Electricals giant Best Buy is to scale back its international operations but has insisted that the UK, where it has a joint venture with Carphone Warehouse, is a growth opportunity.
Best Buy will abandon Turkey, where it has two big-box stores, and shut its nine Best Buy-branded shops in China, where it will instead focus on its Five Star business.
The changes, along with the opening of more Best Buy Mobile shops in the US, are designed to save as much as $70m by fiscal 2013 and improve international financial performance.
Best Buy runs six big-box stores and a transactional website in the UK at present, and there has been speculation that the venture has struggled against market leader Dixons, owner of Currys and PC World.
But Best Buy said: “The company plans to open a total of 18 Best Buy-branded large-format stores in Canada, United Kingdom and Mexico during fiscal 2012.
“The company believes these international markets continue to represent significant opportunities to both serve customers and deliver profitable growth for shareholders.”
Best Buy chief executive Brian Dunn said: “The actions we are taking are consistent with our strategy of driving businesses that have earned the right to additional capital while curtailing activities that we believe will not meet our investment thresholds.”
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