Best Buy launch to usurp UK retailers?
Analysts detail threat to PC World, Currys and Comet from US company's megastores plan
The market position of UK electrical goods retailers could be under threat this year as US retail giant Best Buy rolls out its planned 10 megastores, with questions over how many large outlets the UK customer base can actually sustain.
That's according to Neil Saunders, an analyst at Verdict, who points to DSG (PC World and Currys) and Kesa (Comet) as those companies under the biggest threat.
"I think it will be a long fight, but someone will have to emerge as a loser because there just isn't the volume of sales to sustain all of these players," he said, according to Reuters.
And that opinion was echoed by Greg Hodge, an analyst at Planet Retail: "These are big stores with big catchment areas. Is the population really big enough to support that many?"
Interestingly there was no mention of a specific threat to videogame specialist retailers, such as the GAME Group and other independent stockists.
Best Buy's launch into the UK market has originally announced in October 2008, but delayed its rollout from last Summer to this year as the economic conditions worsened.
The retailer's share price was up by 0.75 per cent yesterday to sit at $41.51.