retailers

Apple easing back retail expansion

Apple's fiscal first quarter was a blowout by any standard, but it's worth taking a look at one potential concern: retail.

CFO Peter Oppenheimer reported Wednesday that during the quarter just ended, average revenue per store declined 18 percent, from $8.5 million last year to $7 million this year. Margins were also hurt, declining from $405 million to $353 million, perhaps implying that Apple's decision to amplify its policy of matching discounts offered by other retail partners took a toll.

These numbers should be viewed against the economy as a whole, which was not kind to … Read more

Best Buy selects incoming CEO

Best Buy President and Chief Operating Officer Brian Dunn is set to be promoted to CEO this summer, when current Chief Executive Brad Anderson retires, the company announced Wednesday.

Anderson, who's led Best Buy for seven years, plans to retire from the electronics retailer at the company's annual meeting in June. He'll keep his position as vice chairman of the board of directors in order to help with the transition.

Dunn began his career at Best Buy as a store associate 23 years ago, rising through the company's ranks to become president and COO in 2006. … Read more

Circuit City: A eulogy

Circuit City, the world's second-largest electronics retailer announced on Friday that it has been forced into liquidation after attempts to sell itself to a third-party failed.

Circuit City's liquidation is sad, but it shouldn't come as a surprise. The company has been facing serious financial issues for the past few years and was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange after filing for bankruptcy and witnessing its stock price plummet to near worthlessness. Moreover, the economic crisis had a severe impact on Circuit City, and fewer creditors were willing to offer the company attractive rates as it tried to purchase goods for sale.

But it wasn't always like this for Circuit City. The company once enjoyed great success, and it can trace its roots all the way back to 1949.… Read more

Circuit City to shut down remaining stores

After exploring other options, Circuit City said Friday it will begin liquidating all remaining stores.

About 30,000 employees face layoffs as the rest of its 567 stores are closed. The fates of outstanding warranties, its Firedog repair service, and Canadian stores are still to be determined, according to the company.

The nation's second-largest consumer electronics retailer filed for bankruptcy in November and initially closed 155 retail outlets in an attempt to get its roughly $2 billion debt under control. Just a week ago, Circuity City announced it was in talks for a sale with two "highly interested&… Read more

5 questions for woman selling her virginity online

Her pseudonym is Natalie Dylan. Because she is a woman of impeccable taste, I imagine that she named herself after Natalie Wood and Bob Dylan.

If you have not yet been propositioned by her publicity, Natalie, 22 years old, is selling her virginity to the highest bidder at Bunnyranch.com. The leading man's offer currently stands at a breathtaking $3.8 million.

The Bunny Ranch, for those who haven't been initiated, is an extremely famous brothel in Nevada, and perhaps you, on hearing this news, will be wondering just what criteria she will be using to cherry-pick her … Read more

Online holiday sales drop 3 percent

Online holiday spending declined 3 percent compared with last year's online shopping season, the first negative growth rate in the past eight years, according to a ComScore report released Tuesday.

Between November 1 and December 23, U.S. online merchants recorded $25.5 billion in sales, down from $26.3 billion during the same period last year, ComScore reported. Gian Fulgoni, the research firm's chairman, blamed economic pessimism for the poor results:

The combination of having five fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas and the severe economic headwinds faced by consumers has made this a really tough … Read more

The holiday e-retail satisfaction rankings are in

With the nation on edge, you might assume that every Internet retailer worth their salt would have extended red carpet treatment to shoppers during the traditional end-of-year shopping rush.

Wrong assumption.

In fact, more than one-third of the 40 online merchants surveyed in a report on retail satisfaction finished with lower scores than they did during the same period a year ago.

Still, the annual report from Foresee Results found that scores for most of the 40 online retailers it tracks remained the same while one-fourth registered improvements from 2007.

"Holding flat was a pleasant surprise," said Larry … Read more

Did Mammon defeat God online this Xmas?

I wanted a quiet, spiritual Christmas.

But then I was struck by the hideous news that U.K. retailers were trying to launch their sales online on Christmas Day.

With a loud voice that I last remembered from my First Communion screaming in my head "Is nothing sacred?", I decided to put humanity to the test. Are we still God-fearing people who understand the true meaning of life? Or is our belief in things truly beyond belief?

How better could one delve into this important issue than with the help of the Almighty? Yes, Google. Surely, I mused, … Read more

Online spending doubles for weekend before Christmas

Here's a little statistical cheer for online retailers bracing themselves for what many have been predicting will be a dismal holiday sales season.

The latest online retail spending report released Tuesday by ComScore shows that consumers last weekend spent almost double what they spent on the corresponding weekend before Christmas last year. U.S. consumers online spent $677 million last weekend, December 20 and 21, compared to $341 million the weekend before Christmas in 2007, which was December 22 and 23.

It should be noted, however, that there are five fewer days this year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, making … Read more