Circuit City revamping?

stratman

stratman

Audioholic Ninja
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/industry/2008-03-09-circuitcity_N.htm

Just filling in for the staff instigator. I happened to read this in the money section of the USA Today this morning.
Staff Instigator (SI) hmmm, who could that be?:confused:


"It's going to be a good year for our industry," Schoonover said, calling the switch to digital broadcasting the biggest growth opportunity since he went into consumer electronics 25 years ago. He came to Circuit City in 2004 from Best Buy, where he was executive vice president of customer segments."

You've got to give Schoonover credit for being an optimist.
 
MUDSHARK

MUDSHARK

Audioholic Chief
Staff Instigator (SI) hmmm, who could that be?:confused:
:D:D


think they only keep Circuit City alive because it makes Best Buy look good
I agree with that. The Merritt Island store employees are the most unmotivated and poorly trained that I have ever seen. However, I have not yet received bags of dry beans in a empty box from Circuit City instead of a Hard Drive yet. Is it any wonder that so many of us shop on-line?
 
stratman

stratman

Audioholic Ninja
I hope Schoonover understands he's got some major revamping to do, from employee training to store upgrade. Making the stores smaller and more efficient isn't going to cut it. They need to aggressively go after BB and local deep discount houses, in my case Brands Mart kicks everyone's butt, they had 42" Pannys for $975.00, this is a B&M, you can pull right up in your SUV and take it home if you so wish. This is what they face here in Miami. I've been to BB twice this week, including one Saturday, they were marginally busy, Brands Mart was swamped Saturday. The CC over by Dadeland can play location for a Stephen King movie cemetery, deserted.
 
aberkowitz

aberkowitz

Audioholic Field Marshall
I hope Schoonover understands he's got some major revamping to do, from employee training to store upgrade. Making the stores smaller and more efficient isn't going to cut it. They need to aggressively go after BB and local deep discount houses, in my case Brands Mart kicks everyone's butt, they had 42" Pannys for $975.00, this is a B&M, you can pull right up in your SUV and take it home if you so wish. This is what they face here in Miami. I've been to BB twice this week, including one Saturday, they were marginally busy, Brands Mart was swamped Saturday. The CC over by Dadeland can play location for a Stephen King movie cemetery, deserted.
Costco, Sam's Club, and BJ's are doing the same thing. If anything these places have a bit of an advantage over something like Brands Mart (which I believe just sells CE and appliances) b/c they have regular customers who come in weekly/monthly to buy food. They put all of the electronics right next to the door with very low prices... and J6P doesn't even need a special trip to convince his wife. She can see the big-*** TV as they're shopping for 50lb bags of cereal :).
 
stratman

stratman

Audioholic Ninja
Costco, Sam's Club, and BJ's are doing the same thing. If anything these places have a bit of an advantage over something like Brands Mart (which I believe just sells CE and appliances) b/c they have regular customers who come in weekly/monthly to buy food. They put all of the electronics right next to the door with very low prices... and J6P doesn't even need a special trip to convince his wife. She can see the big-*** TV as they're shopping for 50lb bags of cereal :).
I agree, but their CE selection is very limited so for some it works out, but I would venture to say that the majority don't buy their CE at food clubs.
 
aberkowitz

aberkowitz

Audioholic Field Marshall
I agree, but their CE selection is very limited so for some it works out, but I would venture to say that the majority don't buy their CE at food clubs.
The best sales stats that I could find are from their FY2006:

TVs sold- 1.5 million units
Digital Cameras- $300 million worth

They also sold 96,000 karats worth of diamonds and $400 million worth of fine wine

Obviously they're not doing 40% of the market, but I don't think that 10-12% would be a bad estimate.
 
Halon451

Halon451

Audioholic Samurai
Circuit City does have one distinct advantage over Best Buy - Polk speakers. At least I find this to be true in the stores near where I live. Alas, it's not really enough for me to give them praise, because everything else about them leads me to wonder how they are even still in business. As rarely as I have ever gotten any useful help from a BB employee, rare to never has it been the case with any CC employee. It seems like they literally pulled street hoodlums right into the store, slapped a red polo shirt on them and put them on the sales floor. :confused:
 
Pyrrho

Pyrrho

Audioholic Ninja
:D:D




I agree with that. The Merritt Island store employees are the most unmotivated and poorly trained that I have ever seen. However, I have not yet received bags of dry beans in a empty box from Circuit City instead of a Hard Drive yet. Is it any wonder that so many of us shop on-line?
Though this is old news, some of you seem to be unaware of why Circuit City has bad employees. They fired all of their good and experienced workers because they were "too expensive":

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/28/AR2007032802185.html

I never go into a Circuit City anymore.
 
newb

newb

Junior Audioholic
Former CC employee

I was on the frontline at CC a while back and it was no better then either.
Admittedly, I was in the computer section but I saw the rationale none the less. There's no incentive! You get maybe a bit better than minimum wage, sales numbers don't matter as it's all about the MIGHTY service plan, that extra $300.00 dollars of free money the company expects you to extort from your customers, for a product that won't break until long after it's obsolete and of which you see nothing in compensation but a pink slip if you don't sell enough of them.

Better to be a cashier, they don't lose their jobs if they don't get the plan. Only the more knowledgeable and reputable sale people do!

Long live the Internet!
 
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