NEWS; BestBuy to sell iPhone

"Carl" <crothman@NOSPAMoptonline.net> wrote in news:48a32c0c$0$7317
$607ed4bc@cv.net:

> My post wasn't aimed directly at yours per se, it was just meant as a
> commentary about Apple and Best Buy in general.

Here in North Charleston, SC, Best Buy opened up a Sellphone shop with some
MP3 players in it, DIRECTLY next to the most successful, longest-running
independent dealer's kiosk, a move the mall should have vetoed. I bet they
paid some heavy price for that particular store.

I told the guys in the kiosk I thought it really sucked.

At 13 Aug 2008 21:52:12 +0000 Larry wrote:

> Here in North Charleston, SC, Best Buy opened up a Sellphone shop with
> some
> MP3 players in it, DIRECTLY next to the most successful, longest-running
> independent dealer's kiosk, a move the mall should have vetoed. I bet
> they paid some heavy price for that particular store.
>
> I told the guys in the kiosk I thought it really sucked.


Not if they played it correctly- having Best Buy next door could be the
best thing that ever happened to them.

Independents can react more quickly than plodding chains whose sales are
planned months in advance, and source product from any vendor.

When I owned a Cingular dealership in Kansas City, the reps from my strip
center came to me hat in hand and asked if I'd allow them to put another
cellular dealer in the center (my lease had a clause protecting me from
other stores in my line of business opening in the same center, and they
just had a bunch of tenants leave recently.) I told them sure, in exchange
for a discount in the rent- I figured if I wasn't good enough to beat the
competition what was I doing in that business anway? Clustered competitive
stores bring more customers (like the car dealer "alleys" in most towns.)
I was happy to reap the benefit of my competition's advertising and steal
their customers (legitimately of course.)

Unfortunately the competitor never did the deal.

Carl wrote:

> I see. That is a way to get around the manufacturer's "rules", I suppose. I
> never understand the apparent price-fixing of items like these since
> price-fixing is generally against the law. I know in the guitar business,
> it is against manufacturer's rules to ADVERTISE a price lower than the
> retail price, a practice which seems to be allowed, but when you directly
> call the stores, you may find price discounting in reality.

Yes, it's almost like Fair Trade pricing is back. Bose does the same
thing. It's not price fixing, it's just forbidding retailers to have
sales or advertise lower prices than MSRP. Saturn used to do the same
thing on cars, but the dealers would negotiate with buyers that
understood that Saturn's pricing policy wasn't set in stone.

OTOH, a lot of retailers have ways around this, by offering bonuses like
gift cards or other freebies. Amazon is also famous for this.

On Aug 13, 8:35*am, Ron <ron.cliff...@peoplepc.com> wrote:
> *Starting September 7.
>
> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1218...?mod=googlenew....

There is a nasty rumor that Radio Shack is also going to have the
iPhone this fall.

How many stores is that, 5000 Radio Shacks? They have been closing so
many I doubt they are really around much now a days. And I think Radio
Shack ranks at the top for having incompetent low wage inner city
employees who know nothing of what they sell.

4phun <vic.healey@gmail.com> amazed us all with the following in
news:e81bdcfd-e501-4cab-af9a-7fa604369f53@v57g2000hse.googlegroups.com:

> On Aug 13, 8:35*am, Ron <ron.cliff...@peoplepc.com> wrote:
>> *Starting September 7.
>>
>> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1218...?mod=googlenew..
> .
>
> There is a nasty rumor that Radio Shack is also going to have the
> iPhone this fall.
>
> How many stores is that, 5000 Radio Shacks? They have been closing so
> many I doubt they are really around much now a days. And I think Radio
> Shack ranks at the top for having incompetent low wage inner city
> employees who know nothing of what they sell.
>
>

Sounds like a disgruntled ex-employee to me.

Todd Allcock wrote:
> At 13 Aug 2008 21:52:12 +0000 Larry wrote:
>
>> Here in North Charleston, SC, Best Buy opened up a Sellphone shop
>> with some
>> MP3 players in it, DIRECTLY next to the most successful,
>> longest-running independent dealer's kiosk, a move the mall should
>> have vetoed. I bet they paid some heavy price for that particular
>> store.
>>
>> I told the guys in the kiosk I thought it really sucked.
>
>
> Not if they played it correctly- having Best Buy next door could be
> the best thing that ever happened to them.
>
> Independents can react more quickly than plodding chains whose sales
> are planned months in advance, and source product from any vendor.
>
> When I owned a Cingular dealership in Kansas City, the reps from my
> strip center came to me hat in hand and asked if I'd allow them to
> put another cellular dealer in the center (my lease had a clause
> protecting me from other stores in my line of business opening in the
> same center, and they just had a bunch of tenants leave recently.) I
> told them sure, in exchange for a discount in the rent- I figured if
> I wasn't good enough to beat the competition what was I doing in that
> business anway? Clustered competitive stores bring more customers
> (like the car dealer "alleys" in most towns.) I was happy to reap the
> benefit of my competition's advertising and steal their customers
> (legitimately of course.)
>
> Unfortunately the competitor never did the deal.
>
Good point, for a businessman who is sure of himself. I'm not sure how I
would have reacted to a similar situation, but I give you credit.

