Ryan Keough in the News!

[skymstr02]

Houston Chronicle article with quotes from Ryan:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/bus ... 74553.html

[bdk]

Wow, that's quite a commute!

[warbird1]

That's too bad that Ryan decided to give up on warbirds and go to computers! Bad move! Hahaha!

In all seriousness, though, that new concept for CompUSA will fail miserably. Two thoughts on it:

1) You can always buy things cheaper on the internet. I don't think that CompUSA would be willing to always match the ultra-low prices of Amazon because their overhead is much higher than Amazon due to having employees, a store lease, etc. Amazon just has to have one gigantic warehouse and a few people to "process" the orders - much cheaper than a "brick and mortar" store.

2) The new, improved CompUSA will still require customers to pay sales tax. That is state law and no way to get around it. Amazon is tax free and in some instances the difference is staggering - up to hundreds of dollars difference in large purchases.

I give them about a year, especially given this economy where people were already pinching pennies. After that the new CompUSA will be gone, just like many other notables of the past. RIP - CompUSA, Circuit City, Linens-N-Things, Bennigans, etc.

[CAPFlyer]

Okay, I'm not sure what article you read, but comparing a physical store to the internet doesn't work, especially since no where in the article does it say they're trying to compete with Amazon.

I'm hoping you're not trying to put Amazon forward as a direct competitor to CompUSA or that Amazon is somehow the "perfect" online shopping location, especially for electronics.

1) You DO have to pay sales tax in some states.
2) You DO have to wait for the package to be delivered or pay for expedited shipping.
3) You DO NOT get to preview the item, handle it, and even test it (like cameras and computers).
4) You DO NOT get to tap into the knowledge of the local salesperson who can many times help you with decisions and additional information.
5) You DO NOT get the best price.

If you want to talk buying electronics online, then you'd be much better going to TigerDirect or NewEgg. They'll beat Amazon 9 times out of 10 and have better customer support.

[warbird1]

Okay, I'm not sure what article you read, but comparing a physical store to the internet doesn't work, especially since no where in the article does it say they're trying to compete with Amazon.

Tell that to all of the customers that took their business from CompUSA over the years as the internet slowly took most of their business away.

I'm hoping you're not trying to put Amazon forward as a direct competitor to CompUSA or that Amazon is somehow the "perfect" online shopping location, especially for electronics.

That's precisely what I am saying. No store is perfect, but 90% of the time, on-line vendors such as Amazon are the best option.

1) You DO have to pay sales tax in some states.

True, but that does not affect most purchases. Technically, nearly everything should be taxed in some form or another, but it's a hard law to enforce. The government doesn't have the people, infrastructure, or time to investigate the millions and millions of on-line purchases. As a result, most internet purchases are tax-free.

2) You DO have to wait for the package to be delivered or pay for expedited shipping.

Unless, you need something ASAP, like you are going on vacation or leaving the country, I don't see why waiting a few days is a big deal. When I do on-line orders at places such as Amazon, the wait is usually only 3 to 7 days. Sometimes an item will be out of stock, and I might have to wait a few weeks. If it's a big purchase, I'll usually wait, if not, I'll usually spend the extra $5 to $10 and buy it at a local store.

3) You DO NOT get to preview the item, handle it, and even test it (like cameras and computers).

What I do, is "preview the item, handle it, and test it at stores" and then buy it on-line. I particularly do this with electronics. I'll usually do my "hands-on" at places like Best Buy, narrow it down to a specific model, and then place the order at Amazon. I would never buy a high dollar item "sight-unseen", if I had absolutely no idea about it. That's what "brick and mortar" stores are for. Sometimes the "brick and mortar" stores will match on-line pricing. My last 4 large purchases from Best Buy - which included a washer and dryer, HD video camera, and HD LCD TV - I all bought from Best Buy because they were willing to match Amazon's price. I saved $ 2500 on all 4 of those purchases. That's quite substantial, IMO. Not all Best Buy's are willing to do that, however, and all of them required store manager approval.

4) You DO NOT get to tap into the knowledge of the local salesperson who can many times help you with decisions and additional information.

Yea, you're right. I'm really missing out on a 17 year-old snot-nosed teenager with an attitude - who gets paid by commission - telling me everything I need to know. In most cases, the internet provides more honest info than the sales people. Unless you are going to either a high-end store or a specialty store, I don't put much faith in local sales people. They are about as trustworthy as used-car salesmen, IMO.

5) You DO NOT get the best price.

In about 95% of the time you do. I've been buying things off of the internet for about 12 years now, and I find this to be true. There are bargains to be had at local stores, for sure, but by and large, most items can be bought the cheapest off of the internet.

If you want to talk buying electronics online, then you'd be much better going to TigerDirect or NewEgg. They'll beat Amazon 9 times out of 10 and have better customer support.

I have bought from TigerDirect and NewEgg many times over the years, and yes they are both fantastic sites. It is true, that a lot of times that they will beat Amazon, no dispute there. In years past, I have bought items from TigerDirect as a "featured merchant", sub-vendor, through the Amazon website. I don't know if Amazon still does that however.

[JDK]

If the Amazon model was what it is touted as, there would be no high street or box stores left by now.

The reality is online cannibalises a proportion of face-to-face sales, but there's not - and IMHO never going to be - a 100% overlap. The best comparison would be the arrival of the TV and later video (and now online film) in the moving pictures market. Each new arrival in the game has failed to 'kill' the existing alternatives because each works off the other and modifies what they do to retain survival market share - such as the invention of the multiplex to fight back against the video market.

Shopper behaviour is odd stuff, and have nothing to do with what people say or even what they think they do. Most of us like to think we are in control of our purchasing decisions and aren't influenced by hidden or subtle triggers. But we are. As an example, most of us think the x.99c x.95c price ticket 'doesn't work', but it exists only because it does.

I can see issues with the model, starting with the rapid dating of the '2.0' name, but it's an interesting idea, and will have some viability. Enough? Who knows.

As to 'snot nosed kids' most of my staff would run rings around some of the half-baked arguments and thinking put forward on WIX, for instance. But that was book retail in the UK, where every year there's a new shower of Uni Grads. The average IQ was pretty high, awkward and tricky to manage. (That said I'd agree on the white-goods and electronics commission-monkeys.)

My 'used car salesman' experience is a couple of decades of mostly book retail, where we hit the Amazon model earlier than anyone else, and (globally speaking) the healthy bookshops that were around when Amazon started still are, the big killing changes in the market are wider than just online or any one retail model. Amazon had to diversify from books because the online model wasn't broad enough. You do hear about the issues with traditional high street and box store models because most people understand them; you don't hear about the critical issues with online (and boy, have I had to deal with some online issues as a retailer) because most people don't understand them.

Just some thoughts.