Circuit City part 2

[QtrHorse 10+ year member]

I always liked BB better....

I have to say that most people who are big Wal-Mart shoppers probably don't realize that stuff there is lower quality. Have you ever gone to Wal-Mart and just walked around and watched the people? They aren't the tip top of society...

I don't mean to be rude to anyone here but if people on this site can figure it out, why can't the others? Just look at Ng's quote of the month for some of the intellect roaming around here.

 

[joetama 5,000+ posts]

I don't mean to be rude to anyone here but if people on this site can figure it out, why can't the others? Just look at Ng's quote of the month for some of the intellect roaming around here.

Well... A lot of us here on this site are younger and are intelligent or at least electronically savy....

 

[Flipx99 5,000+ posts]

I buy electronics to meet my specs. It doesn't really matter where I buy itm, but I try to avoid Wal-Mart unless I am able to shop after 1 am.

However, to say the Samsung does not have a sister brand to meet price points is silly. From my understanding, they have a sister brand called Olevia (sp?). The are built by Samsung but they 'cut more corners' as I understand.

In all honesty, how many manufacturers make OEL, LCD, etc panels to make this work?

However, I refuse to believe that some of the technology doesn't trickle down (in these scenarios) just because economies of scale make it cheaper to do so.

 

[joetama 5,000+ posts]

I buy electronics to meet my specs. It doesn't really matter where I buy itm, but I try to avoid Wal-Mart unless I am able to shop after 1 am.
However, to say the Samsung does not have a sister brand to meet price points is silly. From my understanding, they have a sister brand called Olevia (sp?). The are built by Samsung but they 'cut more corners' as I understand.

In all honesty, how many manufacturers make OEL, LCD, etc panels to make this work?

However, I refuse to believe that some of the technology doesn't trickle down (in these scenarios) just because economies of scale make it cheaper to do so.

Well, where they cut corners is in the components and parts that they use. Things don't meet tolerances like in the higher end brands.

WE learned in one of my OM classes that big companies will custom build for large retailers such as Wal-Mart. The professor has a brother-in-law who works for HP and they custom build the HP printers in Wal-Mart just for Wal-Mart. No imagine how much they cut corners in the name of the all mighty dollar?

 

[QtrHorse 10+ year member]

Well... A lot of us here on this site are younger and are intelligent or at least electronically savy....

I never said you were not intelligent. There are quite a few here that are quite intelligent. For someone to say that the people that shop at Walmart are not as intelligent as most of the people that frequent this site is not a very smart assumption. Just because someone knows how to get more DB's in there car audio install does not make them an electronic genius.

I personally never buy electronics from Walmart but that's just because BB and CC coupons can be had easily which will make them cheaper than Walmart in most cases unless it's a Black Friday sale or something similar.

 

[Flipx99 5,000+ posts]

Well, where they cut corners is in the components and parts that they use. Things don't meet tolerances like in the higher end brands.
WE learned in one of my OM classes that big companies will custom build for large retailers such as Wal-Mart. The professor has a brother-in-law who works for HP and they custom build the HP printers in Wal-Mart just for Wal-Mart. No imagine how much they cut corners in the name of the all mighty dollar?

That is what I figured. However, the goal is to reduce cost, not cut corners. The only reason to cut corners is to reduce cost.

If they could reduce cost by employing scale techniques to reduce varaible costs, wouldn't they? This would also reduce fixed costs as less tooling would be required.

I have heard of instances (esp in Software) where the 100% functional is developed initially, and they reduce functionality and sell that at a lower price. In this instance, the lower quality version actually costs more to develop, but those costs help prop up the price of the more functional version.

So to say that the Wal-Mart version is without fail functionally lower quality is going a bit too far. For the most part, yes...but technology does trickle down if it makes the product cheaper.

 

[joetama 5,000+ posts]

I never said you were not intelligent. There are quite a few here that are quite intelligent. For someone to say that the people that shop at Walmart are not as intelligent as most of the people that frequent this site is not a very smart assumption. Just because someone knows how to get more DB's in there car audio install does not make them an electronic genius.
I personally never buy electronics from Walmart but that's just because BB and CC coupons can be had easily which will make them cheaper than Walmart in most cases unless it's a Black Friday sale or something similar.

I am not saying anything bad about the people that shop at wal-mart. But, if you go there and watch people you notice that a lot of the people who shop there are in a much lower income bracket than everyone else.

What I am saying is that they either don't realize or don't care that the products are lower quality. They really are just concerned with the price of the items because they are already struggleing to make ends meet...

