Archive for the ‘In The Press’ Category
Reborn CompUSA (from Dallas Star-Telegram)
Posted by: CompUSA in In The Press on April 7th, 2010
CompUSA is back — with an Internet-linked, in-store system that gives customers instant product information, including videos, and then allows them to compare prices charged by rivals.
The chain opened a new store in Euless in February and plans another in about a month in Arlington near Interstate 20 and Cooper Street.
It’s been a choppy ride for the 26-year-old consumer electronics retailer. Once known as Software Warehouse, it went public in 1991, acquired Tandy Corp.’s Computer City chain 12 years ago and then took over California-based The Good Guys chain in 2003.
But it struggled to make profits as fierce competition ate into margins. Not even Mexico’s renowned investor Carlos Slim — Forbes magazine’s richest man in the world — could salvage the ailing chain after investing over $3 billion.
Systemax, a publicly traded Long Island-based company that owns TigerDirect.com, an online electronics retailer, bought the CompUSA brand and 16 stores, including ones in Plano and El Paso, in early 2008 from a liquidator. Just the year before, CompUSA had operated 229 outlets nationally and employed 1,500 in North Texas alone. Read the rest of this entry »
CompUSA Opening Three New Stores Featuring Retail 2.0
Posted by: CompUSA in In The Press, Retail 2.0 Updates on February 11th, 2010
CompUSA® today announced the opening of three new retail stores: Houston, TX, Newark, DE, and Euless, TX. These new openings make a total of 32 CompUSA stores in the United States and Puerto Rico, each complete with “Retail 2.0®,” CompUSA’s powerful new shopping method.
“CompUSA is thrilled to be opening new stores in these markets,” said Gilbert Fiorentino, Chief Executive of the Systemax Technology Products Group, which includes CompUSA. “We look forward to providing shoppers not only with great deals on computers, HDTVs, components, and other consumer electronics, but offering them the chance to experience a completely new approach to retail shopping with Retail 2.0.” Read the rest of this entry »
Chicago Tribune Reports on Retail 2.0 in Chicago
Posted by: CompUSA in In The Press on January 16th, 2010
Chicago is a-buzz about the forthcoming CompUSA to be located in the downtown area of Chicago. This store is not your average CompUSA, it’s going to be nearly 35,000 sq. feet in size and will feature Retail 2.0 technology throughout. The Chicago Tribune visited the CompUSA Retail 2.0 demo during CES 2010 and reported on the upcoming store opening and Retail 2.0.
CompUSA … is rebooting the stores through an interactive shopping concept called Retail 2.0 and will be opening its biggest location in the country in Chicago next month.
At the new stores, in-aisle displays come with scanners, monitors and keyboards. When a shopper scans a product, a Web page appears with detailed product information and recommendations based on local inventory and what’s physically available at that store. The terminals also are open to the full Web, allowing shoppers to check their e-mail, update their Facebook account and check competitors’ sites for better deals. The retailer is ready to take that risk.
Aventura Florida CompUSA Now open!
Posted by: CompUSA in In The Press, Retail 2.0 Updates on November 25th, 2009
Marks Fifth CompUSA In Miami, 18th in Florida
MIAMI, Fla. (November 24, 2009) – CompUSA® today announced the opening of its newest store in Aventura, Florida. This is CompUSA’s fifth store in greater Miami, 18th in Florida, with approximately 40 staff members, and is fully integrated with “Retail 2.0®,” CompUSA’s powerful new shopping method. Read the rest of this entry »
TWICE reports on Pembroke Pines CompUSA
Posted by: CompUSA in In The Press, Retail 2.0 Updates on August 19th, 2009
Twice (This Week In CE) reported today on the latest CompUSA to open, in Pembroke Pines, Florida.
The latest addition, located here near Fort Lauderdale, is the first CompUSA store to be built to the company’s new Retail 2.0 spec. The interactive platform links product displays to dedicated Web pages, allowing shoppers to glean detailed product information from dedicated computer terminals. Three other Florida stores, in Miami-Dadeland, Plantation and North Lake, were previously converted to Retail 2.0, and Systemax plans to retrofit the remaining 12 Florida locations by years’ end.
