NEW YORK — Is America’s love affair with gadgets fading?
Best Buy and Sears on Thursday both blamed their weak quarterly results on the fact that shoppers aren’t shelling out for consumer electronics.
Because we have no more money, and are sick of inferior quality products that need constant upgrades for the latest gizmo and features. You just stop buying the stuff and make due. Food comes first.
And the last thing I want to see in a morning paper is corporations complaining!
Already squeezed by tough competition from online retailers like Amazon.com and discount stores like Walmart and Target, retailers like Best Buy and Sears have been cutting costs and revamping merchandise and store formats to attract customers.
That means letting workers go.
But the consumer electronics remains stagnant. Sales haven’t budged from about $145 billion in three of the last four years, according to research firm NPD Group.
Part of the problem is consumers are holding out for smartphone and tablet computer launches this fall.
You propagandists and eliti$ts just keep deluding yourself with that.
Apple and Samsung are expected to debut new products, and an Amazon smartphone is rumored to be in the pipeline. Meanwhile, experts say things like the ultra-high definition 4K TVs have not been compelling enough for television owners to upgrade.
‘‘The category was weak. There’s no ‘Wow’ type product to get people in stores or even online,’’ said Brian Sozzi of Belus Capital Advisors.
That is not the problem; the flow of all wealth to the 1% is they problem.
One exception: trendy products like wearable fitness devices....
Every turd has a corn kernel in it.
The result is weak sales.
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‘‘As we look forward to the second and third quarters we are expecting to see ongoing industrywide sales decline in many of the consumer electronics categories in which we compete,’’ said Best Buy chief financial officer Sharon McCollam. ‘‘We are also expecting ongoing softness in the mobile phone category as consumers eagerly await highly anticipated new product launches.’’
Sears, meanwhile, said TV sales were especially weak during the quarter, particularly at Kmart. Revenue in stores open at least one year edged up 0.2 percent at Sears stores but fell 2.2 percent at Kmart....
Who wants to watch a vast wasteland of garbage no matter how good it looks?
‘‘The biggest negative contributor to sales has been from our consumer electronics business at both Sears and Kmart,’’ said billionaire hedge fund investor Eddie Lampert, who is Sears’ chairman and chief executive in a prerecorded call. ‘‘To address this decline, we are moving this business from a focus on selling televisions to a company empowering ‘connected living,’ which will bring together our capabilities in fitness equipment, electronics, appliances, home services, and auto services.’’
Do I even need to type anything? You $ee my point?
Stephen Baker, an NPD consumer technology analyst, says that unless a new game-changing product like the iPad is introduced, consumer electronics sales are unlikely to budge much.
They may even -- ga$p -- DROP!
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