OPINIONS AND FACTS

PR Web Newswire

12 Apr 2010. p.NA

Source: General Reference Center(http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/04/prweb3857274.htm)

Port Washington, NY (Vocus/PRWEB ) April 13, 2010 -- With Circuit City out of the picture for a year now, the change in the consumer electronics retail landscape has been concentrated around two retailers, Best Buy and Walmart. According to leading market research company The NPD Group's new report New Look at Retail: Post Circuit City, Best Buy and Walmart captured two-thirds of Circuit City's total dollar share during the March-December period in 2009 when Circuit City was no longer in business.

Best Buy extended its lead in U.S. retail in some of the industry's most important product segments. Best Buy's dollar share in flat-panel TVs increased by more than five points as its position as the only national electronics retail chain allowed it to make especially strong gains in the premium priced over $1000 TV market. Walmart also gained presence in the TV category as a result of the Circuit City closing. Flat-panel TVs was Walmart's best performing category in overall share gains among the top categories after Circuit City left the market.

PCs were another bright spot for both retailers. Best Buy firmly established itself as the dominant 3rd party seller of computers in the U.S., with a large part of its gains coming through its Web site. Walmart saw its year-over-year share growth increase faster in notebooks than any other category.

Digital cameras was another strong area of growth for Best Buy which increased dollar share just as much in digital cameras as it did in notebook PCs. Walmart saw its dollar share climb above its previous levels during the crucial fourth quarter of 2009.

"As its nearest competitor, both in store locations and in consumer perception, Best Buy was certain to be the big beneficiary from Circuit City's closure," said Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD. "However, with the closures coming at the same time as an economic recession, tumbling ASPs in both PCs and TVs, and Walmart's renewed focus on consumer technology as a growth opportunity, it is not surprising that Walmart also managed to grow its share during this period."

While Walmart has traditionally has its highest market share in the South, Best Buy was also able to make significant gains in that region as the retail landscape changed. Walmart increased its dollar share by two percentage points, while Best Buy gained four percentage points in the southern U.S.

"We expect that in 2010 all retail channels will focus on their share growth opportunity in technology as new products, a better economy, and renewed consumer interest deliver an exciting sales outlook for the remainder of the year," stated Baker.

Methodology:
The data used in New Look at Retail: Post Circuit City was collected from NPD's Consumer Tracking Service. NPD's online panel consists of more than 1.8 million registered adults and NPD information is based on responses from nationally representative samples of panelists, and results are demographically balanced.

1.Attention, Walmart Shoppers: Clean-up in Aisle Nine.

Rockwood, Kate.

Fast Company (1085-9241)

Feb2010, Issue 142, p30-32.

Source: Business Source Premier

The first part of Walmart's three-phase plan--a 15-question survey asking its top suppliers to pony up info on the current state of their sustainability efforts--was completed in October. Walmart began meeting with vendors, industry by industry, to discuss the next steps last month, and scientists are now starting trials to get a handle on what this labeling system might look like. "We're on the cusp of a major transition in the marketplace of what consumers demand to know and producers have to tell," says Dara O'Rourke, CEO of GoodGuide, which independently rates the health, safety, and environmental impact of 50,000 consumer products. Even though Walmart execs have said that its index won't be ready before 2013, the early discussions reveal just how roiling this initiative will be.

Although Walmart is framing its Sustainability Index as something positive for both consumers and companies, Matt Kistler, senior vice president of sustainability, acknowledges that "it is creating a new level of competition in ways that, historically, manufacturers have not competed. And when it comes down to it, it's going to be an algorithm that creates a score, and it will reward some suppliers better than others." Consumers won't be the only ones selecting or snubbing products based on their scores; Kistler confirms that high-scoring products will earn preferential treatment--and likely more shelf space--in Walmart stores.

Last October's survey added to companies' concerns. It touched on everything from investments in community-development activities to water-use-reduction targets, and "there's a wide variance of how prepared suppliers are to answer these questions," says Kyle Tanger, president and CEO of carbon-management firm ClearCarbon, who guided a number of companies through the questionnaire. More than 1,000 companies responded, according to Kistler, "the vast majority" of those asked. That said, analysts estimate that just 10% of Walmart suppliers are prepared to measure and report their sustainability.

To persuade 100,000-plus firms to spend the time and money tracking and lessening their environmental impact--and to get buy-in from the scientific community and the government--Walmart has tried to minimize its own influence over the project. It created an independent Sustainability Consortium, and while the Bentonville behemoth has a seat at the table, so do NGOs, government agencies, suppliers, other retailers, and researchers. "This has to be more than Walmart or it won't achieve standardization," says Jay Golden, codirector of the Sustainability Consortium, who has worked in environmental enforcement at the federal and state levels and has a PhD in sustainable engineering.

The consortium has attracted everyone from Monsanto to Disney, Seventh Generation to the EPA. To help manufacturers innovate more quickly and cheaply and to make life-cycle assessment an easier feat, it is currently developing a tool called Earthster. The open platform will pool existing databases and models, then tap participants to share data and research so companies can mine ideas.

But companies are just beginning to grapple with the big questions. "One fear is figuring out who gets to prioritize the different pieces of sustainability," says Karen Hamilton, VP of vitality and environment at Unilever, a consortium member. "Who's to decide if greenhouse-gas emissions are more pressing than water conservation?"

The labels could be designed so that consumers would be the ultimate decision makers. "We've been thinking of nutritional labels as a proxy," Kistler says, with carbon emissions, water use, and solid waste displayed like calories, fat, and sodium. Other ideas being considered: a minimum-standard, organic-style seal; a terror-alert-style color code (level-orange dish soap!); and a 100-point scale for judging a 26-point breakfast cereal against a 73-point one.