 

[Flipx99 5,000+ posts]

I am not saying anything bad about the people that shop at wal-mart. But, if you go there and watch people you notice that a lot of the people who shop there are in a much lower income bracket than everyone else.
What I am saying is that they either don't realize or don't care that the products are lower quality. They really are just concerned with the price of the items because they are already struggleing to make ends meet...

Or they believe the additional price paid for additional quality does not create value.

What I mean by this:

TV a costs $300, TV b cost $500

What are they getting for the $200? If the customer does not believe there is equal to or greater than $200 in value between the TVs, why would they choose TV b? It is up to marketeers to demonstrate this value (or atleast the illusion of it).

Furthermore, the $500 may have more features, but if the customer is unable to take advantage of them, then value is not created.

Just because someone chooses to shop at Wal-Mart doesn't make the poor. Remember, Wal-Mart targets value conscious shoppers, not poor shoppers. Too many people can't distingish between the two.

 

[QtrHorse 10+ year member]

They really are just concerned with the price of the items because they are already struggleing to make ends meet...

I guess much like most on here that are still in school or living at home that try to buy products cheaper and sell items for $7 shipped? I myself have sold quite a few items on here cheap but I do it just because. Do I really need the $7-10 that I sell something for, not really. I could just not buy my favorite drink at Starbucks one day or not eat a $15 lunch if I needed it that bad. I'm not trying to prove you wrong, I just don't understand your reasoning.

Now, I will be the first to try and get a better price on something. I guess because I worked as a purchasing agent for years and it's just in my nature now.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

For most, a Walmart name brand LCD is all they need. Me, I'm more of a Target shopper, they seem cleaner.

 

[QtrHorse 10+ year member]

Just because someone chooses to shop at Wal-Mart doesn't make them poor. Remember, Wal-Mart targets value conscious shoppers, not poor shoppers. Too many people can't distingish between the two.

Exactly

 

[Pyro_By_Nature 5,000+ posts]

I guess much like most on here that are still in school or living at home that try to buy products cheaper and sell items for $7 shipped? I myself have sold quite a few items on here cheap but I do it just because. Do I really need the $7-10 that I sell something for, not really. I could just not buy my favorite drink at Starbucks one day or not eat a $15 lunch if I needed it that bad. I'm not trying to prove you wrong, I just don't understand your reasoning.
Now, I will be the first to try and get a better price on something. I guess because I worked as a purchasing agent for years and it's just in my nature now.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

For most, a Walmart name brand LCD is all they need. Me, I'm more of a Target shopper, they seem cleaner.

Target FTW!

 

[Pyro_By_Nature 5,000+ posts]

And on a side note, I shop at walmart for several reasons. #1 it's convenient, there are no costcos, targets, etc. here and for getting several things in one place, it works out. #2 It's closest to me (kind of branched off convenience though).

If we had a target in the town I live in, then I'd say **** walmart. But for right now, it's the only place to gat some things.And yes the pricing is good, who can complain about saving a buck?

 

[Rmsanger 10+ year member]

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ud?s=CC

The analysts have killed this stock over the past year...Downgrades to Sell and Strong sell really hurt their momentun, I thought they were supposed to be being bought out and taken private?

http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/newsanalysis/dumbest/10354732_5.html

Circuit City (CC - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating) is getting a lousy reception lately.

Shares in the Richmond, Va., electronics retailer dropped 6% this week after the company predicted a fiscal first-quarter loss. Circuit City said April brought "substantially below-plan sales, primarily related to the large flat panel and projection television categories."

The shortfall continues a sinking trend at Circuit City, which has been losing ground to rival Best Buy (BBY - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating). Circuit City had warned last month of sliding flat-panel TV prices, and CEO Philip J. Schoonover stresses that the company is trying to change its ways.

"As previously discussed," he said in a Monday afternoon press release, "we are moving with increased urgency to accelerate our transformation initiatives."

Those efforts call for the company to fire 3,400 of its better-paid salespeople and replace them with cheaper ones. The move will cut costs, but observers wondered how getting rid of experienced staff would help Circuit City "rebuild and improve its level of execution," as Schoonover promised.

So far, Circuit City's execution level still looks pathetic. But maybe that's not surprising, given the company's penchant for doublespeak. Take Circuit City's explanation of the sales-force cutbacks.

"Unfortunately," the company said March 28, "a number of associates are directly impacted by the actions."

With any luck Schoonover will be similarly impacted soon enough.

Dumb-o-Meter score: 80. All that urgency has to pay off.

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[gl0ck 10+ year member]

Well, all i know is that the circuit city by me closed some time ago without warning.
Sounds like the company is really going down the crapper.

Wish I would have known it was closing, they probably had some good sales going on. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

Lol, i worked at that one, and no there were 0 good sales.