RadioShack Pushes to Clear Inventory
Dave Hein
Posts: 6,347
I'm surprised that nobody has posted the news that RadioShack is planning on trimming their inventory to cut costs -- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324783204578623472213498886.html. The news report I heard on TV said that they're planning on getting rid of hobby electronics products, and focus more on cell phones.
EDIT: Here a link to another article -- http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-07-23/radioshack-cuts-the-clutter-and-asks-you-to-play-with-pricier-gadgets
EDIT: Here a link to another article -- http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-07-23/radioshack-cuts-the-clutter-and-asks-you-to-play-with-pricier-gadgets
Comments
Bean
-Tor
Bean
That's too bad. Looks like my town will be getting yet another tire store, pizza joint, or gun shop soon, then. Oh well.
Looks like the new boss is going to collect some millions for the idea of turning RS stores into clones of Apple stores. Clear out all the Smile, only sell high value items, keep minimal stock, display your products in a clean spacious space more akin to an art museum than a store. They will get the money if the plan works or not.
Around here every phone/gadget store in every mall has adopted that Apple Store style a year or two back. Even a national chain that sells vacuum cleaners, washing machines, toasters, TV's and other such boring stuff pushed all that to the back of the shop to make an Apple store clone environment for phones and tabs at the front.
Does this news mean all of that is wasted?
MicroCenter was started before CompUSA.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_Center
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CompUSA
I worked in the first Software Houses retail store , that later became the second CompUSA SuperStorestore.
I then became Tech manager for the East Coast.
I still relied on MicroCenter to get parts for my Altair 8800 and other S100 devices.
I used to have a MicroCenter about 5 miles from me, now the nearest one is an hour away.
If this news is true, the Shack is doomed. EVERY Radio Shack manager I know (and I know several) has said that the focus on cell phones is killing them because the market is flat. Everyone already has a phone, but they are being directed by Ft. Worth to sell a phone to everyone that walks in their doors. And Ft. Worth isn't listening to feedback from their managers on this issue, and managers are afraid to speak up - the pressure is apparently intense. One of the RS stores near the UMASS Campus closed last year because they couldn't meet cell sales quotas - but the students in the EE fields in the local colleges (5 of them in total with UMASS, Smith, Mt. Holyoke, Hampshire and Amherst College all within a few miles of them) were buying PARTS for their labs and projects.
Now those students have to go all the way to the mall RS, about 30 minutes away... or order online and wait.
I also remember that it was RS that got me able to start building things in electronics back in the 1960s. There's no stores around anymore - other than RS for the moment, where kids can go and look at something and buy it just because they're curious.
And, it must be said, that it was because RS had "What's a Microcontroller" hanging right there at eye level for me to see every time I walked in, that I became aware of it's existence, and eventually bought it - which aside from greatly enhancing my own experience (and wallet), has also resulted in literally tens-of-thousands of dollars of other electronics purchases from RS, Parallax, Mouser, Digikey, Jameco and others, and has also made my local Ace Hardware store see an inexplicably large and unexpected rise in their small hardware sales :-)
If it's really true that RS is going the full-boat cell phone way, whoever made that decision can put on their resume in the future, "Led and oversaw the complete failure of a major, formerly successful, electronics retail chain".
It wouldn't be the first time.
I spent a lot at Lafayette Radio as an adolescent and I still use one HeathKit I built
What I'd like to see is the mission definition from the top, as it pertains to each category of products they sell. That would let all of us look at this picture more objectively. After all, think about the diversity of customers they attract - anybody from an older person wanting to buy a battery for an old Tandy phone to one of you, who might be looking for a 10 uF capacitor. Very different customers demand a more segmented approach, one that can't be captured in a Business Week article.
I think a combination of factors come into play, including a generation of folks who would rather buy a gadget/toy instead of building it.
It's part of the reason we lost our local hardware store. A generation of folks who are used to repairing an item instead of just replacing it are passing on.
Jeff
Not only NOW, but HERE -- pretty much wherever "here" happens to be.
I'd hate to think that the next time I need a blue LED in my little burg that I'd have to order it online. Walking three blocks to the local RS is just too dang convenient! -- especially when I can stop at the food co-op on the way home and pick up a sandwich.
