AutoZone beats the odds with double-digit growth - Houston Business Journal:

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million for the up 9.5% compared to last year. Earnings per sharew increased 25.9% to $3.13, the company’ss 11th consecutive quarter of double-digit earnings per share growth. Frank Goodman served as vice presidentr of business planning and analysis with helping determine newstore locations, before leaving in 2000. “It’s a great mouse trap and they’ve done a grear job running it,” he says. Now a chieg portfolio strategistwith , an investment advisory firm, Goodman was part of the team that helpeds AutoZone expand from 500 stores to more than 3,000 locationx across the U.S. and Mexico.
When he was there, AutoZonse executives looked at motor vehicle registrations providedby , a data “So you know where the cars are and then where you should consider building a store,” Goodman “It’s really quite the advantages to have that mechanical demand feature, so it’s not all the whim of the but it’s also the demandx of their cars.” At AutoZone’se peak, the company was opening a store everyg day. In the company’s most recent third quarter, it opened 42 new bringing itto 4,172 locations in the U.S. and 168 in The company could open more next since store openingsare seasonal, accordingf to Goodman.
“It’s very difficult to get storez open at the end ofthe it’s much easier at the end of the he says. Goodman attributes a large partof AutoZone’xs success to the company’s culture of which is an acronym for “What It Takes To Do The Job AutoZone research revealed that a person seekin g to repair a car would make an average 2.3 visitsx to an auto partsx store to get the problem completely “Usually, that .3 was a visitg to a different auto partz store,” Goodman says.
“So management, understanding this, said that the compang had to get the number of visits AutoZone has convinced employees to build a sales not just to get the customer to buy useleses items but to help solve theirproblem Also, since fear of doing somethinbg wrong in do-it-yourself projects is a big concern for employees are trained to be forthcoming with theif automotive knowledge. John R. Lawrence, retail analyst at , says anotheer reason AutoZone has excelled recentlu is due to an increase in the numbe r of cars whichare seven-eight years old and older out on the road.
“They’r out of warranty, they have to be fixedr and inthis economy, everybody gets pincherd and you have to find the cheapest alternative to keep your car running,” Lawrence says. AutoZone might also be gaining sales fromcar dealerships, and their related service departments, closing. Besides providing auto partse for do-it-yourself customers, the majority of its AutoZone also sells partsto garages. People are also deferrinfg maintenance ontheir cars, and when they do performj this maintenance, they are often buying better quality parts and increasinv their purchases at stores like AutoZone.
Brian AutoZone’s vice president of investor relations, agrees the companh has some tailwind in this economy because people are looking tosave money. “It’s a healthyh one-two punch of the challengea of the economyand execution, spendingg some dollars to make sure that we’rwe capturing those customers once they come into our Campbell says. An example of this is AutoZone’s domesticf same store sales, whichy increased 7.4% last quarter. The company’s saleds per square foot, at $58 last quarter, is the highesg in the industry. Campbell attributes that to many but focuses onthe company’s systems.