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What's up with Fry's marketing/advertising?? - Printable Version

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What's up with Fry's marketing/advertising?? - DavidS - 04-16-2007

So, Frys has stores in 9 states. They have now turned Outpost.com into Frys.com. They run ads in the newspapers of their markets 5 out of 7 days of the week (at least in Atlanta it's that way) including a multi-page Friday ad.

I can't understand why their ads, sales, and products are different in each market. They don't price match their own stores and don't price-match Frys.com. I'm curious as to how much extra they spend on marketing for this policy?

It seems to me that it would make more sense to run the same ad in every market at the same time, like most other retailers do. Most other retailers will price match their online store if it is cheaper. I could understand their refusal when it was still Outpost.com, but what is the excuse now?

Fry's has only been in Atlanta for the last couple of years, so I'm curious as to the opinion of you left-coasters who have dealt with them for longer..

Don't get me wrong, I was thrilled to see them open stores in Atlanta, but am just wondering about these policies that seem counter-intuitive.


Re: What's up with Fry's marketing/advertising?? - Jp! - 04-16-2007

I don't know how much variation is contained within the ads of Staples, Office Depot, Office Max, Wal-Mart, etc. But they, too, have you put in your zipcode and at least on the surface allow for a different ad for every single store/area.

The no price match between stores gets me. And it's not just Fry's. Remember the recent Best Buy brouhaha over B&M vs web and all?


Re: What's up with Fry's marketing/advertising?? - $tevie - 04-16-2007

As far as the same ad in every market goes -- my friend accidentally got a Giant grocery flier for a near-by neighboring area and a lot of the specials were different. This was the first time I realized this to be the case, although the fact that so many stores need your zip code before they show you the week's flier had me suspecting this for a long time.

I don't know about the price matching policy, but again, I wonder if it is really true that "Most other retailers will price match their online store if it is cheaper"? Why would someone have cheaper online prices but then have to price-match them? It just seems like it would create a lot of busy work for people.


Re: What's up with Fry's marketing/advertising?? - threeprong - 04-16-2007

I used to work for a company that handled the circulars for a large DIY box store. 9 Think blue not orange). Anyway, they had regional sales down to a science. Variable price data per zip code/ store.

Most stores had their own unique flyers/circulars as well as pricing.

All the differences were based on data minig their sales database for maximizing profits.

3P


Re: What's up with Fry's marketing/advertising?? - roshi - 04-16-2007

Fry's is usually incredibly smart in everything they do, in terms of sales amounts per square foot per day/month/year. I used to go to the Fry's store in Sunnyvale in 1990. My impression is that they have no interest in being the Target of electronics. They are totally not interested in cheap prices and have no need to price match. They want to sell massive volumes at full retail, with a few good deals here and there.

Brilliant idea, in terms of profitability. Poor customer service, full retail, terrible return policy (I think they train the staff to degrade and abuse the customer, and humiliate them out of trying to make a return), and massive volume. Equals consistent record-setting profits per square foot.

Or am I totally wrong?


Re: What's up with Fry's marketing/advertising?? - Filliam H. Muffman - 04-16-2007

I would agree with local marketing/data-mining. In some areas people will make the trip to Fry's for a 25 pack of DVD-R for $4, other areas it might a powerstrip for $0.99. I think it also depends on what crap they can find at local electronics bankruptcy auctions.


Re: What's up with Fry's marketing/advertising?? - GGD - 04-16-2007

[quote roshi]Fry's is usually incredibly smart in everything they do, in terms of sales amounts per square foot per day/month/year. I used to go to the Fry's store in Sunnyvale in 1990. My impression is that they have no interest in being the Target of electronics. They are totally not interested in cheap prices and have no need to price match. They want to sell massive volumes at full retail, with a few good deals here and there.

Brilliant idea, in terms of profitability. Poor customer service, full retail, terrible return policy (I think they train the staff to degrade and abuse the customer, and humiliate them out of trying to make a return), and massive volume. Equals consistent record-setting profits per square foot.

Or am I totally wrong?
Shopping at Fry's retail store is an art. Only buy items that are on sale in the weekly ad (and make sure that it's a real deal, they often advertise full list Apple prices in their ads), never ask for help, refuse help if offered. Bring the ad with you and match the item number to what's listed in the ad, don't trust the prices on the labels or shelf tags. Verify the prices on the register receipt before paying, show the ad if there's a difference. NEVER buy an open box. Know where everything is in the store, don't assume that all products of the same type will be grouped in the same area, in my local Fry's you can find USB cables in about 3 different areas of the store, and only one of those has the really low priced no-name ones, the others are the overpriced name brand ones.

Fry's retail stores do pricematch for 30 days, but only against other local retail stores. I always watch their own ads after I've bought something, and within 30 days if I see they have it on sale for a lower price, I just go in with the receipt and newspaper ad and ask them to price adjust it (always ask them to credit the refund back to your credit card, don't take the store credit, and if they ask if you're planning to buy anything while you're there say No). I've never had any problem getting them to adjust to their own newspaper ads within 30 days.

They also have a 30 day return policy (15 days on some products), and I've used that a few times (like when trying to find wireless routers that passed AppleTalk, try a bunch, return what doesn't meet your needs).

I've been shopping at Fry's since they had just a single small store on Lakeside Drive in Sunnyvale in the mid 1980's.


Re: What's up with Fry's marketing/advertising?? - MacMagus - 04-16-2007

> NEVER buy an open box.

Buying open-box at Fry's is an art...


Re: What's up with Fry's marketing/advertising?? - RAMd®d - 04-16-2007

Buying open-box at Fry's is an art...[/]

Buying CLOSED box is an art.

I learned early on never by a fry's re-boxed item. It's almost always a customer return, sometimes marked as a return, always at full retail, and may be defective or missing parts.

I've returned a couple of defective things only to find them back on the shelf later.

And finding a NEW, closed box has become a little easier, but many times I've found items with the seals broken and the contents pawed through. I was looking for a Pioneer drive that had a free CDRW inside only to find that all were opened and missing the CD. Another store had the drive, unopened, with the CD.

If I could have trusted fry's not to have put questionable product back on the shelves, I would have saved myself a trip and not worried about a free CD.

I'm not as thorough as GGD, but I only buy when it's on sale.


Re: What's up with Fry's marketing/advertising?? - Jp! - 04-16-2007

[quote MacMagus]> NEVER buy an open box.

Buying open-box at Fry's is an art...
I but OB there. No problems so far. It's what cheapskates like me do.