There’s little sign of a surge for electricals retailers this year.

Other than briefly flicking the sales switch after Christmas, shoppers kept their purses shut. Both of the sector’s big beasts, DSGi and Kesa, expect negative like-for-likes in the foreseeable future.

But 2009 will be a defining moment as the pair protect their own performances, square up to each other and battle with new arrival Best Buy Europe, Carphone Warehouse’s joint venture with the US giant.

Kesa’s Comet chain outperformed in sales terms over Christmas, managing to limit its comparable store decline to 2.5 per cent vs 12 per cent at DSGi’s Currys. However, while DSGi’s gross margins were down 0.8 per cent, Comet suffered a 170 basis point hit.

Investor sentiment is likely to be swung by how convincing each retailer’s strategy is and its financial strength. Comet is clearly trading effectively and said on Tuesday that it would focus particularly on maintaining its strong balance sheet.

DSGi, part way through boss John Browett’s renewal and transformation programme, pointed out last week that it has an undrawn£400m credit facility and flagged strong trading from revamped stores – up as much as 25 per cent compared with the rest of the chain.

But neither retailer’s update excited the City. Carphone also looked mixed. Best Buy Europe managed 8.3 per cent like-for-like growth but full-year margin will be down 150 basis points as a result of lowering prices.

Because there are as yet no big-box Best Buy stores in the UK it’s hard to gauge the real scale of the threat posed by the imminent arrival. But a recent blog by Best Buy marketing boss Barry Judge (Barryjudge.com) is probably a good indication of how the retailer will attempt to make a splash here.

He talks of focusing on high-value customers, identifying consumer groups likely to grow during economic turmoil and, crucially, finding ways “to improve the brand experience and tell the story of how the brand is differentiated during a time when price becomes more important to many customers”.

This is the elixir that both Kesa and DSGi are also actively chasing. Best Buy of course recently offered redundancy to its entire head office staff, so its arrival here is no guarantee that the existing players will fall to its advance.

Some analysts prefer Kesa over DSGi, some take the opposite view. Others advise selling both. Perhaps the only certainty is that the ultimate winner has yet to emerge.

George MacDonald is deputy editor of Retail Week