Aarons 2013 Annual Report Download - page 24

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14
Employees
At December 31, 2013, Aaron’s had approximately 12,600 employees. None of our employees are covered by a collective
bargaining agreement and we believe that our relations with our employees are good.
Available Information
We make available free of charge on our Internet website our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q,
Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports and the Proxy Statement for our Annual Meeting of
Shareholders. Our Internet address is www.aarons.com.
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Aaron’s business is subject to certain risks and uncertainties. Any of the following risk factors could cause our actual results to
differ materially from historical or anticipated results. These risks and uncertainties are not the only ones we face, but represent
the risks that we believe are material. However, there may be additional risks that we currently consider not to be material or of
which we are not currently aware, and any of these risks could cause our actual results to differ materially from historical or
anticipated results.
Our growth strategy depends considerably on opening new Company-operated stores. Our ability to expand our store
base is influenced by factors beyond our control, which may impair our growth strategy and impede our revenue
growth.
Opening new Company-operated stores is an important part of our growth strategy. Our ability to continue opening new stores
may be affected by:
• the substantial outlay of financial resources required to open new stores and initially operate them, and the availability
of capital sources to finance new openings and initial operation;
• difficulties associated with hiring, training and retaining additional skilled personnel, including store managers;
• our ability to identify suitable new store sites and to negotiate acceptable leases for these sites;
• competition in existing and new markets;
• consumer demand, tastes and spending patterns in new markets that differ from those in our existing markets; and
• challenges in adapting our distribution and other operational and management systems to an expanded network of
stores.
If we cannot address these challenges successfully, we may not be able to expand our business or increase our revenues at the
rates we currently contemplate.
Our same store revenues have fluctuated significantly and have declined in recent periods.
Our historical same store revenue growth figures have fluctuated significantly from year to year. For example, we experienced
same store revenue growth of .9% in 2013 and 5.1% in 2012. We calculate same store revenue growth by comparing revenues
for comparable periods for all stores open during the entirety of those periods. Even though we have achieved significant same
store revenue growth in the past and consider it a key indicator of historical performance, our more recent same store revenue
growth has not been as robust, and we may not be able to restore same store revenues to historical higher levels in the future. A
number of factors have historically affected our same store revenues, including:
• changes in competition;
• general economic conditions;
• new product introductions;
• consumer trends;
• changes in our merchandise mix;
• the opening of new stores;
• the impact of our new stores on our existing stores, including potential decreases in existing stores’ revenues as a