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A GameStop store in Brooklyn, New York, on January 28, 2021.
Spencer Platt / Getty Images
GameStop’s
The fourth quarter earnings tax report is due after the market closed on Tuesday. Data from Placer.ai indicates store traffic trends were largely constant in January, but have returned in recent weeks.
Placer.ai tracked visitor numbers, noting that GameStop’s weekly visits (ticker: GME) fell by about 18% year-on-year in the week of December 28th. This decline fell to 12% the following week, but visitor trends declined for the next four weeks.
The retailer saw the improvement of the trends after the week that started on February 15, when the foot traffic decreased by 26% from year to year. Weekly visits fell by only 3.9% during the week beginning March 8. The company notes that this is the smallest year-on-year difference for GameStop in recent months.
“GameStop has returned to the visit levels found in early January and appears to be on a strong recovery path heading into spring,” Ethan Chernofsky, vice president of marketing at Placer.ai, wrote in a post.
While a reduction in Covid-19 restrictions in some states, in parallel with less severe weather, could be the major factor in improving visits, Chernofsky notes that the brand could also see a boost in renewed attention from the recent saga of GameStop actions.
The Wall Street consensus estimate calls for a 4.7% increase in sales at the same store year-on-year in the fourth fiscal quarter, which ended in January, according to FactSet. The company announced on January 11 that sales in the same store increased by 4.8% during the nine-week holiday period, which ended on January 2. However, e-commerce sales increased by 309%, which means that pedestrian traffic cannot give a full picture.
The Placer.ai team notes that AMC Theaters also saw a 79.2% year-over-year decline in the week of February 15 to a 47-year decline from 47, 9% in the week of March 8.
AMC Entertainment Holdings
stock (AMC) has increased by 489% so far, while GameStop stock has increased by 932%.
Write to Connor Smith at [email protected]