Good Guys Says 1st Quarter Sales Decreased 16%
By Alan Wolf -- TWICE, 6/23/2003
SAN FRANCISCO— Good Guys' sales fell 16 percent to $143.4 million for the first fiscal quarter ended May 31, while comparable store sales slipped 14 percent.
Chairman/CEO Ken Weller attributed the declines to the poor economic climate, which worsened during the lead up to the war in Iraq, plus weakness in the chain's audio and analog TV businesses, where average selling prices are "rapidly declining."
On the plus side, Good Guys is enjoying strong demand for flat-panel displays, HDTV, HD set-top boxes, MP3 players and other high-tech digital products.
To boost growth, the company is continuing to expand its assortment of early-adopter entertainment products, and is emphasizing a "solution selling" sales strategy that embraces A/V products, accessories and value-added services like custom installation, Weller said.
At the same time, Good Guys is tamping down costs and improving efficiencies through supply-chain management, gross margin return on investment and other ongoing initiatives, the company noted. Nevertheless, it is anticipating a "substantially larger" loss for the quarter than the year-ago period, due to lower gross margins and weak revenues.
