“GameStop Corp. GME -6.06% forecast a steeper decline in 2012 same-store sales as total holiday sales decreased from a year earlier due to weaker customer traffic.
The videogame retailer said total sales for the nine-week holiday period ended Dec. 29 fell 4.6% to $2.88 billion.
The company said its now expects a 7.5% to 9% drop in same-store sales for the year, compared with its November forecast of a 6% to 9% decrease. GameStop also expects fourth-quarter same-store sales to fall 4% to 7%.
The company said new hardware sales declined 2.7% during the holiday period while sales of new videogame software decreased 5.1%.
Sales of preowned merchandise sank 16% as the release of fewer new titles throughout 2012 and less promotional activity limited inventory in that category.
GameStop has previously attributed its recent same-store sales declines to a weak offering of new game titles and has signaled it expects the slowdown of new console and software sales to continue. In response, the retailer has been focusing on new initiatives, such as offering digital download codes to customers, refurbishing AppleInc. AAPL +0.28% mobile devices and selling tablets that run on Google Inc.’sGOOG -0.66% Android software…”
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