April sales at Conn’s jumped 6.2 percent to $105.4 million, the retailer said in a Thursday announcement. But CE same-store sales fell 15 percent for the month and 14.2 percent for the three months ended April 30, Conn’s said. In March, the CE same-store sales decline at Conn’s was 22.5 percent (see 1604070045). Overall April same-store sales growth was flat, excluding the impact of the chain’s April 2015 decision to exit videogames, digital cameras and certain models of tablets, CEO Norm Miller said in a statement. With those categories factored out, same-store CE sales were down 10.1 percent in April “on softer vendor promotions” compared with April 2015, but home office same-store sales were up 10.8 percent on strong sales of office furniture and computers, Conn’s said.
The ProSource buying group added three PRO level members, bringing the total number of PRO-level members to 25. New PRO dealers are Acoustic Sound Design, Post Falls, Idaho; HiDEF Lifestyle, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; and Sound Distributors, Las Vegas. The ProSource members were bumped up to the PRO level based on their growth and reputation in the vendor community, ProSource said.
March sales at Conn’s jumped 0.6 percent from the same month a year earlier to $104.4 million, the retailer said in a Thursday announcement. But same-store sales fell 8.5 percent, including a 22.5 percent decline in consumer electronics, it said. That Easter Sunday fell in March this year was one factor in the lower March sales because Conn’s stores were closed throughout the chain that day, said CEO Norm Miller in a statement. Though March started off slowly, “we did see significant improvement during the final two weeks” of the month, when overall same-store sales increased 1.5 percent, he said.
Barnes & Noble CEO Ron Boire said he was “pleased” with comparable store sales performance and lower Nook losses. His comments came on a fiscal Q3 earnings call Thursday. Nook sales fell 33 percent to $51.7 million on lower device and content sales. Retail sales, including brick-and-mortar and online sales, slipped 1.2 percent on lower online sales and store closures, but comp store sales had 1.3 percent growth, on top of a 1.7 percent increase a year ago, said Boire. Half of the retailer’s online traffic was from mobile devices during the quarter, which Boire attributed to customers using larger mobile devices and tablets. Chief Operating Officer Jamie Carey said Barnes & Noble had double-digit growth in vinyl record sales, calling it a relatively new category for the retailer that has done “amazingly well.” It plans to continue to improve its customer experience for vinyl, he said. B&N shares closed up 6.9 percent to $10.94 in Thursday trading.
Shares in h.h. gregg rallied by 14 percent in midday trading before retreating Wednesday, a day after the chain said CEO Dennis May was leaving to pursue other opportunities. The stock closed the day 4.2 percent higher at $1.98. The announcement of May's departure, released after the markets had closed Tuesday, named Chief Financial Officer Robert Riesbeck as May’s interim replacement. May’s resignation from h.h.gregg follows the chain’s recent disclosures that same-store CE sales fell 7.9 percent in its holiday quarter, while appliances posted an unexpected 10.4 percent decline that May blamed on a failure to match competitors’ free delivery offers during peak holiday selling (see 1601280034). H.h.gregg shares have lost roughly 88 percent of their value since May took over as CEO in August 2009.
Conn’s had a 7.4 percent increase in overall same-store revenue for the quarter ended Jan. 31, but CE same-store sales dropped 13.3 percent, it said in a preliminary report Tuesday. CEO Norm Miller said the Super Bowl falling a week later than usual “delayed sales of televisions into the first week of February.” The timing is expected to boost February sales, he said. Furniture and mattress revenue grew 15.2 percent over the year-ago quarter, the company said.
Improved targeting and personalization made possible by digital coupons is leading to higher activity rates as brands and retailers respond to consumer demand for mobile integration, said a Juniper Research report Monday. The research cautioned that retailers not offering mobile integration will likely have “far lower levels of visibility on consumer activity” and be at a disadvantage when trying to customize offers and increase lifetime value of the consumer. More than 3 billion loyalty cards will operate solely on mobile devices or be integrated into mobile apps by 2020, up from 1.4 billion last year, said Juniper. The research firm found wide variations among retailers and reward card providers on digital loyalty integration. In the U.S., for example, 61 percent of Walgreens customers had linked their card to an app, while only 27 percent of Target customers had linked. The disparity is attributable to two possible factors: the level of consumer satisfaction with the app’s features and retailers’ success marketing their digital loyalty options, Juniper said.
Comparable store consumer electronics sales fell 7.9 percent in h.h. gregg’s holiday quarter, while appliances posted an unexpected 10.4 percent drop in comp sales year over year in what CEO Dennis May called “disappointing" results. Overall revenue fell 11 percent to $593 million, said the company. CE remained the largest segment of h.h. gregg’s sales mix at 46 percent, up from 44 percent in the year-ago quarter. Computers and tablets sales plummeted 35 percent and had 6 percent share, compared with 8 percent last year, said the company. Appliance sales came in below expectations, holding steady at 43 percent of sales mix due to the lack of a free shipping promotion from the retailer, said May. “Our competitors were advertising free delivery and we were not,” May said, which translated to low traffic and sales in the quarter. The company is launching free basic delivery next month as part of an ongoing promotion to “match or beat our competitors” with promotions, including free "instant" delivery, he said. Furniture sales were up 3.3 percent in the quarter, at 6 percent of the sales mix, and the company will continue efforts to increase that business, said May. Despite “industry softness” in CE sales during the quarter, the retailer was “pleased” with 4K TV sales, which were 59 percent of all h.h. gregg TV sales, up from 50 percent in the September quarter, said May. H.h. gregg will continue to focus on the large-screen and 4K segments of the TV category, he said. The overall TV industry was down 5.7 percent in dollars for December, said May, citing NPD figures, after slipping 3 or 4 percent in November. He expects overall industry holiday TV sales to come in at minus 4 percent. On the current quarter's TV business, May predicted “mid-single-digit negative” percentage comp store revenue over the year-ago quarter due to storms and that the Super Bowl is taking place a week later than usual. H.h. gregg stock closed down 7.4 percent to $1.75 Thursday.
Azione Unlimited added five dealer members, bring its dealer roster to 140, said President Richard Glikes Monday. New members are Advanced Communications Technologies, Essex, Maryland; Coax Jax, Jackson, Wyoming; SAV Digital Environments, Bozeman, Montana; Current Home Technologies, Vancouver, Washington; and AES Operations, Friendswood, Texas. The buying group is targeting 200 dealer members by year-end, said Glikes.
ProSource will “consolidate around fewer brands” while exploring “niche opportunities” within brand mixes this year, said CEO David Workman Thursday. For 2016, ProSource will heighten its focus on step-up 4K and OLED TVs, push awareness in wireless audio for Bose, DTS Play-Fi and Heos brands and “explore mid-market opportunities in in home automation through existing and new partnerships,” said Workman. Other ProSource initiatives for 2016: maximizing benefits from alliances with CI Edge and Power A/V Group and increasing membership with dealers that provide a “strategic fit” for the group, said Workman. The buying group will hold its Summit & Expo along with BrandSource Feb. 28-March 2 in Orlando.