Sign of the times in the US
- Thread starter tboy
- Start date
For electronics, online purchasing has killed Circuit City like it killed Comp USA.
AND there was fierce competition from Best Buy.
If you knew what you wanted to buy, and you didn't need any assistance from an employee, they were OK for stuff you didn't want to buy online due to time constraints.
Also, they had good coordination between their web-site and their retail stores. Future Shop's website can tell you if up to 3 local stores have what you're looking for, so you don't waste a trip.
Circuit City had that long before Best Buy and Future Shop did.
AND there was fierce competition from Best Buy.
If you knew what you wanted to buy, and you didn't need any assistance from an employee, they were OK for stuff you didn't want to buy online due to time constraints.
Also, they had good coordination between their web-site and their retail stores. Future Shop's website can tell you if up to 3 local stores have what you're looking for, so you don't waste a trip.
Circuit City had that long before Best Buy and Future Shop did.
5000 is approximately 5% and the effort is planned over 18 months. (1400 yesterday). not really a bunch but more of a cleaning house.LKD said:
Thankfully it doesn't affect The Source up here. It is a wholly owned subsidiary but I can see layoffs coming in our retail sector too.
I was in The Brick just before Christmas and was talking to a salerep there. He said that on a saturday they'd usually have about 50 customers before noon, that day they'd had 3......
I was in The Brick just before Christmas and was talking to a salerep there. He said that on a saturday they'd usually have about 50 customers before noon, that day they'd had 3......
True, but this was going to happen anyway. Circuit City killed itself through its management practices and development strategy. In an effort to cut costs 5-6 years ago, it fired all its highest paid store employees. The problem was, they were all the most experienced and knowledgeable employees. In an era where technology (plasmas, LCD, blue ray, mp3digital) was evolving at a rapid pace, they were left with mostly undertrained and inexperienced staff who could not articulate the features and benefits of their products.tboy said:
They never took Best Buy seriously as a competitor, and WalMart made the strategic decision to seriously get into the electronics business. This killed their margins, and they did not react fast enough to protect market share.
Finally, their stores are mainly older locations in older shopping areas. As new centers open in the suburbs or near major highway exits, Best Buy outflanked them with better sites, effectively bleeding off the Circuit City customer base.
All of this was preventable, but the CC brass was too smug to recognize any of it and now they've made their shareholders and employees pay the ultimate price. Even in bankruptcy negotiations, they turned down legit (although lowball) offers to salvage something on the way out.
Well, aside from the bastardization of Darwin - he never actually said "survival of the fittest" - point is that Best Buy is a far better run organization than Circuit City. They're much leaner and smarter.onthebottom said:
Case in point: Best Buy's Results-Only-Work-Environment (ROWE). No more clock-punching, no more being chained to a desk, no more "face time" in the office, no meetings, no schedules. Just get the work done, on time. How it's done is irrelevant. That it's done is the only factor that matters.
Good outlines of it here:
Business dinosaurs will resist because it means much less hierarchical control, but the numbers and facts speak for themselves: lower turnover, the deadwood leaves on its own, and an astounding 41% increase in productivity.
Circuit City figured that ROWE wouldn't work for them because their corporate culture is unique. CC's now in bankruptcy. Best Buy is doing just fine, thankyewverymuch.
(For the record, I don't work for, or have any interest - financial or otherwise - in either CC or BB)
Survival of the dumbest. Made in China ends soon, and BB goes with it.onthebottom said:
Gyaos Baltar.
China is going to stop making product? Not likely - their entire economy is based on a production platform, their service economy is lightyears behind advanced western nations.Gyaos said:
Unless by "soon" you mean 2050?
Maybe hes thinking that Obama is going to start cutting off trade with China..Obama did say this week that China was manipulating the yuan currency. I'm not sure if it come to that.
BB could be on its way out too...how many flat screen TV's does a home need? With more people shopping on-line and these 20 year olds who want the stuff deliver to their front door while they hang out at a nightclub
In the USA we pay no sales tax if a store does not have a location in that state..so buying from Amazon you just paying shipping costs. On items that cost $2,000-$3,000 it adds up..Michigan its 6% so thats $120-$180
Its good short term for BB but what will happen in say 10 years.
