With stacks of cut-price DVD players, digital cameras and big-screen televisions for sale, U.S. consumer electronics retailers are jockeying for what they expect to be a prosperous holiday shopping season.
The battle for a share of the American living room is turning fierce. While many retailers anticipate doing a brisk business this Christmas, some are tempering their optimism.
"We have a cautious outlook regarding expectations for the holiday season, but we do expect it to be better than last year," said Larry Costello, a spokesman for Sears Roebuck & Co., one of the largest consumer U.S. electronics sellers.
Retailers, including the world's top discounter, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., are trumpeting bargains. At best, analysts anticipate that the lure of lower-priced DVD movies, MP3 players, digital camcorders and VCR/DVD recorders will help boost not only store traffic, but will also entice shoppers to look on the Internet for holiday gifts.
"Consumer electronics are a good traffic driver, whether it's in the store or online," said Patti Freeman Evans, a retail analyst at Jupiter Research. But whether the increased customer traffic will translate into real profits is uncertain in the crowded $100 billion industry.
News source: Reuters - Retailers Vie for Electronics Holiday Rush
