Rebecca Day

Computer and home theater categories led comparable sales declines in Q3 FY ’23 at Best Buy, said CEO Corie Barry on a Tuesday earnings call. Comp sales fell 10.4% year on year in the quarter ending Oct. 29 but were higher than guidance. Shares closed 12.8% higher Tuesday at $79.88.

Heading into the pivotal week of the retail sales year, Amazon and other retailers pulled tentpole shopping events ahead by a few days to grab limited consumer dollars. At Amazon, some Black Friday sales kicked into gear Monday, with $100 off Fitbit smartwatches and up to 40% off laptops, plus high double-digit deals on its Fire TV, Echo and Ring devices.

As retailers ratchet up their Cyber Week promotions, brands are stepping up direct-to-consumer offers to win high-margin sales, we found in emails and scans of e-commerce sites Monday. In an offer that ends Tuesday, Bose is shaving an extra $50 off the price of the SoundLink Mini II Bluetooth speaker for members of its loyalty club, bringing it to $129. Samsung showed the Galaxy Z Fold4 (starting at $569) with an instant $350 discount, plus $300 guaranteed trade-in credit on Galaxy and Apple phones in “any condition.” Another Samsung Black Friday deal had the Odyssey Ark 55-inch curved gaming screen at $700 off to $2,799. Its 65-inch QN90B Neo QLED 4K smart TV was $1,000 off Monday, a 38% savings to $1,599, the same Black Friday deal price at Best Buy. Leica shoppers who buy an SL2/SL2-S camera body or bundle will get a free M-Adapter L (valued at $450) in a Black Friday deal, Leica said. Anker accessories are up to 30% off in a series of limited-time deals that change each day through Dec. 4.

Dolby Q4 FY 2022 revenue was below expectations, slipping 2% year on year to $278.2 million for the period ended Sept. 30 due to a “challenging environment,” said CEO Kevin Yeaman on a Thursday earnings call. “We’re planning for it to continue to be a tough environment in the near term,” he said. Dolby guided to revenue of $295 million-$325 million on its August earnings call.

The CES 2023 exhibitor count, standing at over 2,000, is fewer than half the 4,400 that showed in Las Vegas in 2020, the last CES before the COVID-19 pandemic turned trade shows upside down globally, CTA said at CES Unveiled in New York Wednesday. About a third are international companies, said CTA CEO Gary Shapiro.

Sonos’ retail channel is “comfortably stocked” for the first time in the past three holiday seasons, said Sonos Chief Financial Officer Eddie Lazarus on the company’s Wednesday Q4 FY 2022 earnings call. The company expects a return to normal promotional activity through the holiday quarter and is “in a position to burn down a significant amount of the finished goods inventory that we have” by the end of fiscal Q1 ending, Jan. 2, Lazarus said.

Target shares plunged 15% in morning trading Wednesday after Q4 revenue guidance citing a slowdown in consumer spending in the holiday sales quarter. Softness in discretionary spending that worsened at the end of October is continuing into November, said Target Chief Financial Officer Michael Fiddelke on the company's Wednesday Q3 FY 2022 earnings call.

Walmart shares jumped Tuesday after Q3 FY 2023 revenue came in higher than expected at $152.8 billion, rising 8.7% vs. guidance of 5% in August (see Ref:2208160039]). Sharesclosed 6.5% higher Tuesday at $147.44.

Toshiba said Tuesday it’s the official TV brand of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, which begins Sunday and runs through Dec. 18. Toshiba TVs on sale at Best Buy Tuesday started at $129 for a 32-inch V35 HD Fire TV, at a $70 discount. A 43-inch Toshiba Fire TV was marked down $90 to $199, and the 55-inch C350 was $469. The Toshiba TVs included 30 free days of FuboTV, which is showing World Cup games live on Fox and FS1.

YouTube’s announcement last week that it will cap the number of times viewers see an ad on YouTube and third-party networks addresses repetitive ads, “a well-known problem that has plagued the advertising industry for years,” said eMarketer analyst Jeremy Goldman Monday.