By Herman Cain —— Bio and Archives March 18, 2018
Comments | Print This | Subscribe | Email Us
Dick's Sporting Goods reported disappointing holiday sales numbers in part due to weak demand for one-time hot brands like Under Armour.
I can't think of a single time when it's benefited a company to abandon sound business principles in favor of political posturing. Is certainly didn't help Target. It hasn't helped Starbucks. And it didn't take long for Dick's Sporting Goods to realize it's decision to pander to the gun grabbers would exact a serious price: Dick's Sporting Goods reported disappointing holiday sales numbers in part due to weak demand for one-time hot brands like Under Armour. The company's CEO also said recent changes to its firearm policies, ending the sale of guns to anyone under 21, will hurt future sales and may cause fewer shoppers to come to its stores. Last month, Dick's stepped into the national spotlight when, in the aftermath of a school massacre in Parkland, Florida, it banned the sale of assault-style rifles and the sale of all guns to anyone under 21. Other retailers followed suit, including Walmart, which also raised its minimum age rules for firearms. Its stock tumbled in afternoon trading Tuesday. Sales fell 2 percent at established stores during the fourth quarter, which was about double the decline that Wall Street was expecting. Industry analysts watch that figure closely as a barometer of a retailer's health as it excludes the volatility of stores recently opened or closed. To try and improve sales, CEO Edward Stack said the company will give more store space to its private-label brands, such as Second Skin workout apparel. Its store brands are growing faster than others, and Stack expects them to surpass $2 billion in sales in a "short period of time," but did not give an exact time for that to happen. Stack said Tuesday that the company's new firearms policy "is not going to be positive from a traffic standpoint and a sales standpoint."
Herman Cain’s column is distributed by CainTV, which can be found at Herman Cain