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CompUSA Closing More Than 50 Percent of Stores
Zurbrick writes to tell us that CompUSA hs announced that they are closing the doors on over half their stores over the next three months. "CompUSA said in a statement it would close 126 of its stores and would receive a $440 million cash capital infusion, but it was not specific as to the source of the cash. The company also said it would cut costs and restructure. The company operates 225 stores, which its Web site says are located in the United States and Puerto Rico. "
Disclosure: I worked for CompUSA about 18 years ago during a court-mandated stint forcing me to have a "real" job. It was a 6 month stint at which time I was the top performing sales person month after month, even though I was only 16. I learned a lot of corporate retail problems, which continue to this day.
I have 2 CompUSAs in my area, close to clients that my company still maintains. They're both depressing -- too many workers, but no one with knowledge. I hear a lot of lies, get pushed on extended warranties that don't work, and have to deal with waiting and waiting when I need to find something that their website shows as in-stock. The company is inept because the company is trying to compete in the wrong market.
I honestly see a lot of retail collapsing because the time is getting close that the manufacturers can sell products cheaper, and at a higher profit for themselves, directly or through direct-partners. I can't imagine a Luddite like my father trying to buy something at CompUSA when the typical sales person there is no different than Best Buy's brilliant teen workers. But that's the end problem: CompUSA is still trying to be a consumer store rather than business-oriented.
CompUSA has a much wider inventory than Best Buy or Circuit City, but they obviously can't compete with those power houses who have more stores and also have a lot of value-added items they can sell to make up for what they don't make on popular laptops and LCD monitors. Yet the typical business that I deal with still prefers solid advice over bottom-line price. Consumers want it cheap, and they tend not to have long-term relationships with a particular sales person or a store. CompUSA dropped the ball when they started to lose to CDW and MacWarehouse -- the corporate clients of mine haven't used CompUSA in years because of their change from business-focused to consumer-oriented and cheap.
Even on price CompUSA doesn't compete -- often times when I need something I am shocked at the prices. Sure, we're all familiar with the $6-USB-cable-that-sells-for-$39, but even basics such as a stand IEC power cord are overpriced. Their selection is decent, but they are trying to compete in a market that they can not penetrate, especially with Amazon and eBay destroying the price competitiveness of the big box PC store.
This is a good thing for CompUSA, but I don't see them lasting. Every CompUSA near me has both Best Buy and Circuit City nearby, and I admit that I've had more intelligent sales staff at the big box store than at CompUSA. If they want to save their business, they have to focus on local businesses rather than trying to be the answer man for people who want cheap prices and sales. Without the business customer (who tends to accept a higher cost in exchange for GOOD advice and support), their business is heading to the toilet.
Here on the east coast, we don't have fry's electronics. Where i'm at, the nearest circuit city is in the next city, the best buy usually has like 3 video cards, 1 sub-par motherboard, and approximately 23 hojillion music cd's, dvd's, and washing machines.
For all its shortcomings, when my hard drive failed, i went to compusa to get back up and running the same day, when the 9700pro didn't offer an oem, compusa ran a special that was cheaper than the internet in general (same price + shipping). With a corporate buyer, they beat the other big box stores in both volume pricing and responsive service (usually 2-3 account reps on staff in the one by work).
Reasons why i'll miss it aside, I've gotta say that compusa is failing for a reason. The corporate office treats its parts, employees, and customers as commodities. Refunds are a pain if its open box (like a laptop keeps overheating, you gotta take it in 3 times, and the 4th time it fails you get a refund), the repairs are shoddy and if its dll hell, rather than find and replace the dll or do some other moderately advanced repair, they'll charge you 200 bucks for a reinstall of windows, provided you still have the disks. The employees will rarely be honest or knowledgeable about if a product is in stock, and most likely will say yes just to get your hopes up and you in the door.
I've also heard stories where the cashiers are told to cheat the sales people out of commissions for big computer sales, where they'll "forget" to punch in a 3 digit code that signifies bonus to the sales rep. No wonder you get minimum help for minimum wage.
Is it sad that I am more likely to recognize you and your posts by your sig than your name or UID?
It's just bad management! Fry's is doing relatively well in most of their locations. Best Buy is doing okay. Circuit City is limping along. Shipping costs negate the whole buying direct thing. Who wants to spend $3 on shipping for a $5 cable? Radio Shack is having similar issues. There are way too many non-Slashdot consumers that like their hands held when purchasing computers and other electronics. Yes, computers are electronics with semi-conductors. Wal-Mart and Target carry common USB cables, blank CD's, etc. IKEA carries powerstrips.
