Discounts, Special Offers Boost PC Sales

Price cuts, free color TVs and monitors and special financing offers boosted sales of personal computers during the first two weeks of December, according to a nationwide survey of retailers released by Irving, Texas-based ARS Inc. Of 57 stores surveyed, 58% reported sales were better than in the same period last year. Twenty-six percent said sales were about the same; 16% reported a decline. Last month, retailers had reported a decline in sales. One of the companies surveyed, Best Buy Co., the nation’s largest retailer of electronics, personal computers and appliances, reported a loss of about $11 million, or 25 cents a share, for its fiscal third quarter ended Nov. 30, citing PC price wars. Best Buy’s stock fell 62.5 cents to close at a 1996 low of $11.875 on the New York Stock Exchange.