Oh hi. Yes I know I've been away from the blog for a while and with good reason. With Black Market Billions off to an awesome start, I've been asked to write more books (3 to be exact). I've also been soul searching. Details for all projects including my "summer of Hitha" TK, but first let's get to Best Buy. This is a retailer I've been following closely since 2010. Why? Because it was once the star of the S&P and one of the bellwether retail stock. Um, not any more. Former Best Buy CEO, Brian Dunn made some pretty crap choices in the merchandising, product mix and overall sales strategy of the store. The result? Shoppers now go to Best Buy (which was once a destination to PURCHASE all things electronic and tech) to price compare. Sales have been slowly dropping off. And internet superstore Amazon is taking market share away from Best Buy. So here's a question- do you go to Best Buy only to price compare? If you do you aren't alone and Best Buy executives are finally cluing in. Here's the thing- they don't think there is anything WRONG with the idea of "showrooming." In fact, when new CEO Hubert Joly presented his five step plan to get the company back on track at the investor day, showrooming was one area he wanted to focus on. Question is-- will it help or is it a case of "too little, too late?" The awesome Jeff Macke host of Yahoo! Finance show Breakout and I agree- the concept of a showroom is quickly becoming a thing of the past. And Best Buy better realize that-- FAST.
Licensing Deals + New Management Still Didn't Help $CROX and $GPS
Unbelievable. Crocs JUST announced two weeks ago that it would be entering into a licensing deal to create a greater product mix(surprise-- but those plastic clog type shoes aren't selling well other than in Asia)! Everyone thought this was 2012's turn around story. And now... NOW with an outlook for Q1 that missed analyst estimates, the street is back to where it started at the beginning of Q4 of 2011- doubtful that this company can really turn it around. And Gap is another one. Same store sales have been negative for a couple months now. And all of those holiday promotions didn't help Q4 numbers- in fact it narrowed margins. The company is offering a buyback program of $1 billion but analysts I spoke to were skeptical. Check out the vid from Friday: