Circuit City to slash more jobs; targets store executives
Circuit City has announced that they are cutting an additional 850 jobs, on top of the previously announced 3,400 jobs that they cut earlier this year. Now they are targetting store executives, cutting some stores down to 3 managers from the 5 that all stores had. They are also cutting 200 jobs at Circuit City corporate.
It is a shame to see any company cut jobs like this. I wonder if Circuit City has taken a look at the root of the problem - what caused the company to get to the point where they need to make this decision? Have they thought about their customer service policies? Their training? Their merchandise assortment?
When I talk to my tech-inclined friends about Circuit City, they all say the same thing: they don’t enjoy shopping there. Prices aren’t good and sales people are undertrained and unknowledgable. This isn’t a problem at one location; this is a problem across the chain. People don’t enjoy shopping there.
The retailer has also announced plans to open 165 new stores, after closing 60 earlier this year. The new stores will be a smaller, redesigned layout that is more customer-focused. Good, but is that too little too late?
No doubt that Circuit City can prove the layoffs as being a financial necessity right now. However, with some better forethough, some revamping, and some twaking of policies over the past few years, Circuit City could have remained competitive in the marketplace. Their underperfomance is nothing new. By constantly evaluating what is working and what isn’t over time, 4,000 people wouldn’t be out of a job today.