15-20 years ago, the big box discounters were putting the smaller mom and pop retailers out of business. Now, the better managed (Wal-Mart, Target, Fry's, OfficeMax, IKEA, BestBuy) big box stores are putting the lesser managed (K-mart, Toys'R'Us, Circuit City, CompUSA) stores out of business. Retail is obviously still strong for even the smaller players. Apple and HP are doing well with consumers via retail. Dell and Gateway? They are both in a small funk right now.
CompUSA would be better off emulating Fry's. K-mart is one retailer that as proven that one can't shrink it's way back into the hearts of consumers. (Note to those in the Bay Area: The Fry's in Austin, TX actually has competent employees!)
--Al
Wherever will I find gold-plated $30 USB cables?
Oh, okay, Best Buy will still be open.
--saint
...would receive a $440 million cash capital infusion, but it was not specific as to the source of the cash
Someone finally paid for the retail version of Windows Vista Ultimate.
office supply story
Once upon a time, there was a brave little stapler, who was running low on staples...
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
Their biggest mistake was not letting Belkin build the entire store. Their lack of gold-plating around the buildings led to low performance.
Vonal Declosion
Last I heard from the management, only four of the stores were closing down so far, the rest was up in the air. That could just be a calm-the-sheep lie though, so I'm not arguing. I do know that the last six or seven American execs just got canned and replaced with imports (money from Mexico, execs from Mexico), and that they're doing a level-by-level layoff scan. With any luck this might be a good thing though; my store is one of the better performing ones, with a few actually honest people. I'm one of the repair techs, and an honest one at that; they don't pay me enough to lie for them, and I've told the managers that. My little badge of honor is that no customer has ever asked me about Vista and then went on to purchase it. The stores are desperately understaffed though, so maybe we'll actually get some funds to fill out the staff (right now if anyone in the tech department calls out, a manager has to take his place, and the sales floor isn't doing much better). On the other hand, if my store was one of the closers, that'd be okay too.
Okay, PC World is not a lovely company that's nice and whatever, but i'd buy from them any day over Dell. I've been working in a store for 1 and a half years (Student job, nice pay for retail) and i know where they're dodgy and where they're not. Yes, you can get a lot of stuff really cheap online, but like Amazon, they don't have the overhead of real stores. The PC margin is small, often no more than 10% which may not even cover the time paid to the guy helping you, the profit does come from stuff like cables, inks and peripherals, but that's how the PC market has worked and still works.
Let's just say: £80 network cards (that was apparently the cheapest)
I've been selling £7 NICs for ages, most expensive i remember was a Gigabit card that cost about £20.
£20 USB cables (again, the cheapest)
Nope, cheapest is £10, although the standard 2.1 metre cable is £14.99. I agree, that's expensive but you can just go to Maplin and buy them there, i often tell people about that. Cables are the place where you get ripped off most, with network cables costing £9.99 for 1 metre and most people can spend well over £20 on a long cable.
£1,200 PCs. They stock cheaper ones but I've never met anyone who ever bought one
You what? We only have 1 PC at the moment going for £1,200 and it's a beast by Packard Bell, it's trying to be like a custom-PC with a side window and lockable front and case. Frankly, 90% of the PCs i've sold are under £600 with quite a lot of people going away happy with a £300-£400 PC.
And extended warranties which cost 70% of the value of the PC, yet are serviced by spotty 16 year olds who wouldn't know a PC if it dropped on their head.
Extended warranties are PAYG and about £8/month, now i know that's not cheap but it does cover anything that goes wrong with the thing. With that your PC gets taken away and repaired by proper techies, you don't get the guys that work in the store servicing PCs under the warranty.
I'm a computing student at Imperial College London, i got my friend hired who's also a computing student, his cousin works there (again into PCs), and the tech guys actually know what they're talking about. Now our store might be a wonderful exception to the norm, but come in when we're on shift and you won't get bullshitting from us.
In the US, we call that store Radio Shack. You have questions? We have blank stares!
-William
God is everything science has yet to explain.
One of my favorite things is to look in the Sunday paper for the CompUSA sale ads and see what I *need* to buy. Between them and Office Max, I've stocked up over the years with tons of 'free' with rebate blank CD's, $0.50 DL DVD's....250G and 300G drives for about $100...and 4-5 Haupauge PVR x50 cards for Mythtv boxes...etc.
Damn..I'm gonna miss all that cheap stuff...Best Buy simply does not have the inventory or prices you can get from CUSA.
Guess I need to stock up on what I can next few weeks.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
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