 
LightDarkFrexed said:
Good, maybe publishers and retailers will get the message that smart people are not going to spend $65 for a videogame.
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Only if they are still buying cheaper games at BB. If sales dropped among both the full price AND discounted/price dropped games, there's no lesson.
xS1TH L0RDx said:
i don't necessarily disagree, amazon is pif, but at least if you buy a new game at best buy it's actually new & sealed. i fucking HATE that gamestop bullshit.
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Then when they try to hand you an unsealed "new" game, don't buy it. I still shop at Gamestop (as much as any B&M retailer, anyway), and I never leave with an open game at a new price.
 
I buy eBay and Amazon online, and at local mom n' pop game shops for used titles. That's right, used. Have at me.
 
Amazon and Newegg FTW. I don't have to deal with stupid dregs of society customers and holier than thou sales people.
 
Best Buy's sale prices just haven't been competitive. It's a very rare occasion that I see a BB ad with a deal I haven't seen better and earlier elsewhere, if it's got any good deals at all.
 
How much of this has to do with the 360 price drop and a move to consumers buying more Arcades and fewer Pros?

It would also seem to point to December Wii shipments not being too large.
 
Maybe if they competitively priced their software, it's ridiculous how everything is full price a year after release at BB. I went to BB at the Landmark center in Boston two days before christmas, it was a ghost town, no one was buying VG stuff and there were stacks of everything except Wii hardware.
 
Agreed. I'm pretty sure Amazon's $20-$30 discounts on pretty much every major title at some point during November and December probably had more to do with it than a declining economy. Also no coincidence Amazon posted their biggest Holiday season of all time this year.
 
Jtyettis said:
Indeed, Amazon ftw.
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Yup, I lived close to their factory for Canada. I order my game from Amazon, with free shipping, and it's hear in 12 hours. Delivered by a guy who drives a Honda Civic normally.
 
That's a bummer for Best Buy, but I think December is still likely to be up for the industry.

In any case, I don't buy there, just like I don't buy (games) at Wal-Mart. Their prices don't seem to drop incrementally. They're full price until the day they stick them in the clearance bin at $10.

Although I seem to recall BB used to run launch day sales on games, like Fry's (sometimes) still does. If they're still doing that, they've managed to slip it by me.
 
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