NEW YORK — Best Buy, the nation’s largest consumer electronics chain, on Thursday reported another quarterly drop in sales due to Americans pulling back on purchases of appliances and consumer-electronics gadgets to focus on essentials.
Barry noted that major appliances and TVs continued to be very discount-driven, something that is expected to continue through the holidays. But she said that Best Buy remains targeted and thoughtful regarding where and when the retailer cut prices, balancing profitability and sales.in July and the unemployment rate rose for a fourth straight month.
It is also banking on new gadgets like personal computers enhanced with artificial intelligence from the likes of Microsoft. While expensive, they are more efficient and offer more battery life. And these new devices will result in lower prices for older models. Comparable sales — those sales from online channels and physical stores — fell 2.3%. That was a smaller decline from the 6.1% reported in the previous quarter.