Best Computer/Electronic Stores

We found that they were a different company, Smoliak, in 1966 and rebranded as Best Buy in 1983 to become a consumer electronics store. They have several locations and subsidiaries throughout North America and the rest of the world. Best Buy offers a wide array of products to its customers, including one of the largest arrays of cell phones, including AT&T, T-Mobile, and many more. 

Crutchfield’s online catalog has its origins in the company’s first year of business, when sales were poor in 1974. During the first year, the company didn’t sell very many items. Bill Crutchfield, the owner, mailed out a questionnaire to find out why customers weren’t buying products, asking customers what the company needed to do better. Customers replied that they didn’t know much about car audio, and were scared by the thought of putting one in their vehicle. The questionnaire prompted Bill Crutchfield to start filling the catalog with useful information about car audio. The company built this experience into their corporate DNA, offering superior customer service to its clients. Since 1974, the company has put car audio components into over 12,500 cars. 

Newegg is one of the companies that we reviewed that is strictly an online marketplace, selling primarily computer accessories, computers, and other hardware. We also found, however, that they offer significant other products categories, including women's jewelry. Often, in the case of the pearl necklace, the prices and quality of goods were significantly better than what a customer might find in the traditional storefront.

We saw that Newegg has a special premiere membership, costing customers $49.99 per year after a 30-day free trial. The premiere membership gives customers access to the following:

• Free expedited shipping (3-days) for free.
• Free returns with no restocking fees (on select items)
• Expedited customer support.
• Special email alerts.
• Exclusive deals.

In the online electronics industry, we didn't find a comparison for Newegg's special online resources. Newegg was primarily a private company for several years. Newegg had its IPO in 2009, after posting several years of profitability.

Newegg is not without controversy. In March of 2010, Newegg accidentally sold several counterfeit Intel processors. Initially, the company claimed that they were demo units. Upon further investigation, Newegg discovered that the units were counterfeit and offered replacement items to customers.

The store began in a small Logan Square location with three employees. Now, it is one of the largest single-store appliance and electronics wholesale companies in the United States. Today, the store carries tons of items and staffs over 1,100 employees. Most notably, ABT carries tens of thousands of products. The product categories include kitchen appliances and even gourmet cooking; entertainment (audio and TV), watches, and fitness. ABT regularly introduces many products that eventually gain widespread recognition. ABT has a 100,000 foot showroom, as well as its own mini-mall. They also have a 7,500-gallon aquarium that demonstrates the stores camera and camcorder selection. 

Frys.com first store was 20,000 feet and the first management team consisted of John Fry, Randy Fry, Dave Fry, and Kathy Kolder. The company is privately held and all the founders are managing the company’s daily operations. Fry’s prides itself on being the first Silicon Valley one-stop-electronics-shop for the savvy hi-tech business professional. There are over 50,000 items within each store and many more are available on the website. There are more than 30 stores in the United States, with the bulk of them being on the West Coast. The stores are different sizes, with the largest one being over 180,000 square feet. 

TigerDirect was founded in 1987 and incorporated in 1989 as a distributor of software for both PC and Apple computers. TigerDirect eventually expanded its business and became known as an online distributor of products for building computers in the 1990s. The website was launched in 1996, selling computers, electronics, books on electronics, and software. The website was one of the first that was pushed towards the “Do-It-Yourself” market. They have an extensive area of their website that is geared towards the home computer “do-it-yourself” expert.