financeScrolling through your favorite retailer's website, you will probably see a colorful display of products. Today's retailer websites are tailored to increase sales by not only catching consumers' attention, but also by meeting their needs and enhancing their customer-service experience. To compete in the online market, companies must provide websites that include special sales announcements and online coupons. Offers of special benefits may entice consumers to register for periodic e-mails and to connect with the company via social networking sites.
Most company websites provide more than just coupons and sales announcements. Discretely located at the bottom of Dollar General's (DG) website, is a collection of links to other company information. Pages accessed through the "Dollar General Literacy Foundation" link describe programs to help individuals earn their high school diploma or GED. An "About Us" link leads to Dollar General's history, mission, and career opportunities. The "Investor Information" link displays a wealth of information about the company and its financial performance.
Like most retai lers, Dollar General is constantly opening new stores and closing stores to maximize profitability. The number of stores open in any month has a significant impact on total sales. The number of days in a month affects the total time the company can generate sales. Thus, analyzing the period-to-period changes in total sales is not an accurate measure of a company's performance. To provide investors with better information, retai lers announce sales using a ratio known as *comparable* store sales. This ratio is also referred to as same-store sales.
Dollar General publishes quarterly reports that disclose its change in same-store sales for the current quarter and year to date. Same-store sales is calculated by dividing the current quarter's total sales by the number of stores. Only sales for stores open at least 13 months are included in the calculation. The change in same-store sales is divided by the same quarter amount for the previous quarter. Established companies consider small positive percentage increases to be a sign of success.
Same-store sales is just one of many interesting facts available on Dollar General's investor information web page. The "Stock Information" link reports current and historical stock market information. Investors can view a chart that shows DG's stock price relative to the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500, two widely recognized performance measures of the broader stock market. The "Corporate Governance" section reports facts about the company management, such as individuals on the company's board of directors.
Mia Fashions reports its change in same-store sales monthly. During January, its 245 stores generated total sales of $126 million. In January of the previous year, 213 stores earned total sales of$104 million. Describe the company's financial performance based on same-store sales. 1st Edition•ISBN: 9781938168178Glen Krutz412 solutions
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