We are sensitive to regional economic and weather conditions that could impact our costs and sales.
Our business is sensitive to national and regional economic and weather conditions and natural disasters. Unusually inclement weather, such as significant rain, snow, sleet, freezing rain, flooding, seismic activity and hurricanes, has historically discouraged our customers from visiting our stores during the affected period and reduced our sales, particularly to DIY customers. Extreme weather conditions, such as extreme heat and extreme cold temperatures, may enhance demand for our products due to increased failure rates of our customers’ automotive parts, while temperate weather conditions may have a lesser impact on failure rates of automotive parts. In addition, our stores and DCs located in coastal regions may be subject to increased unrecoverable losses resulting from regional weather conditions and our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows could be adversely affected.
A change in the relationship with any of our key suppliers, the limited supply or unavailability of key products, supply chain disruptions or changes in trade policies could affect our financial health.
Our business depends on developing and maintaining close relationships with our suppliers and on our suppliers’ ability or willingness to sell quality products to us at favorable prices and terms. Many factors outside of our control may harm these relationships and the ability or willingness of these suppliers to sell us products on favorable terms. For example, financial or operational difficulties that our suppliers may face could increase the cost of the products we purchase from them or our ability to source products from them. In addition, the trend toward consolidation among automotive parts suppliers, as well as the off-shoring of manufacturing capacity to foreign countries, may disrupt or end our relationship with some suppliers and could lead to less competition and result in higher prices. We could also be negatively impacted when our suppliers or our supply chain experiences work stoppages; labor strikes; a prolonged public health crisis or pandemic, such as the COVID-19 pandemic; shipping and transportation disruptions or increased costs; currency fluctuations or inflation; or other interruptions to, or difficulties in, the manufacture or supply of the products we purchase. Changes in U.S. trade policies, sanctions, practices, tariffs or taxes, import limitations and other factors relating to foreign trade and port agreements could affect our ability to source products and our suppliers’ ability to source materials or provide products at current volumes and/or prices. These and other factors affecting our suppliers and our access to products could adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
Business interruptions in our distribution centers or other facilities may affect our store hours, stability of our computer systems, and/or availability and distribution of merchandise, which may affect our business.
Weather, terrorist activities, war or other disasters, or the threat of them, may result in the closure of one or more of our DCs or other facilities, or may adversely affect our ability to deliver inventory to our stores on a nightly basis. This may affect our ability to timely provide products to our customers, resulting in lost sales or a potential loss of customer loyalty. Some of our merchandise is imported from other countries and these goods could become difficult or impossible to bring into the United States, and we may not be able to obtain such merchandise from other sources at similar prices. Such a disruption in revenue could potentially have a negative impact on our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
We rely extensively on our computer systems to manage inventory, process transactions and timely provide products to our customers. Our systems are subject to damage or interruption from power outages, telecommunications failures, computer viruses, security breaches or other catastrophic events. If our systems are damaged or fail to function properly, we may experience loss of critical data and interruptions or delays in our ability to manage inventories or process customer transactions. Such a disruption of our systems could negatively impact revenue and potentially have a negative impact on our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
Failure to protect our brand and reputation could have a material adverse effect on our brand name, business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
We believe our Company has built an excellent reputation as a leading retailer in the automotive aftermarket industry. We believe our continued success depends, in part, on our ability to preserve, grow and leverage the value of our brand. Our reputation is based, in part, on perceptions of subjective qualities; negative publicity involving the Company, our merchandise or our industry in general that erode customer trust or confidence could adversely affect our reputation and business. Failure to comply with ethical, social, product, labor, health and safety, accounting or environmental standards, or existing or future laws or regulations could also jeopardize our reputation and potentially lead to various adverse actions from consumer or environmental groups, employees or regulatory bodies, which could require us to incur substantial legal fees and costs. In addition, negative claims or publicity, including the availability of information and opinions on social media, as its impact is immediate, could adversely affect our reputation. The opportunity for the rapid dissemination of information, including inaccurate and inflammatory information and opinions, is virtually limitless and easily accessible. Damage to our reputation or loss of consumer confidence for any of these or other reasons could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition or cash flows, as well as require additional resources to rebuild our reputation.
Risks associated with international operations could result in additional costs and inefficiencies.
In addition to many of the risks we face in our U.S. operations, international operations present a unique set of risks and challenges, including local laws and customs, U.S. laws applicable to foreign operations and political and socio-economic conditions. Our ability