Times are tough all over; just take a gander at CompUSA's reported fourth quarter sales results, available from Infoseek. Yes, their net sales increased by 3% from the same quarter a year ago, but if you only look at the sales from stores that have been open for over a year, it seems that CompUSA's sales have declined by 8.7%. For the whole fiscal year, things were a little better: net sales up 15% overall, and up 1.7% for the stores that are over a year old, but that implies that CompUSA's sales are slacking off as time marches on. In light of these results, it's not exactly a surprise that CompUSA expects to post a loss for the quarter.

Jim Halpin, CompUSA's CEO, announced that he is "very disappointed" with his company's results, and attributed the numbers in part to Windows 98, saying that many people were waiting to buy computers until Microsoft's latest operating system finally shipped. (Now that it's out and apparently selling well, things might start to turn around.) It's also worth noting that CompUSA keeps adding stores and investing in infrastructure, which contributes to a loss in the short term, but (hopefully) sets them up for better performance in the future.

So what does this mean for Apple? By putting all of its Macs in one retailer's basket, Apple was taking a sizeable risk; reports across the country indicate that CompUSAs as a general rule still lack Mac-knowledgable sales staff. On the up side, Halpin specifically mentions the iMac as a likely first-quarter sales-booster, so he's paying at least a little attention to the potential of the Apple line. But the thing that Jim needs to get into his head (and fast) is that Macs aren't going to move unless they're advertised. Did everyone notice the complete and utter lack of Apple equipment in last Sunday's CompUSA circular? We bet selling a few more G3's could have helped CompUSA's bottom line, but until the ads surface, it's just business as usual.