Now that the economy is on the mend and consumers are regaining their confidence, Richard Uechtritz, JB Hi-Fi CEO, doesn’t see why his retail chain can’t improve on its remarkable success of 2009 in the New Year.
Speaking to Appliance Retailer this morning, Uechtritz outlined his expectations for the 2010 year and also how the retailer performed over the busy Christmas season.
“We are all very happy with our performance over Christmas, it was a bit of a slippery slide at times but it all ended up very good and positive for us,” he said.
“All of the new stores we opened throughout the year have also performed very well and met all of our expectations.”
JB Hi-Fi has just come off a very strong year and Uechtritz is confident that it can keep up the performance by following the same principles it has followed all along.
“We just have to make sure that we have all the basics covered with the right people, the right product and the right price,” he said.
“If the economy improves that will be great for us, if it doesn’t then we will just continue to do the best job we can.”
When asked whether or not he thinks JB Hi-Fi will beat the record setting 2009, Uechtritz was very clear in his thoughts.
“I don’t see why not,” he said. “The economists say the economy is on the rise and therefore 2010 will hopefully be just as successful if not more so than 2009.”
According to Uechtritz, this financial year JB Hi-Fi plans to open 22 new stores, 15 of these have already been opened before Christmas and the remaining seven will open throughout the first half of 2010.