Tandy to launch RadioShack in UK
Tandy is axing dozens of small brands and launching one of the best-known US electrical retail brands RadioShack as an own-label brand in its 341 UK stores.
The specialist electrical retailer signed a confidential deal last week with an unnamed company which already held the UK licence to manufacture RadioShack products.
Tandy UK managing director Eamon Bradley says introducing the US electrical goods name, alongside its existing own-label stereo brand, Optimus, will help strengthen its position against rival Dixons.
He says dozens of smaller brands will be discarded to make way for RadioShack and Optimus. However, he adds that Tandy will still sell quality brands such as Aiwa and Nokia. The company expects sales to increase by 25 per cent.
Tandy may use advertising from Tandy RadioShack in the US, including the campaign with its “You’ve Got Questions! We’ve got Answers!” line.
The RadioShack and Optimus products will start to appear in Tandy stores in the new year and will take between 12 and 15 months to be introduced to all its outlets.
Bradley, who took over as managing director in July, says that more high street electrical retailers will realise the benefits of moving into own-label.
Intertan, Tandy’s parent, is one of the largest consumer electronics retailers in the US and has about 1,800 retail stores in the US, Canada and Australia. Sales for the year to June 1995 amounted to more than 300m.
