Best Buy Co Inc (NYSE:BBY) has revealed that it has discharged some of its employees at its home office in Minneapolis over the past few weeks on account of low sales made during the holiday season.
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The company reported in January that its sales in the US had registered a 1.4% decline in November and December. The company has not revealed the actual number of employees that it let go, but it is about a dozen or more. Best Buy’s spokesman Jeff Shelman stated that the company has been carrying out some minor restructuring in some of its areas as part of new initiatives by CEO Hubert Joly. He also revealed that the firm is seeking new employees for some of its departments.
The tech retailer has since recovered from low sales during the holidays. In January, the company had warned investors that sales for the fourth quarter would be lower than what was expected especially due to low sales for mobile phones. The company is expected to release its fourth quarter earnings report on Thursday. Thomson Reuters estimates that the company will report earnings of $1.39 a share and sales worth $13.61 billion.
The firm disappointed investors when it lowered its earnings expectations due to the sales situation during the holiday season. The company had promised great performance on account of aggressive strategies for the fourth quarter, but unfortunately, it was unable to make good on those promises. One of the strategies that Best Buy hoped would drive sales was the removal of the minimum online order threshold for free shipping. Investors expected the firm to make a major comeback especially with the new strategies that Joly has been working on.
Best Buy has had some rough years in the past due to the online shift in retail as companies like Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) attracted more and more buyers. However, Best Buy came up with some solid strategies to manage the competition such as the shop-within-shops. The nascent recover now has a steeper hill to climb.
