Electronics retailers are slowly becoming a thing of the past. Many physical retail stores are struggling to stay afloat, while companies such as Circuit City and Tweeter have gone completely out of business. Best Buy–the only major electronics retail chain left standing–has even had to close a large number of its stores throughout the country. Luckily, successful transitions into the online marketplace, unique featured sales and deals, and intense holiday advertising have kept a number of electronics retailers running. Scroll on to see what retail stores both physical and online have made the top five according to market cap.
5. Best Buy Co., Inc. – $10.5 billion
Founded in 1966 as an audio specialty store in Minnesota and renamed and rebranded in 1983 with a stronger emphasis on consumer electronics, Best Buy has become the largest physical electronics retailer in the United States. With over 1,500 physical locations throughout the U.S., China, Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico, Best Buy sells a variety of consumer electronics, home appliances and related merchandise.
4. Dell Inc. – Now private
Founded by Michael Dell in 1984, Dell Inc. recently became a privately owned company in 2013. A multinational computer company based in Texas, Dell Inc. sells personal computers, servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, HDTVs, cameras, printers, and various other electronics to both consumers and businesses.
3. Hewlett-Packard Company – $65 billion
Hewlett-Packard Company–more commonly referred to as HP–is one of the world’s largest personal computer vendors. Founded in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California, HP provides numerous hardware, software, computer, and electronics products and services to consumers, businesses and large-scale enterprises throughout the world.
2 Amazon.com – $145 billion
Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Amazon.com is the world’s largest electronic commerce company. With over 164 million visitors each month, Amazon.com has become a popular alternative to physical electronics retailers. Offering unique products like the Kindle ebook reader and the Kindle Fire has also resulted in increased revenue.
1. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. – $239 billion
Founded in 1962 by Sam Walton and incorporated seven years later, Walmart now has over 11,000 stores in 27 different countries and has become the world’s largest public corporation. Walmart teamed with Vudu, an online streaming service, in 2010 and continues to sell various different consumer electronics both online and in-store.
*Apple Inc. – $560 billion
Technically Apple Inc. counts as they have retail stores throughout the United States.
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