RadioShack is an American electronic retail company that has a variety of stores across the nation. For years they provided consumers with a wide range of electronic goods and accessories. However as of recently they have been in financial distress, and have been operating as a loss for some time now. RadioShack has announced that it will be closing 1,100 “underperforming” stores which include some franchised stores after sales have declined for 9 quarters. We are going to explore some of the reason why RadioShack is failing.
5. They fail to diversify correctly
One of RadioShacks main problem is they have difficulty diversifying their product line and exactly identifying what type of store they are. At one point RadioShack sold all sorts of electronics, then they sold just computers and video recorders, then they sold stereo equipment, and now they kinda only sell cell phone and random wires for your TV.
4. Their retail stores are dated
RadioShack failed to keep its stores “updated” and “fresh”. They have remained the same in appearance since the late 1980’s. The lackluster interior of the stores make them feel extremely boring and dated. It is important for retail stores to stay current, just look at Best Buy; they change the interior of their stores often to keep them up-to-date while RadioShack does not.
3. They got demolished by Amazon
I would put money down that you can buy everything sold in RadioShack off Amazon for less money. RadioShack never really broke out into the online retail market and failed to compete with other companies. Amazon and other online retailers quickly gobbled up the online retail market share, and RadioShack was left high and dry.
2. They are not known for their employee expertise
A common complaint from people against RadioShack is that their employee’s are not well versed enough to sell their products or assist consumers. People often complain that their employees are unfriendly and not knowledgable, making them very difficult to interact with. It would seem that RadioShack fails to properly train their employees to ensure for stable employee-consumer relationships.
1. To much change in upper management
Another factor that lead to the demise of RadioShack was that a variety of CEO’s and other upper-level managers came and went in the past decade. The lack of a consistent CEO or upper-level managers created a chaotic business environment as they all created separate and different strategies for the company. As soon as one CEO attempted to steer the company in a certain direction, he stepped down or was replaced. This constant level of change proved to be very toxic for RadioShack and is one of the reasons the company could soon go bankrupt.
Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images
