Best Buy (BBY) has laid off a few dozen employees at its Minneapolis-area home office after a weak holiday season.
The electronics retailer, which in January reported comparable U.S. Sales at its stores fell 1.4% in November and December, did not confirm the number of layoffs, but the Minneapolis Star-Tribune which first reported the cuts, said they numbered in the dozens.
“We’ve had some areas where we have done a small amount of restructuring,” Jeff Shelman, a company spokesman, told the Star Tribune. Shelman said the company was also hiring in some areas. Best Buy did not immediately respond to a request from Coins2Day for comment.
Best Buy, which reports full quarterly results on the Thursday, disappointed investors with its holiday season, which raised the specter that the electronics retailer’s comeback is sputtering. The retailer had promised to get aggressive for the holidays with tactics that included waiving minimum online order thresholds to get free shipping.
Best Buy had been enjoying something of a renaissance after a few rough years, when a significant portion of consumer electronics shopping shifted online, specifically Amazon.com (AMZN). But the retailer has countered that with, among other tactics, shop-within-shops for top brands like Apple and Samsung.