BB could be on its way out too...how many flat screen TV's does a home need? With more people shopping on-line and these 20 year olds who want the stuff deliver to their front door while they hang out at a nightclub
In the USA we pay no sales tax if a store does not have a location in that state..so buying from Amazon you just paying shipping costs. On items that cost $2,000-$3,000 it adds up..Michigan its 6% so thats $120-$180Its good short term for BB but what will happen in say 10 years.
LOL I love listening to our American friends complain (or comment) on sales tax. Dude, we pay 13% and even if we buy from out of province we still pay 5% gst so don't be expecting any sympathy from us Canadians lol.S.C. Joe said:Maybe hes thinking that Obama is going to start cutting off trade with China..Obama did say this week that China was manipulating the yuan currency. I'm not sure if it come to that.
BB could be on its way out too...how many flat screen TV's does a home need? With more people shopping on-line and these 20 year olds who want the stuff deliver to their front door while they hang out at a nightclub
Its good short term for BB but what will happen in say 10 years.
Actually online shopping is infinitely more environmentally friendly:
1) You have a truck carrying many items going to your neighbourhood instead of a bunch of individual cars going to a store.
2) The materials needed to build and maintain a warehouse are 1,000's of times cheaper and less intense (for lack of a better word).
3) Power consumption of display lighting etc not to mention powering x number of retail outlets instead of ONE warehouse (which you need anyways).
4) Not a good thing but you'd require less employees and the costs associated.
Now for 4, you'd need more order pickers and order takers at the warehouse and more shippers, packers etc. so there would be some transferral of labour but certainly not as much as a retail outlet.
With all that being said however I personally will never buy some items online. For eg: I'd never buy a TV before seeing the image it produces, a stereo without listening to it, or clothes without trying them on. I for one cannot fathom how anyone could buy SHOES online. I have yet to find two pair that fit the same even from the same manufacturer.
your right.BEIJING (Reuters) - China's central bank on Saturday said U.S. accusations that it was manipulating the yuan currency were misleading, a day after Beijing cautioned incoming Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to handle their ties with care.
The remarks from Su Ning, a vice governor of the People's Bank of China, were the bank's first public reaction to comments from U.S. Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy Geithner, who said this week that Beijing was manipulating its currency exchange policies to gain an unfair trade advantage.
"These comments are not only out of keeping with the facts, even more so they are misleading in analyzing the causes of the financial crisis," Su said of Geithner's comments to the Senate Finance Committee, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
The exchange marks a testy start to ties between Beijing and the Obama administration, which may tarnish vows of cooperation in combating the global economic slowdown and security threats.
Dude, you've eaten enough Bush Jr. policies for 8 years. One President at a time and the one who's in now, doesn't want China's number one buyer (the USA) to buy products from there. Ditto with Japan and South Korea. Obama said this during the debates. Wait 'til the product testing law is enacted (Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) set to go into effect February 10, 2009).MuffinMuncher said:
Won't be quick, but it will be at some point while he's President. China may be behind, but the population is too large and therefore surpasses modern technology, nevertheless. Obama's going to put a stop to it and China will be forced to change away from it and have to come up with democratically elected saunas.
Gyaos Baltar.
For the ACTUAL record
“Obama -- backed by the conclusions of a broad range of economists -- believes that China is manipulating its currency,” Geithner said. “The question is how and when to broach the subject in order to do more good than harm.” Obama’s team will “forge an integrated strategy on how best to achieve currency realignment in the current economic environment.”
The news source is here:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=a8LmQm3ouhJs&refer=asia
The written testimony is public record.
Gyaos Baltar.
Geithner said in written testimony that Obama said it:viking1965 said:
“Obama -- backed by the conclusions of a broad range of economists -- believes that China is manipulating its currency,” Geithner said. “The question is how and when to broach the subject in order to do more good than harm.” Obama’s team will “forge an integrated strategy on how best to achieve currency realignment in the current economic environment.”
The news source is here:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=a8LmQm3ouhJs&refer=asia
The written testimony is public record.
Gyaos Baltar.