-Phil
I think this is the essence of what I was trying to convey above. They've got a really diverse market, highly fragmented by age, gender, and interests.
We also don't know how the metrics (inventory turns, profit per square foot, inventory cost by category) work out in their store. At Parallax, we categorize products and then draw all kinds of conclusions about the product's effectiveness. Yet there's a huge complexity and dependency that numbers can't show, sometimes relating to up-selling, future markets, etc. which might cause wrong conclusions when only looking at numbers. One example is how we've used our hobby and education success to break into designing our own processors. Yet when looking at Propeller alone - in the early days and especially from an accountant's perspective - you'd really question our massive plans and investment.
The RadioShack plight is probably one of the most challenging business plans to be sorted out. I'm entirely enthusiastic about what they do, how they communicate it, where our products and customers fit into the plans. I'd love to know more.
One of the reasons these RadioShack threads generate so many responses is because many of us developed our early interests a little bit easier because of access to a RadioShack store.
I'm part of the generation, and proud of it. Why would I waste my time doing something that doesn't play to my comparative advantage? I'm good at X. Spending time doing anything except directly related to X doesn't benefit me as much. Yes, learning how to do Y might have some benefit, but it's not as much benefit as doing more X.
Interesting. I'm proudly a member of that "other" generation.
Just recently, I've: repaired a rototiller - it needed a new seat for it's flat valve; replaced the blade mandrel on my lawn tractor's mowing deck; installed shoe molding on a new wooden floor; welded a couple brackets on previously mentioned tractor; replaced an instant hot water tank for kitchen sink; rewired a couple lamps and have more similar household things to do.
None of those are my "X" but I think all skills give me an advantage. I'm of the school, the more "Y"'s you can do, the better off you are.
All activities were considered rewarding and satisfying and enjoyable distractions from X.
"Vive le rennaissance!!"
drywalling: NEVER AGAIN!
tiling a shower: NEVER AGAIN!
changing my own oil: NEVER AGAIN! -- at lease not since owning a diesel car
As I get older, I've come to appreciate the advantages of specialization, even though it can be a bit more expensive.
-Phil
On the other side of things - up to my elbows in the fermented goo that collects in the unseen places of a dishwasher... time for a new one. Repair my own exhaust system? Are you kidding?
Subsequent generations always take the best of both previous and synthesize something new... :-)
I sometimes I wonder what those people who went on to become surgeons were up to as kids:)
Some become surgeons, some become... Hannibal Lechter! :-)
How do we solve the problem of use of valuable retail sales space and resources for relatively low ticket low volume items.
Radio shack has already placed the majority of the component type items in drawers that reduce the use of valuable wall space.
The downside, is if you didn't come looking for a specific item, you'll never know they are there, so spur of the moment salses are lost.
It seems that some kind of really user friendy kiosk system might work where a person could browse for what they want and then get the item from the drawers.
The kiosk could show featured items to draw attention when not being used.
It would also benefit Parallax and their retail partners if the Parallax website would allow you to enter your zipcode and any items available in your local store would be marked as being available locally.
C.W.
I resemble those statements!
And I I find it easier to deal with DigKey and Mouser, and get the parts in two days, than to sort through the RS bins that are never restocked or kept in order.
I have offered to get the drawers in order for free, and I got a blank stare.
They should leverage the same cell phone technology they are trying to push off onto everyone that walks into the door!
1. You have a Radio Shack App on your smartphone.
2. You have that specific app enabled to communicate with Radio Shacks - for example, every time I walk into a Home Depot, I get a push notification of what's on sale.
3. You allow RS to track your purchases at their stores.
4. You walk into a radio shack, and their kiosk, which is nothing more than a huge (60" plus) display, senses you and looks at your purchase records, and gives you:
a: Listings of your most frequent purchases;
b; A store map showing you where those items are located;
c: an option to search for another product, which, if in stock, displays it's location and in-store quantity, and if not in stock, displays other local stores and their on-hand quantities.
This way, the sales pitch is tailored to each individual customer, utilizing the same technology that they are trying to sell everyone who comes within a mile of their stores now...
To me, it's simple. Why aren't they doing this yet? :-)
Dave
Back on Topic: I should get by the local RS to see what's on clearance.
Doc