RadioShack has established its position as one of the largest retailers of electronic gadgets in the United States (Swales, 7). According to Forbes, RadioShack had revenues of over 4 billion dollars, and its share price continues to remain stable. The company’s mission is to demystify technology to the mass market, and enable the customer to get the best valued products for maximum quality performance (RadioShack).
RadioShack has been able to gain and maintain competitive advantage in operations through its innovative competitive strategies. First, the company is able to maintain a large number of customers and encourage repeat purchases due to the large number of stores that it maintains countrywide. The cooperation has over 7300 stores in the US alone and several others in international locations (RadioShack). RadioShack is also able to attract a number of brand loyal customers through its retail agreements with electronic manufacturers such as Samsung and HP. This also enables the cooperation’s staff to understand such products well and be able to provide additional help to customers in line with its mission statement. Another key competitive advantage that RadioShack enjoys is the fact that the company offers a wide range of products and does not specialize in a single product only. The company sells everything electric, from communication gadgets to laptops and entertainment systems.
A key disadvantage that the company faces though is the lack of market penetration in terms of online sales. RadioShack has not been able to make a breakthrough on the internet like Amazon or EBay, a factor that has seen it loose sales to competitors and fail to access certain markets. RadioShack’s retail agreements with particular companies also shuts out other companies that end up teaming up with competitors, which leads to lost sales and further contradicts the companies mission of diversity. Another disadvantage that RadioShack faces is that it focuses too much on the sale of wireless phones and accessories (Swales, 8). The company has not been able to expand its operation in the sale of other electronics like HD TVs due to space limitations. This had led to losses in terms of competitive advantage, with store like Wal-Mart taking advantage of the opportunity to specialize in such.
RadioShack competitive strategy is innovative, and has given the company clear competitive advantage in some areas. The company has been able to maintain a huge customer base and offer products to buyers as a cheaper price than most competitors. However there are also certain disadvantages in its strategy that prevent it from gaining more market share and effectively achieving its goals and targets.
Works Cited
Swales, Michael. RadioShack: “Wireless winners or woes?” Journal of Business cases and applications. 2007. Web. Feb 2013.
RadioShack. “RadioShack is seriously connected”. 2013. Web Feb. 2013.
Forbes. “Forbes earnings preview: RadioShack”. 2013. Web. Feb. 2013.
