Relaunched Circuit City site is a triplet
It wasn't long ago that I used these pages to write Circuit City's eulogy. At the time, many of us thought the company would be gone forever. Oh, how wrong we were.
Last week, Circuit City came back to the Web. On May 19, Systemax, the company behind TigerDirect and CompUSA, purchased the Circuit City brand and Web site for $14 million. It took only a few days for Systemax to populate the site with products. And now it's live.
Systemax's decision to acquire Circuit City shouldn't be a surprise. In 2008, the company acquired CompUSA's brand and domain for a discounted price. Systemax then relaunched CompUSA.com. Today, it even operates a series of CompUSA brick-and-mortar stores.
There's currently no indication that Systemax will be opening Circuit City-branded brick-and-mortar stores. Right now, it seems that the company is focusing mainly on CircuitCity.com.
I've spent considerable time on the site, evaluating its design and comparing offers to see if it's a place worth spending cash. And after just a few seconds, it quickly became clear that it's basically just CompUSA.com (or TigerDirect.com) with a different name and logo.
Circuit City's Netbooks listing.
(Credit: Don Reisinger/CNET)Design
Each product you're looking for on CircuitCity.com is easily accessible by using the site's search feature. Its categories are descriptive and useful. Overall, it's a nicely designed site.
But once you get past the home page, you'll find that every CircuitCity page is almost identical to CompUSA and TigerDirect pages. So if you're looking for Netbooks, you'll find the same listing of products with the same prices, containing the same pictures and the same "add to cart" buttons. The only difference between those pages is the logo and the navigation bar above the products.
When you click on an individual product on CircuitCity.com, you'll find, in most cases, the same listing on its sister sites. The purchase process was also the same.
I contacted Systemax's public-relations team to see if it could highlight exactly what's different about these sites besides their domains. The company declined to comment.
CompUSA's Netbooks listing.
(Credit: Don Reisinger/CNET)Deals
When I started comparing deals on Circuit City to those on other sites, I was limited in my comparison. Circuit City's prices are the same as those you'll find on CompUSA or TigerDirect. In my search, I couldn't find a single product that was priced differently.
When I compared pricing on Circuit City to sites that aren't owned by Systemax, I was pleasantly surprised. The site often beat Best Buy prices. Its pricing compared nicely to NewEgg on a few products for which I searched. And in some cases, it matched Amazon.com's pricing. That said, both Amazon and NewEgg did tend to offer lower prices on many products.
Regardless, I think you'd be happy with the prices Circuit City offers. Similar to TigerDirect, Circuit City's products are being offered at a discount that makes shopping at CircuitCity.com more practical than ever.
Bottom line
You're probably wondering if Circuit City should be added to your list of desired online retailers. After perusing the site for the past few days, considering its offers, and evaluating its design, I'd say that it's a fine online store. But if you're currently a TigerDirect shopper, or you like CompUSA's site, additionally checking Circuit City's site for deals is probably a waste of time--a duplication of efforts not likely to yield any benefit.
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Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
Lipstick on a pig.
That was my first thought. If you're already online under the TigerDirect and CompUSA banners, what's the added value in offering the same products on a third URL?
Sounds almost legal. If I had any money left after it was stolen from me at GM I would invest it in the new enterprise.
As video streaming infects cataloguing, and as policies reflect concumer conerns regarding online shopping, print catalogs will go the way of newspapers, as will retail brick and mortar stores-for the most part-not completely, not overnight,but slowly and surely. In a generation, the shoppers in malls will be mostly "dinosaurs " The social aspects that malls provide will be moztly replaced by cloud-driven physical community centers, and subsets of those will be through "Clouds."
- by Kuby December 12, 2009 9:15 AM PST
- I have a problem with TigerDirect over the past few years - I've been burned by them a number of times and until I get into the threatening mode of turning their false advertising into the gov't/AG- they would not budge. Also Tiger is good at fraud'ing buyers with their rebate catch 22's - really really got to look at Tiger's fine print on the rebate forms >BEFORE< buying!!!
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(26 Comments)Tiger burned me for $200 on a NB they advertised at the rebate price. I bought it a week to "early" as the Tiger rebate period did not start until two weeks later and the NB had to be bought in this specific three week window to get the rebate. Tiger phone sales did not inform me of these conditions and actually fraud me as they stated the NB would become $XXX with the current rebate. So from now on with Tiger INSTANT REBATES or nuttin!
Also never but never buy "open box" from Tiger. This is returned products that Tiger bought in bulk actions then repackages and sells. Tiger does not test/check these items just repackages and hopes for customer ignorance and a win on the numbers. I bought a Siemen's wireless router, WAN port dead out of the box, Tiger sent me four more at no cost 9and did not want any returns) - all the WAN ports were dead, but the wireless and 4 port hub worked OK , so I sent them up around my house as repeaters. Wow all these virtually FREE routers - now you don't think Tiger knew of this product problem - did they commit false advertising? You betcha!
Tiger sold me a refurbished Netgear VPN router - the WAN port when thermal 4hrs after turn on. Had to fight to get this one returned for full $$$ - but only as a credit not real refund.
Beware of those Tiger/Circuit/Comp "deals" - they ALL the SAME!!!
Interesting item to note: Google/Yahoo searches pop up Tiger/Circuit/Comp and hardly never get Best buy/Newegg/etc. Some serious advertising $$$ here!!!