Seth Weintraub: ‘10 Reasons Why Google Should Buy the Remains of RadioShack’

Seth Weintraub:

In one swift move, Google could immediately have a bigger retail presence than Apple with almost 5,000 US stores, a rejuvenated workforce (at least to start with) and a somewhat lucrative business model selling carrier Android devices and accessories.

Over the first year, Google could manage continuing losses while training up current and new staff on Google products, redesigning the stores to be more inviting, and switching product lines to become more valuable. Apple and Tesla have both proven that high tech companies can prosper in retail. Microsoft and Amazon are both making efforts to get into retail as well.

It’s an interesting thought experiment, and the price — $50 million — is truly pocket change for a company like Google. But I don’t see how any company could go from 0 to 4,000 retail stores in the snap of a finger. Has any company new to retail ever successfully pulled off something like that?

★ Thursday, 5 February 2015