4phun wrote:
> On Aug 13, 8:35 am, Ron <ron.cliff...@peoplepc.com> wrote:
>> Starting September 7.
>>
>> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1218...?mod=googlenew...
>
> There is a nasty rumor that Radio Shack is also going to have the
> iPhone this fall.
>
> How many stores is that, 5000 Radio Shacks? They have been closing so
> many I doubt they are really around much now a days. And I think Radio
> Shack ranks at the top for having incompetent low wage inner city
> employees who know nothing of what they sell.
>
I live in a large and populated suburban area of NYC. We have two RSs within
2 miles of each other, one east of my home, one west of it, about
equidistant. I love having those stores around. They have things that you
would be hard pressed to find elsewhere. I would be very disheartened to see
them go out of business. Where else would I find anything from a Grundig
shortwave radio to a germanium diode to some of the best wall-wart power
supplied around? I recently got a guitar amp that blew a fuse on its first
day. If there were not a RS around that amp would have sat around for a week
instead of an hour.

At 13 Aug 2008 19:45:46 -0700 4phun wrote:

> There is a nasty rumor that Radio Shack is also going to have the
> iPhone this fall.
>
> How many stores is that, 5000 Radio Shacks? They have been closing so
> many I doubt they are really around much now a days. And I think Radio
> Shack ranks at the top for having incompetent low wage inner city
> employees who know nothing of what they sell.


I used to manage RadioShack retail stores in the 80's and early 90s. An
important thing to remember about RS, is that they used to carry over two
THOUSAND different items in every store- even the most dedicated employees
had difficulty being experts (
r even competent) in such a diverse product line; home audio/video, car
audio, home/business telephones, cellular, CB/HAM/shortwave, police scanners,
home and car alarm systems, public address systems, computers, home
automation, video games, satellite TV, etc. Unlike Best Buy or Circuit
City who have large stores with dozens of employees, many who specialize in
relatively narrow areas of expertise, a typical RadioShack is a 1500 square
foot "bowling alley" with a staff of four who flit from a customer looking
for the right magnetic door switch for an alarm system, to one asking how
to wire a telephone jack extension, to one looking for a SCSI cable for an
obsolete tape backup drive. Contrast that to the Best Buy employee in the
car stereo section demoing the same dozen subwoofers all day! ;-)

In addition to the 3500 or so remaining corporate stores in big cities,
they also have a few thousand independent dealers operating in podunk towns
of a few thousand people, who might not have easy access to an Apple store,
corporate AT&T store, or a Best Buy. That would be a powerful retail
outlet for the iPhone.

In message <48a32cc8$0$7317$607ed4bc@cv.net> "Carl"
<crothman@NOSPAMoptonline.net> wrote:

>I see. That is a way to get around the manufacturer's "rules", I suppose. I
>never understand the apparent price-fixing of items like these since
>price-fixing is generally against the law.

I had a chat with a manager at an local Apple dealer about that one
time, and pointed out that price fixing is illegal.

He agreed, and said that technically there is nothing contractually or
legally preventing them from competing on price with other Apple
dealers, except that when it was tried, they would find their orders
delayed, which would cut into their sales until their volume dropped
enough that their discounts would go out the window.

Seems slimy, but this was before Costco had the iPod Touch in stock, so
a local Apple dealer or Apple.com were my only choices.

Costco now carries the iPod Touch cheaper then other dealers, although
they don't quote prices on their website.

On Aug 13, 11:24*pm, "Carl" <croth...@NOSPAMoptonline.net> wrote:
> 4phun wrote:
> > On Aug 13, 8:35 am, Ron <ron.cliff...@peoplepc.com> wrote:
> >> Starting September 7.
>
> >>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1218...?mod=googlenew....
>
> > There is a nasty rumor that Radio Shack is also going to have the
> > iPhone this fall.
>
> > How many stores is that, 5000 Radio Shacks? They have been closing so
> > many I doubt they are really around much now a days. And I think Radio
> > Shack ranks at the top for having incompetent low wage inner city
> > employees who know nothing of what they sell.
>
> I live in a large and populated suburban area of NYC. We have two RSs within
> 2 miles of each other, one east of my home, one west of it, about
> equidistant. *I love having those stores around. They have things that you
> would be hard pressed to find elsewhere. I would be very disheartened to see
> them go out of business. Where else would I find anything from a Grundig
> shortwave radio to a germanium diode to some of the best wall-wart power
> supplied around? *I recently got a guitar amp that blew a fuse on its first
> day. If there were not a RS around that amp would have sat around for a week
> instead of an hour.

Frey's