Saturday, February 2, 2013

Off the top of my noggin.

RadioShack is planning to close 450 to 550 of its 4,412 stores nationwide. This doesn't surprise me. RadioShack has a one-track mind - cell phones. It's time to diversify or get back to the basics. There are too many cell phone stores across the country. On my block, there are 5 cell phone stores, plus a RadioShack. And, there's another RadioShack a mile down the street.

One of the things that I did when shopping for a new cell phone. I went to RadioShack, got a great demo, then bought the phone on-line. I got a better deal from the Internet retailer. First, there was sales tax. Had I purchased the phone locally, I would have had to pay state, county and local sales taxes; which is almost 10%. Buying from the Internet retailer, I saved over $20 in taxes. I paid for the phone, plus a $5 shipping charge.

I will have to complement RadioShack for the salesguy's training. He showed me all of the features of the phone and how they worked. But, when he tried to close the sale, I told him that I was going to buy the phone on-line. He asked why. I said, "Sales taxes." He said, "But you can have the phone today." I said that I wasn't in any hurry, because my original phone still worked.

So, why is RadioShack closing its stores?

Earlier this month, RadioShack’s long-term prospects as a viable company took another hit when its partnership with Target ended after neither side could come up with a mutually beneficial deal. The company had operated mobile kiosks at 1,500 Target locations across the country. Shares of the consumer electronics company are down by roughly 68% over the past year. The company recorded an operating loss of nearly $60 million in the third quarter of 2012. Same-store sales in the quarter dropped by 1.6% year-over-year. Revenue in the quarter fell by 3.8% year-over-year. Between 2010 and 2011, the company closed 2.2% of its existing locations — more than 120 locations in all.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/eight-retailers-that-will-close-the-most-stores-173320796.html?page=all

Is it any wonder why I still own the domains: radioshacksucks.net & radioshacksucks.org

It's not that I hate RadioShack, I hate the way they do business. It's time that they get back to the basics and provide the items that made them a great retailer in the past. I would like to see high-end audio and video systems at lower prices than the competition. I would like to see patch cords to connect all of the components together. The "gold" type connectors don't mean a thing. Silver is the best conductor of electricity. Then, the high-priced cables will be hidden in the back of all of your goodies, and won't be seen by anyone. (I can buy a $50 cable for $5 down the street from RadioShack, and get the same quality.) 

 It's no wonder why RadioShack is having problems.