Hank Fletcher said:Is it just me, or did RadioShack totally drop the ball on their own business by moving out of providing anything other than tacky Christmas gifts? I know this has come up before on this site, but I just can't believe what a compromise going to RadioShack is.
For those of you in the U.S. who can't imagine anything worse than RadioShack, there is. Canada's RadioShack is now called "The Source," and it's getting worse on a daily basis. I'm not knocking either businesses' products exactly, it's more their choice in direction.
Why would a company with decades as a trusted name completely turn their back on a customer base that only time and good service can build? Yeah, maybe someone up top figured out that it wasn't cost effective to use store shelf space to be selling fairly specific ICs to a relatively small market, but I still feel like they completely missed an opportunity there. I mean, they were ideally positioned to move that kind of inventory into a RadioShack e-store.
In the end, it's not a big deal for me, because there are hundreds of other e-stores where I can get what I want. My point is what seems to me such an apparent marketing blooper on RadioShack's part. Just goes to show that even Goliath can make mistakes.
Hank Fletcher said:Is it just me, or did RadioShack totally drop the ball on their own business by moving out of providing anything other than tacky Christmas gifts? I know this has come up before on this site, but I just can't believe what a compromise going to RadioShack is.
For those of you in the U.S. who can't imagine anything worse than RadioShack, there is. Canada's RadioShack is now called "The Source," and it's getting worse on a daily basis. I'm not knocking either businesses' products exactly, it's more their choice in direction.
Why would a company with decades as a trusted name completely turn their back on a customer base that only time and good service can build? Yeah, maybe someone up top figured out that it wasn't cost effective to use store shelf space to be selling fairly specific ICs to a relatively small market, but I still feel like they completely missed an opportunity there. I mean, they were ideally positioned to move that kind of inventory into a RadioShack e-store.
In the end, it's not a big deal for me, because there are hundreds of other e-stores where I can get what I want. My point is what seems to me such an apparent marketing blooper on RadioShack's part. Just goes to show that even Goliath can make mistakes.
CanonMan75 said:Sounds exactly like the way Maplin Electronics in the UK has turned out
picbits said:I still have very fond memories of Tandy and probably always will.
3v0 said:We used to joke about how the IC factory first selected high speed parts, low speed parts, etc and then tossed what was left in a barrel and shipped it to RS.
RS has a nice online store stocked with overpriced junk. The thing they do have going for them is that you can have an order shipped to a local store for zero shipping. That would be good if they actualy had what I needed. Have not tried it.
Papabravo said:So, had you been the CEO, and it were up to you, how exactly would you have approached the problem of expensive retail space and ever expanding lines of components that sell for pennies to dollars? Would you stock through hole or surface mount? How could you afford to stay in business and make money at it? What would you estimate as the square footage of the Digi-Key warehouse in Thief River Falls, MN?
picbits said:I worked for Tandy many many (around 20+ years ago) for a number of years back in the days it was owned by Radio Shack and also when they were taken over by Intertan and various other things happened to it.
When I was a kid, Tandy was my dream shop - it had everything but as the years progressed they went more and more along the toy route as Maplins are doing in the UK.
I still have very fond memories of Tandy and probably always will.
Where abouts in Northamptonshire do you live?I'm lucky - my nearest RS (the main one in Corby) is only a 20 mile drive - Maplin is 20 miles one way or 15 miles the other way so its a bit of a no brainer at times where to go for emergency parts.
The idea was to prod the discussion, I already knew the answer. Maybe some bright soul out there knows something the rest of us don't. Those who have visited Fry's Electronics on the US West Coast will also understand what it takes to have a successful retail electronics outlet. Most of the space is taken up with high cost high margin items. This leave a few aisles for components, but I doubt those aisles make much money. The rest of the aisles make up for it.Nigel Goodwin said:You really answered you own question! - comparing RETAIL SPACE to WAREHOUSE SPACE - retail space is massively more expensive, and you need a HUGE amount more of it. Selling components through retail space is really (and sadly) no longer very practical.
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