"If our customers feel it, we feel it. All of these things will have some impact. If the S&P is down for a good reason, and sustains down ... over time, we wind up feeling that from the economy," Anderson told Reuters on the sidelines of the Consumer Electronics Show.
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Best Buy Co Inc <BBY.N> Chief Executive Brad Anderson said on Tuesday that he saw signs of a tougher retail climate and the company would feel the strain if its customers did.
"If our customers feel it, we feel it. All of these things will have some impact. If the S&P is down for a good reason, and sustains down ... over time, we wind up feeling that from the economy," Anderson told Reuters on the sidelines of the Consumer Electronics Show.
Telecommunications company AT&T on Tuesday warned of soft consumer spending on Tuesday and the S&P 500 stock index ended its worst opening five days of a year ever, evidence of broad concern about the economy.
Anderson said customers "definitely feel it," pointing to mortgage problems and higher fuel prices. But he also cautioned that it was easy to inflate the impact on consumers.
!ADVERTISEMENT!"We have never had to pull anything back in a significant way and don't see that on the horizon. Right now we see indicators that it's a tougher climate, but we don't see indicators to say that its likely to be a really difficult one," he said.
Best Buy is due to report monthly sales data on Friday, and investors are watching closely to see if it will show weakness, after Circuit City Stores Inc. at the beginning of the week reported an 11.4 percent slide in sales at established stores for December.
Many are hoping that Circuit City's problems stem from problems of its own making, such as letting key sales staff go.
Anderson argued that ever-changing technology kept consumers interested in electronics.
"We are selling fresh product that make it easier for people to spend discretionary dollars," he said.
(Writing by Peter Henderson, reporting by Franklin Paul, editing by Ben Tan)
