The way I see it, Radio shack made a few big mistakes back in the 90's and early 2000’s and as a result the name Radio Shack is no longer synonymous with electronics.
Please let me explain. And please pardon my long winded post.
In the 70's and the 80's, CB radios, land line telephones, home and car stereos, and the accessories for these things were all big items for Radio Shack. Not only could you by a CB radio there, at that time, it was also a good place to buy antennas, wiring, connector, and other accessories. The same was true for Telephones and Home and Car stereos. Things like telephone wire, speaker wire, connectors, RCA cables, styluses and anything else that was related. Along with these types of things you could also buy needed tools such as Wire cutters, Crimping tools, soldering irons and the like. They also sold common TV Accessories like antennas, poles, coax, and rotors. They also had a good selection of electronic clocks and other items popular at the time. (Remember fiber optic decorations?)
The trouble started In the 90’s, not only was their electronic components business losing out to more reliable digital integrated circuits, they also made some bad business decisions as a company
Their first mistake was failing to compete in and then later moving out of the PC market.
In the early 90’s Radio Shack moved into the personal PC market and they were among the first retail store to carry PC’s, parts, accessories, and software. They also did upgrades and repairs like Best Buy does now. However, due to the fact they made their PCs’ out of proprietary parts, they weren’t able to compete in the PC market and eventually moved out of the PC market all together (including the parts and accessories segment). What they should have done is made their PCs out of universal parts like other brands, and or sold other brands alongside their own, like Sears did with their appliances, or dropped their own brand and just sold other PC’s and accessories like other retail stores they were competing with. By keeping their PC’s proprietary and then getting out of the business they essentially gave up good portion or their then Techno geek customers and forced them to shop elsewhere.
Their next mistake was trying to maintain themselves as a neighborhood niche Catalog store and not moving into a full big box store format like other stores did at the time. Montgomery Ward went out of business, and Sears dropped their catalogs in favor of the big box stores. Radio Shack should have done the same. They had a large selection of merchandise in their catalogs, but very little merchandise in their stores
In the early 2000’s Radio Shack was among the first to sell Digital cameras and early model MP3 players in their stores, however they again lost out to the big box stores who had bigger and better selections, not to mention better prices, but again, Radio Shack failed to compete in the segment and got out of that business as well
In the early 2000’s and later years they tried to capitalize on the early days of the cell phone market only to now be beet out again, as once again Cell phones are now sold at just about every place that sells electronics. Not to mention, the cell phone carriers now have their own stores. Add to this the fact that Radio shack radio shack never stocked many high margin accessories for the phones they sold. (Screen protectors and cases)
By not moving into a large store format, and or building out their web presence to compete with on-line retailers they failed to keep pace with the trends in electronics consumerism and thus the Radio Shack name is no longer the first one that comes to mind when people shop for electronics or accessories. In fact, it’s often one of the last places that come to mind, because they just don’t stock their stores with the type of items people are really looking to buy and their name seldom comes up in search results when looking for things on-line.
To further illustrate my point, I will use myself as an example.
I brought my first computer back in the mid 1990’s. It was a Gateway PC because a friend recommends it over the proprietary systems Radio shack sold. However I purchased a memory upgrade for it at Radio Shack and still shopped there for things like software, printer ribbons, floppy disk and the like, but the big box stores took over and it wasn’t long before I started buying software, printer ribbons, and floppy disk from places like Wal-Mart and Staples. Heck, even Toys-R-Us had a large selection of software for children at one point.
Some time in the mid 2000’s we got our first cell phone and a digital camera from a local Radio Shack (one of the few places they could be brought back then).
We also purchased a couple of remote control cars for the kids, rechargeable battery chargers and batteries in that time frame
Since then I have hardly stepped foot in a Radio Shack store, however I’ve continued to shop for and purchase electronic devices and their accessories from elsewhere.
In the years since then, things I have purchased from elsewhere include, 2 laptops, a flat bed scanner, three printers, components for a handful of custom built desktop PCs, a handful of home routers, a security camera DVR (and multiple add on cameras and motion sensors), Several TV’s, a large selection accessories for those devices such as software, replacement network cables, Television coax cables/connectors, RCA cables, HDMI cables, mice, keyboards, speakers and headphones. I’ve also purchased a few smart phones, tablets, blue tooth head sets, screen protectors and cases, a handful of game consoles, software and accessories, and a Uniden scanner (BCD996T) along with coax and a Discone antenna) . All this and more were purchased at places other than Radio Shack.
To complicate matters even further, it’s not just Best buy and Amazon that are doing them in.
When it came to wiring every room of our house for TV and Internet access and I needed things like network cables, TV coax, wire snipers, cutters, crimpers, staples, wire ties and other such things, I ran to my local Home Depot, not Radio Shack. My Local Home Depot now has an isle “Full” of these kinds of things and just that one isle is half the size of our local Radio Shack stores. I’ve also been known to shop at our Local Sears tool department for small specialized screw drivers, nut drivers and Torx sets needed to work on my electronic devices over time.
To take it just one step further. In our local shopping Mall, just a little ways down from one of our local Radio Shack stores is a Barnes and Noble store. And, while I’m at the Mall, I usually make it a point to stop in at Barnes and Nobles and browse through the books and the magazine rack for (you guessed it) Technology books and magazines whose subjects include, cell phones, PC’s, digital cameras, etc, but I still can’t find a good reason to take a detour into our local Radio Shack even though I’m walking right passed it while were walking through the mall.
About the only thing I might shop at Radio Shack for now days is an electronic learning kit, but even with that, their inventories are so low and the selection is so thin, I’d likely shop for that on-line before going to one of their stores.
Take the time to think about it. When was t he last time you shopped at a Radio Shack store for any of the things I just mentioned above? Does Radio Shack even come to mind when you do shop for any of the items I listed above? In my mind Radio Shack as become an irrelevant brand whose name is no longer synonymous with electronics. It’s no wonder they are struggling to survive.
