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For the fourth quarter ending Jan. 30, Best Buy is predicting a 1.5 per cent decline in U.S. revenue and a bruising 30 per cent decline in its international division.

Shares fell more than 10 per cent in afternoon trading.

“The whole industry is changing and online sales are really impacting consumer behaviour when it comes to electronics,” said Alex Arifuzzaman, partner in Toronto-based retail real estate specialist InterStratics Consultants.

“It is a hypercompetitive area because the margins are very tight. And it is a commoditized area, so it becomes about competing on price. A lot of the high-margin Best Buy items that were making money in the past have also declined — cables, ink cartridges, CDs.” Thursday’s release does not shed light on how much of Future Shop’s lost business has been recaptured by Best Buy, he added.

Best Buy had no comment on the preliminary results on Thursday.

Competition has also intensified in recent years in the mall, he noted, as more niche players have sprung up to sell cell phones and accessories, and the continued expansion of Apple stores, which are smaller and more heavy on one-to-one expert service for the brand.

Revenue for the consumer electronics industry declined 4.8 per cent in the nine weeks ended Jan. 2 compared to the nine weeks ended Jan. 3 a year ago, according to NPD Group. That includes sales of televisions, desktop and notebook computers, and tablets — categories that make up about 65 per cent of the company’s domestic revenue. (NPD’s consumer electronics group data does not include mobile phones, appliances, services, gaming, Apple Watch, movies or music).