Electronics retailer Best Buy Co. on Friday claimed that its sales witnessed a sharp rise in December as costumers purchased notebook computers, TVs and mobile phones ahead of the holidays. However, the earnings remain stagnated and its shares fell 1.5 percent in premarket trading, to $40.90.

Its revenue increased 13% to $8.5 billion for the fiscal month of December ended January 2, 2010. The revenue for the five-week period compared to $7.5 billion for the five-week period ended Jan.
3, 2009.

Additionally, the company witnessed that domestic online revenue in fiscal December increased 34% versus the prior year, driven primarily by growth in Web site traffic accounting to strong consumer electronics and appliance sales.

U. S. December sales in stores, open at least a year for retailers, rose 2.8 percent on an average from a year earlier, according to the International Council for Shopping Centers sales index; the figure fell 2 percent from all of 2008.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst Alan Rifkin had augured that the sales in stores open at least a year would rise 9 percent to 10 percent in December.

Best Buy, the largest specialty electronics chain in the U. S., faces tough competition from discounters and online retailers, despite of gaining market share since chief rival Circuit City liquidated last year. However, still it is believed that it gained domestic market share in December compared with a year earlier.