Tuesday, January 8, 2013

GameStop: Holiday Sales Drop, Lower Traffic At Stores

It looks like the holidays weren't all that bright for Grapevine, Texas-based videogame retailer GameStop. According to numbers released by the company this morning, its sales for the nine week holiday period ended December 29th dropped 4.6 percent, to $2.88 billion, compared to 2011. The firm said it did see traffic from the Wii U launch, and strong digital and mobile growth, but also reported lower store traffic. As a result of the lackluster holiday selling, the firm said it would expect fourth quarter 2012 earnings per share results to be at the "low end" of its guidance. The videogame retailer was hit across all fronts in the decrease, with drops in new hardware of 2.7 percent, a decrease of 5.1 percent in sales of new video game software, and a huge 15.6 percent decline in "pre-owned" products, which it attributed to limited inventory. On the flip side, the company said digital sales were up 40.0 percent, with e-commerce sales improving 20.5 percent.