Circuit City Failure Essay

That being said, suppliers can have some power in regards to choosing the number of stores where their product can be purchased at. This allows the suppliers to regulate their sales and stay away from the “red tape”. The bargaining power of customers impacts HBC as customers are able to influence pricing based on their buying habits. Of course, customers do not choose the retail prices offered to them, however, if inexpensive clothing were to lead the industry, retail stores would adapt to this consumer demand and offer an abundance of inexpensive clothing due to consumer preferences. These forces lead to rivalry among competitors due to the many options offered to consumers to grant their desires. These forces combine to cause strategic implications for HBC. HBC must differentiate itself from its competitors who, similar to HBC, have large annual revenue, strong and profitable supplier agreements and large amounts of capital. As well, due to competitors large sale volumes, competitive pricing is an implication which faces

For the company to ensures success in its operations there is need to cultivate customer loyalty and facilitate efficient supplies, differentiator linkage between operations and buyers must be put in place. This will be facilitated through some ways. To cater for customer needs the company will have to ensure it adopts a competitive pricing strategy against the existing competitors and new entrants in the market. The company has a lean pricing policy and to take advantage of its off- price apparel strategy. The customer’s loyalty has to be sustained through the low prices they enjoy

Bargaining Power of Suppliers: The bargaining power of suppliers in the industry is low. There are numerous suppliers in this industry, and the large department stores have the ability to negotiate for the lowest prices. In addition, the switching costs are low, as the products are not highly differentiated. There are a large volume of purchases in the industry, allowing the department stores to exert even more power over the suppliers.

1. Describe the impact the three proposed accounting methods (full revenue recognition, deferral of revenue, and partial revenue recognition) would have on the company’s financial statements: 1) at the time of the sale, and 2) in future periods.

1. Should we be concerned that CitySoft is focusing on cost, operational control, systems, and quality at the expense of growth?

The economic success of retailers greatly depends on their ability to reach customers and meet customer demands in ways that is convenient for the customer. No longer can retailers expect customers to only shop at their retail stores. Retailers are required to provide customers with the multiple shopping channels and flexible fulfillment options that they demand. Companies who fail to do so will see their customers take their business to competitors who are both willing and able to serve customers based on consumer demand (xxx)

The economic logic of RPM is to redirect retailers’ competitive activities from prices to customer service. Factors such as price, quality, design and customer service on the part of retailers affect the demand for differentiated consumer goods. Therefore, by assuring resellers that they will not face discount price competition from other resellers of the same brand, minimum RPM agreements encourage retailers to invest in services or promotional efforts to sell that brand against competing brands. So although RPM may diminish intra-brand price competition among retailers selling the same brand, Grimes argues that it compensates for this by enhancing inter-brand competition between retailers as a result of the increase in intra-brand service competition . Affirming this theory, the Supreme Court recognized in Continental TV that, “when inter-brand competition exists…..., it provides a significant check on the exploitation of inter-brand market power because of the ability of consumers to substitute a different brand of the same product” . Mathewson and Winter suggest that increased consumer demand due to enhanced retail services , elicited through a protected retail margin, will more than offset a negative impact on demand of a higher retail price. Thus, RPM allows manufacturer to influence the supply of retail service by controlling its retailers’ margins, thereby using retail service as an instrument of inter-brand competition. This

Suppliers in the industry seek buyers who can move a lot of merchandise in a short period of time. The threat of substitution is a big deal in this industry. Most retail stores carry the same types of products with little differentiation. This makes it difficult for companies in this industry to keep customers coming back. This places an emphasis on the need to build a good reputation with customers.

The bargaining power of buyers stands in a direct relationship with the bargaining power of suppliers. If the bargaining power of buyers is substantial it increases the opportunity cost of suppliers. The greater the buyers concentration the greater their bargaining power. This bargaining power is also increased in markets where the suppliers’ concentration is high. The bargaining power is also increased when the cost of switching from one supplier to another is low. In instances where backward vertical integration is possible i.e. buyers setting up their own chains of suppliers the bargaining power of the buyer increases in that their prices may become more competitive. In a market where the buyers are more concerned over quality than price their bargaining power decreases as they are less inclined to shop

Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Cost-Co, Target, Amazon.com, and etc… are all targeting the same consumers and continually adding value and\or discounting prices.

It makes sense for Best Buy to worry more about Wal-Mart, which is getting more involved in electronics retailing, and less about Circuit City. The competitors are a diverse lot today, and for them to continue to grow they're going to have to get much better at everything they do and define themselves in clear ways. Best Buy's plan is to revamp its stores according to the types of customers they serve. A strategy previously mentioned, customer centricity, focuses on targeting five prototypical customers, all of whom have been given names: "Jill," a busy suburban mom; "Buzz," a focused, active younger male; "Ray," a family man who likes his technology practical; "BB4B" (short for Best Buy for Business), a small professional employer; and "Barry," an affluent professional male who's likely to drop tens of thousands of dollars on a home theater system. Their most current focus is on a "Jill" based store, the soccer mom who has money to spend but typically hasn't a clue of where or how to find products in the store. According to the data Best Buy has collected, Jill shops a few times a year, usually twice at an electronics store, but she usually spends a significant amount.

The Competition: Suppliers need to be able to keep costs down, in order to keep

For restaurant retailers, the power of suppliers is high. This can be indicated by lack of substitute produces and low importance of restaurants as buyers.

The bargaining power of suppliers is medium. Since corporates conditions vary, whether the power of suppliers is strong should be determined accordingly. But to survive in the online retailing industry, keeping a close relationship with the suppliers is imperative. Many of the multi-national companies in the industry is depending on limited numbers of suppliers that are concentrated in production, differentiated in products, and not heavily relied on a single industry, which give them great bargaining power and can better facilitate the corporations’ success. Small companies may not have established such strong alliance with its vendors.

The suppliers get the advantages of making their products be showcased for the consumers thru these retailing outlets. A wider scope of retail outlets could mean wider scope for the brand recognition of the seller’s products, that is why these retailing giants has more power than suppliers. But when it comes to distribution, having a strong supplier is important, the company be better over competitors when it comes to qualitative factors such as on time deliveries on their branches and wider network of