GLG News by GPS Controller Experts (North America)

Cathy StaufferOwnerCathyStaufferConsulting

Big box or big ticket retail, Black Friday is a VERY big deal that goes way beyond Friday

November 22, 2006

Analysis of:Study: Black Friday, Cyber Monday not a big deal | www.marketingvox.com

Black Friday is about capturing the minds and hearts of holiday shoppers. Share of voice drives share of mind. Share of mind drives share of wallet. Share of wallet drives market share. Bottom line, big box or big ticket items - Black Friday is very important, way beyond Black Friday.

Cathy StaufferOwnerCathyStaufferConsulting

Winning retailers don't force customers to choose between in store and online channels

November 22, 2006

Analysis of:Buy in the store or online? Retailers hope it's both | www.boston.com

Why choose when you can have both and and get more? Merchant or customer, having both choices adds up to more.

Cyber Monday is not a real event.The first Monday after Thanksgiving was recently given this name by the industry to create a sense of an event. The real event is the increasing focus retailers are putting on positioning and promoting their online channel to complement their physical stores, and how well that is resonating with consumers.

Cathy StaufferOwnerCathyStaufferConsulting

Toys R Us has the leadership to take this retailer from seriously dumb to seriously fun

November 21, 2006

Analysis of:No Playtime at Toy Chain on Its Road to Recovery | www.nytimes.com

Toys R Us drove their customers away. Huge boxes poorly merchandised with mediocre assortments, ineffective supply chain management, and dirty, dingy stores. Wal-Mart and Target really didn’t have to do much to take share. Provide clean, well lighted departments with key item assortments supported by dependable inventory and pricing management and solid, in-stock positions.  Now, Toys R Us has a leadership team that knows how to lead and win – it's going to be seriously fun to watch them shake up and wake up the toy industry.

Cathy StaufferOwnerCathyStaufferConsulting

Is it time for Home Depot expand into Consumer Electronics?

November 14, 2006

Analysis of:Home Depot wades into consumer electronics arena | www.retailingtoday.com

Is it good business to explore additional and complementary revenue sources? 
Does it stand to reason that home electronics and home improvement should be very complementary businesses?
Are CE manufacturers alarmed about their increasingly concentrated volume with a shrinking set of retailers, like Best Buy and Wal-Mart?

Yes. Yes and Yes.

Will the introduction of consumer electronics help offset negative affects of the housing slowdown for Home Depot?  Is Home Depot so strong in their core business they can now successfully introduce a new category of high ticket, high touch, items like Plasma and HDTVs? 

Hmmm…

Cathy StaufferOwnerCathyStaufferConsulting

First toys, and now plasma TVs and consumer electronics - Wal-Mart promises this is just the beginning

November 9, 2006

Analysis of:Wal-Mart jumps the gun on Black Friday? | money.cnn.com

After rolling back prices on toys last month, Wal-Mart has now earmarked nearly 100 CE products for "price rollbacks", and announced that this is just the second set in a series of planned price cuts on thousand of key holiday items.

How aggressive are the price cuts? Last week Wal-Mart reduced a current model Panasonic Plasma TV (TH-42PX6U) from a street price of $1799 to $1249.  While it's not clear how many they had to sell at this price (they are now sold out at Wal-Mart.com) symbolically this sends a very aggressive message to the market that they are returning to their discount roots after trying to reposition away from the price rollback promotions of the past.

Cathy StaufferOwnerCathyStaufferConsulting

Circuit City's Firedog - a billion dollar opportunity

November 6, 2006

Analysis of:Circuit City chases service with new Firedog brand | today.reuters.com

Using Geek Squad as the model, Firedog has the potential to become a billion dollar business without taking any share from Best Buy.

Geek Squad is projected to generate one billion dollars in revenue in 2007. That's just 5% of the $20 billion small business and home services market vs. a 17% share in merchandise. If Best Buy is able to capture roughly the same share in services as with products, Geek Squad should be a 3 million dollar business for them. Circuit City is about the third of Best Buy's size;  all things staying equal, that gives Firedog a billion dollar market potential without trading any share between Firedog and Geek Squad, and still leaving over 75% of the services market available. Add to that the potential upside to the TAM (total available market) in this underserved category, combined with incremental hardware sales that the services can pull along and the opportunity could be closer to $2 billion.

Yes there are differences between Firedog and Geek Squad:
Firedog is new, Geek Squad is almost 4 years old.
Firedog promises to support home theater and computer needs.  Geek Squad focuses on the PC and related support needs.
Firedog has 3000 associates; Geek Squad is approaching 12,000.

But they share a common and important vision: Best Buy's Geek Squad and Circuit City's Firedog want to do for small business and home services what they did for consumer electronics over the past 20+ years. Take a largely fragmented industry, (in this case the $20 billion small business and home services market) build in efficiency, scale and operational excellence to superserve the mass market, exploding the market and growth potential of the category.

Cathy StaufferOwnerCathyStaufferConsulting

On-line shopping eases many holiday shopping woes.

October 18, 2006

Analysis of:Jupiter predicts $32B in online holiday sales | www.retailingtoday.com

Wider assortments, good in-stock position and ability to shop from the convenience of your own chair on your own schedule are three great benefits for anxious, time strapped holiday shoppers. Recent strides in allowing on-line orders for in-store pick up can sweeten the experience significantly.

Cathy StaufferOwnerCathyStaufferConsulting

Consumers are ready for some retail therapy.

October 18, 2006

Analysis of:Retailers' Holiday Outlook Merrier | www.courant.com

Consumers are ready to do their part to make for a happy holiday, and this year brilliant gift giving sounds like a nice antidote for all the recent bad news. Brilliant will not be defined by one or two stand out items,  but by a variety of smart, thoughtful and useful gifts purchased from retailers that offer great value AND a respectful, feel good shopping experience.

Cathy StaufferOwnerCathyStaufferConsulting

Operational excellence and product cycle is on their side.

September 15, 2006

Analysis of:Best Buy 2Q beats expectations but raises concern | www.retailingtoday.com

Best Buy's focus on operational excellence combined with an industry that is producing exciting products at exceedingly good value, will continue to produce solid results for the second half of the year.

Cathy StaufferOwnerCathyStaufferConsulting

Done correctly, Circuit City’s launch of Firedog may be a game changer.

September 1, 2006

Analysis of:Circuit City to launch Geek Squad rival | www.retailnet.com

Circuit City’s launch of Firedog has the potential to have a significant impact on their brand, on their revenue growth and how the rest of the industry approaches home installation. 

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