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Best Buy to Vie with China Consumer Electronics Retailers(Comtex Business Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) SHANGHAI, Dec 28, 2006 (SinoCast China IT Watch via COMTEX) --"Best Buy's first flagship store in China is scheduled to start trial operation on December 28 and officially open for business in the coming January," briefly announced Mr. Lu Weimin, president for the Asia-Pacific region of the North American consumer electronics retailing giant. The Shanghai store, located on the bustling Zhaojiabin Road of Xujiahui Commercial Circle of Shanghai, covers a business area of 8,000 square meters, spanning from the third to the sixth floor of Cemini Master Piece. Different from other household appliances retail stores, the Shanghai store includes three famous brands areas, the "Magnolia" imaging world providing high-end imaging products, the "wonderful kitchen" special zone supplying a complete set of kitchen solutions, and the "GeekSquad" area offering professional computer technologies & services. Moreover, the to-be-opened store has set a number of experience centers and has arranged commodities in accordance with their category. The trial operation of the Shanghai store is a firm step that Best Buy has strode in the Chinese market, after its three years of preparation and its start of the procurement operation there. "Best Buy is to lead a change to the Chinese consumer electronics retail market, and Gome and Suning are not the match for its rivals, despite their leading position", said Mr. Lu with strong confidence. The North American Titan was said to step into China as early as September of 2003, a move which is widely parabolized to be like a wolf is coming. Surprisingly, it spends three years brewing its first store. A Best Buy executive explained by saying that the retailer made a decision to open its store in China in 2005, spent one year doing market research, and began substantial preparation from this August. In recent one-two months, commodities to be sold in this new store had been successively delivered to its warehouse in the Songjiang District of Shanghai. "Best Buy has created its procurement offices in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen three years ago, and averagely purchased tens of billions of dollars of products from China. It has established good business relationship with local consumer electronics manufacturers", said Wang Ying, PR general manager for Best Buy China. "Both the choosing of a location and the foundation of a store have to follow specific procedures, and three years is a short period of time for finishing such a grand business," said Mr. Lu as an answer to the common question why the opening of the first store have lasted for a extremely long period of time. Mr. Lu begged the question about price war and said Best Buy will provide consumers with variety of commodities at the lowest prices. The Chinese market is expected to demand for USD 85 billion worth of household appliances in 2006 and such a robust demand is still estimated to enjoy a double-digit growth in the following ten years. And Best Buy will not involve itself in furious price war and will go its own way to take a reasonable share of the high-end segment. Gome and Suning, the largest two consumer electronics retailer in China, turn a cold shoulder to Best Buy's action in China, believing they will not be affected somewhat. "Three are roughly 150 household appliance shopping malls in Shanghai, and Best Buy has only one, a sheep among wolves", said Fan Zhijun, executive president for Northern China of Suning. "Gome will feel no pressure and will devote to increasing the operation efficiency of a single store and promoting the harmonious relationship with manufacturers and consumers," reiterated He Yangqing, a spokesman for Gome. From www.cnstock.com, Page 1, Wednesday, December 27, 2006 [email protected] Copyright (C) 2006 SinoCast LLC. All rights reserved ********************************************************************** As of Sunday, 12-24-2006 23:59, the latest Comtex SmarTrend(SM) Alert, an automated pattern recognition system, indicated a DOWNTREND on 09-08-2006 for BBY @ $44.88. For more information on Comtex SmarTrend Alert, contact your market data provider or go to www.CSTADirect.com SmarTrend is a registered trademark of Comtex News Network, Inc. Copyright 2004-2006 Comtex News Network, Inc. All rights reserved. |