Best Buy December revenue up 13%

MINNEAPOLIS Best Buy reported that revenue for the fiscal month of December ended Jan. 2 increased 13% to $8.5 billion. The revenue for the five-week period compared with $7.5 billion in revenue for the five-week period ended Jan. 3, 2009. The revenue gain was due primarily to a comparable-store sales increase of 8.2%, the addition of new stores in the past 12 months and the favorable impact of fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, the company reported.

“Our ability to out-perform the market is due entirely to the hard work of our employees around the world, and it’s very gratifying that our focus on the customer is producing such great results,” said Brian Dunn, CEO of Best Buy. “The holiday selling season is critically important to a retailer. Our preparations for December begin in January, and this year the stakes were higher than ever, given the tough environment we’re all navigating. I couldn’t be more proud of the extraordinary effort our people put forth -- at our support, distribution and service centers, and, of course, in our stores.”

The company’s domestic segment generated $6.7 billion in revenue for fiscal December, an increase of 13% when compared with the same period last year. The domestic revenue performance included a comparable-store sales increase of 9.3% and gains from new stores in the past 12 months. Additionally, the company noted that domestic online revenue in fiscal December increased 34%versus the prior year, driven primarily by growth in Web site traffic.

According to Best Buy, the domestic segment was helped by a 28.5% comparable-store sales increase driven by Best Buy’s broad assortment of notebook computers and mobile phones combined with a differentiated customer experience. The consumer electronics category posted a 4.5% comparable-store sales increase, as customers continued to respond favorably to Best Buy’s assortment of televisions. The appliances category experienced a 16.2% comparable-store sales increase and the services category recorded flat comparable-store sales. The entertainment software category comparable store sales declined 0.6% driven primarily by an increase in gaming which was more than offset by continued decreases in music and movies.

Internationally, revenue was 13% to $1.8 billion as compared to the prior-year period. The increase was driven primarily by the favorable fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, the addition of new stores in the past 12 months and comparable-store sales gains of 3.5% driven by China and Europe.