“Our opening of the new Pembroke Pines location is a reflection of overwhelming demand from our Floridian customers,” said Gilbert Fiorentino, chief executive of Systemax’s technology products group. “The Pembroke Pines outlet is the first CompUSA store to be Retail 2.0-enabled from day one, in the spirit of providing more South Florida computer and electronics shoppers with an in-store experience not available anywhere else, with unbeatable prices to boot.”
CompUSA Opens New Pembroke Pines Store
Posted by: CompUSA in In The Press, Retail 2.0 Updates on August 17th, 2009
All-New Store Fully Retail 2.0-Enabled From Day One
CompUSA announced the opening of its newest retail location in the greater Miami area, bringing its total number of Florida locations to 16. From day one the store is fully wired for Retail 2.0, bringing shoppers the best of bricks and mortar and online shopping.
“Our opening of the new Pembroke Pines location is a reflection of overwhelming demand from our Floridian customers,” said Gilbert Fiorentino, Chief Executive of the Technology Products Group at Systemax Inc, parent company of CompUSA. “The Pembroke Pines outlet is the first CompUSA store to be Retail 2.0-enabled from day one, in the spirit of providing more South Florida computer and electronics shoppers with an in-store experience not available anywhere else, with unbeatable prices to boot.” Read the rest of this entry »
Retail 2.0 strategy: Dealerscope Aug 2009
Posted by: CompUSA in In The Press, Retail 2.0 Updates on August 5th, 2009
You know you’re onto something when you outline your vision for a whole new retailing experience and 20 minutes later the country’s chief technology officer tells a crowd he wants to use portions of it to improve government services.
That’s what happened after Gilbert Fiorentino, chief executive of Systemax’s Technology Products Group, which includes CompUSA, TigerDirect, Circuit City and several other businesses, gave a presentation on his Retail 2.0 strategy during the recent CEA Line Shows.
In a nutshell, the Retail 2.0 concept is about bringing the e-commerce tools and innovations Fiorentino implemented while heading up TigerDirect.com to CompUSA’s brick-and-mortar stores. Read the rest of this entry »
Retail 2.0 Featured in Internet Retailer Article
Posted by: CompUSA in In The Press on August 2nd, 2009
Digital merchandising is busting out of the box, bringing web-based content to the store shelf
By Mary Wagner
When Systemax Technology Group CEO Gilbert Fiorentino first walked the aisles of CompUSA stores to learn more about the computer and consumer electronics retailer that Systemax Inc. had acquired in March 2008, he was struck by two things. A host of TV screens and computer monitors displayed pretty pictures or sat empty. And when sales associates were stumped by customers’ product questions, they often found answers using a web-linked computer accessible to staff.
Fiorentino knew customers were accustomed to finding the information they wanted themselves using the web on their own PCs. “These screens were sitting there and I thought, why can’t we get them connected to the Internet?” he wondered. Read the rest of this entry »
CompUSA Rock Your Quad Tour reported in Dealerscope
Posted by: CompUSA in In The Press on July 15th, 2009
CompUSA is on the leading edge of finding new and interesting ways to educate, create excitement and even provide some entertainment within our retail stores. Our most recent promotion is the ‘Rock Your Quad Tour,’ featuring the cast of ComputerTV who travel in a 42 foot wrapped RV visiting 13 CompUSA retail stores in Florida in 14 days. Read the rest of this entry »
CompUSA Joins Family Separated by War for Birth
Posted by: CompUSA in Community Involvement, In The Press on July 2nd, 2009
CompUSA, along with HP and CA, make a families life a little bit better. With a husband in the military and on deployment to Afghanistan, one South Florida woman was going to be alone at the time of her son’s birth – but not any longer. Today, CompUSA provided Venesia with 2 HP laptops, complete with webcams, which will allow her and her husband to be “virtually” connected at the time of their childs birth, via Skype.
Venesia was presented with the laptops, some diapers, and a $10,000 Savings Bond courtesy of CA and CompUSA to kick-start a savings fund for the unborn child’s education. Read the rest of this entry »
