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RadioShack Trying To Return To Its DIY Roots
An anonymous reader writes "In what seems to be a desperate attempt to keep the company afloat, RadioShack has made a video appeal to the DIY community that helped the retail chain grow into what it is today. The days of amateur radio operators and tinkerers flocking to the store are long gone, but it seems that the company wants to issue a mea culpa and move forward."
There was plenty of DIYs around. Well at least in Canada anyway. But, radioshack got shoved to the dirt when their competitors(usually smaller places with better stock, and cheaper prices) out did them. About 30mins from my hometown there's a major DIY shop that carries just about every thing electrical you need. And what they don't have, they can get within 24-48hrs for you.
Price is another example. Simple 10 pack of 10ohm resistors were $8 at the shack, and $2.49 at another shop. Most of the time, even if you were driving 30mins you saved money. This is all 4-6 years past of course, but radioshack killed itself, by overcharging on everything. I mean really $4 for a red LED? What? I can by them for $0.18/c elsewhere.
Om, nomnomnom...
I was mainly building digital and digital-analog circuits... so I'd go into Radio Shack and some sales guy would approach. (This happened not just once, but many times, seemingly a different salesperson each time.) I'd tell him I was looking for another Quad 4011 CMOS NAND Gate or a particular transistor or some such, and he'd get a blank look on his face. I'd say, "I know where they are" and go get them.
I admit that was years ago. But the funny thing was, not very long after that I applied for a job at one of the local Radio Shacks, and a little while later received a letter in the mail telling me I was not qualified for the job. I was not sure whether to be upset over the unjust insult, or laugh at the hypocrisy of it all.
But I think that was one of the big things that killed the store. They had a policy of hiring people who didn't know squat about DIY stuff. Instead they tried to sell stereo equipment and cell phones and Christmas toys. But that's really not what they wanted -- or needed -- to do. Everybody else was already doing that stuff.
I would love to see Radio Shack get back to its DIY roots. This time around maybe they can sell Arduinos and 3D printers. Heck... people are already selling machines that are 3D printers and CNC milling machines put together. It doesn't get much better than that. I want one.
First, SparkFun has a hugely better selection than the local Rat Shack ever did. Second, OK, so you decide to shift focus. Where are you going to get the people to staff these places? You can't throw a few ICs on a wall display and expect the mouthbreather at the front desk to be able to help with it. I'd honestly rather buy from a vending machine than deal with the kid who's trying to upsell me to a gold-plated breadboard, and would I like an iPod case with that? Finally, prices, prices, prices! The cat ate the charger to my wife's laptop. I found a replacement through the manufacturer's website for $50, and from eBay for $16. Rat Shack only stocked a universal (read: Soviet styling with crap specs) unit for $80.
So how's this supposed to work? They're not going to outstock online stores or other established local specialty shops. They don't have a competent sales force (and probably can't get one, because people worth having probably wouldn't be caught dead working there). I can't imagine that they'll ever set reasonable price points. Nah, they're dead to me - and apparently to almost everyone else. The "Radio Shack" brand is crap, and I don't think they can salvage it. I think their best best is to throw it away and launch a giant rebranding and "we used to suck and we're honest about that but we're better now" blitz.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
Before my time, but I'm assuming Radio Shack got its start servicing radio amateurs.
During my time (80's), radios were a "solved problem," but there were at least three new markets. First, in the pre-IBM PC days, everyone had to make their own RS-232 and printer cables because every computer had a different pin-out. Even if a commercial one was available, it was often more expensive (like $30) compared to the parts (like $10). Remember, this was the 80's, so multiply those prices by 3. ($90 for a pre-made cable vs. $30 for making it yourself). Second, terrestrial TV was still huge and Radio Shack was the most convenient place to get TV antennas, both indoor and out, and all the associated cabling and accessories, including rotators, bulk cable and crimpers. Third, for those of us early early adopters of home theater, Radio Shack was the place to get A/V patch cables.
So what should Radio Shack be selling now?
Well, computer and A/V cables are "solved problems" and available at Wal-Mart. Radio Shack should be focusing on the next bleeding edge consumer technologies -- the ones that are still sold in pieces and parts instead of all-in-one solutions. They could catch the tail end of home video security. There are a lot of cheap turn-key solutions, but there's still some special applications that call for pieces & parts: wide-angle, night-vision, motion detection, high-end PC capture cards, etc.
They could serve the homebrew robotics market. Right now, Asia is dominating advances in robotics -- we need some robot tinkerers in the U.S. just as the U.S. had for automobiles a century ago.
Finally, Radio Shack desperately needs to update its inventory for electronics tinkerers rather than using SKUs from 1980. Over the past 30 years, oscilloscope prices have fallen through the floor and are now well within Radio Shack price ranges. The world has moved beyond hex-AND chips. Radio Shack should be selling FPGA starter kits.
It may be that a metropolitan area can't support more than one or two such Radio Shacks that serve tinkerers. Perhaps Radio Shack needs to have a limited number of "Super Radio Shacks". But as with Micro Center, there are times where same-day pick-up is needed and even overnight delivery from the Internet is not fast enough.
One sensible inventory compromise: instead of spreading out a thin inventory across hundreds of stores, designate a few stores per metro area as regional parts superstores that stock "everything" a hardcore Arduino enthusiast or bot-builder would be likely to need on short notice over the course of a weekend. Using South Florida as an example, I'd start with store #1 at Sawgrass Mills (less than an hour away from ~90% of Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties as long as it's not rush hour). I'd put stores #2 and #3 at Dolphin Mall (~6 miles west of Miami International Airport, roughly 20-30 minutes from most of Dade County) and near I-95 & Palm Beach International Airport. (ok, those are actually the locations where I'd put hypothetical Fry's stores, but it's the same market). Later, if I could add one or two more stores, I'd put #4 at Aventura, and #5 somewhere off I-95 between Pompano Beach and Oakland Park (at which point most of South Florida would have a store within a 15-20 minute drive).
Of course, there's my wet-dream fantasy: a PC board milling machine at those stores where you could swipe your credit card, plug in a USB drive, select the Eagle CAD files, and watch it mill your board (say, $10 for a 2" x 4" board, $20 for a 3" x 5" board, and $25 for a 4" x 6" board) on the spot.
One thing Radio shack needs to do, and do NOW: start selling Circuit Cellar, Nuts & Volts, Servo, and every magazine like them that it can get its hands on... and work closely with all of them to get them to publish projects built from parts available at the local Radio Shack store (working both ways... adding inventory to accommodate upcoming projects likely to be popular, and encouraging them to use the parts they already sell when possible). Then, hire Joe Pardue to walk in the footsteps of Forrest Mims, and write his own series of books full of projects that can be built entirely from parts available at Radio Shack.
The truth is, the group that used to be into ham radio never really went away... it's just that Radio Shack didn't notice that TODAY, that group builds robots and projects based on microcontrollers & FPGAs. Robots, in particular, are a goldmine for store like Radio Shack. I can't think of any single hobby that gives 20/30/40-something guys more of an excuse to burn through cash like there's no tomorrow. PC components might be cutthroat, with negative retail profit margins, but check out the markup on something like a Robotis AX-12 digital servo... ~$45 mail order. For each one. A decent 'bot is going to have at least a half dozen. A biped? About a dozen. A stair-climbing hexapod? Good god, I think the credit card machine just melted ;-)