Circuit City Circuit City’s Fatal Mistakes There was a time when Circuit City was a leading company, not just among retailers, but among all companies (Wagner, 2016). However, that eventually changed. There were many mistakes that this once top electronics chain had made which eventually led to its closure. For instance, Circuit City had become complacent, built stores in poorly trafficked sites, stopped selling appliances, and failed to recognize trends in consumer electronics (Wagner, 2016). However, for many of its customers, Circuit City's most obvious failure was in its customer service (Hamilton, 2008). This was because in March 2007, the retailer announced it plans to lay off its highest-paid hourly employees, including its commissioned-based …show more content…
Sometime during the 1990s, Circuit City not only lost its way, but its competitive advantage as well (Galuszka, 2008). According to Wagner (2016), Circuit City was “beaten by the recession, its own knuckle headedness, and the far more strategically gifted Best Buy”. External threats that affected the company included a weakening consumer demand, increasing unemployment, tight credit, and a collapsing housing markets (Eames, 2009). And, internal threats that caused the organization to suffer included declining sales, a weak balance sheet, skeptical vendors worried about getting paid, increasing competition from Best Buy, and a low service/no service retailers (Eames, 2009). According to Amadeo (2017), “A competitive advantage is what makes you better than the competition in your customers' minds”. Furthermore, Amadeo (2017) states, “To be successful, you need to be able to articulate the benefit you provide to your target market that's better than the competition”. Circuit City failed to do exactly this and therefore lost its competitive …show more content…
(2009). Circuit City Six: Six Fatal Mistakes of a Once "Good to Great" Company. Retrieved April 22, 2018, from http://eamesmgmt.com/CIRCUIT_CITY_SIX_eBook.pdf Galuszka, P. (2008, November 13). Eight Reasons Why Circuit City Went Bankrupt. Retrieved April 22, 2018, from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/eight-reasons-why-circuit-city- went-bankrupt/ Hamilton, A. (2008, November 11). Why Circuit City Busted, While Best Buy Boomed. Retrieved April 22, 2018, from http://content.time.com/time/ business/article/ 0,8599,1858079,00.html Hart, A., Matulich, E., Rubinsak, K., Sheffer, K., Vann, N., & Vidalon, M. (2012). The rise and fall of Circuit City. Journal of Business Cases and applications, 6, 1. LeBlanc, T. (2009, January 23). Learning from Circuit City's Mistakes. Retrieved April 22, 2018, from https://www.cepro.com/article/learning_from_circuit_citys_mistakes/ Lewis, Jared. (2018, April 13). Four Methods of Competitive Advantages. Small Business – Chron.com. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/four-methods-competitive- advantages-32344.html Mack, J. L. (2018, January 10). Circuit City announces comeback plans at CES 2018. Retrieved April 22, 2018, from