There's plenty of gloom to go around these days. It's for that reason that two separate reports coming out of the Reuters Consumer and Retail Summit are of interest because they suggest that for Best Buy and Toys "R" Us, at least, this year's Christmas selling season should be a good one.
Michael Vitelli, executive vice president for customer operating groups at Best Buy, said the consumer electronics chain had been successful in recent months in capturing share of key categories including cell phones, computing and flat panel televisions.
For the holidays, Best Buy is looking to build on that performance by tracking and analyzing sales data to adjust its product mix and by offering "clear winners" such as video games and Blu-ray high-definition DVD formatted equipment and titles.
Best Buy also plans to tailor promotions to consumers through its Reward Zone customer loyalty program. Further, it has planned to test kiosks in some stores that would allow consumers to load music directly onto their MP3 players.
Jerry Storch, chief executive of Toys "R" Us, also spoke at the Reuters event. He said that he expected that consumers would still be willing to buy "cool" toys for their kids for the holidays.
"I certainly believe people won't spend money the way they spent money in the past... for example, on the extravagances of life, on expensive vacations," he said. "But toys as a whole, even expensive toys, aren't very expensive."
The retailer is pushing ahead with its strategy of converting existing stores to a format that places Toys "R" Us and Babies "R" Us side-by-side.
Discussion Questions: Do the expectations of Best Buy and Toys "R" Us for the holiday season suggest that it may turn out better than is commonly thought at present or are these retailers possible exceptions to the gloomy rule? What is there about one or both of the two chains that makes you expect that they will have a strong 2008?