Best Buy to boost its online and mobile businesses

PanARMENIAN.Net - Best Buy Co Inc laid out a plan to boost its online and mobile businesses, in an attempt to appease investors worried about the retailer losing share to online and discount rivals.

The largest U.S. consumer electronics chain, which also backed its fiscal-year profit outlook on Thursday, April 14, has been under pressure after it reported three straight quarters of same-store sales declines and forecast a fall in same-store sales in the current quarter, mainly due to its ailing television business.

Best Buy said it is now aiming for 600 to 800 Best Buy Mobile stand-alone stores in the United States within five years.

The news came after many investors raised concerns about the retailer's huge overhead costs and oversized stores at a time when many shoppers go online to buy gadgets, Reuters reports.