Techie Parts – Need your input!

Techie Parts – Need your input!
OK team, this is your chance to be play merchant. You have 4 feet of shelf space. What products do we need to carry? Make sure the items have a good turn because you only have a limited amount of space. You probably don’t want to suggest we carry the nVIDIA Quadro FX 5800. The person that suggests the most items we ultimately source will have the bragging rights of being Mr. Tech plus a $25 gift card. Deadline Friday, April 29th.

1. Power Supplies - South Florida, Lightning...Yup.

2. Better/Cheaper Video Cards - the ones we have now are WAY overpriced compared to let's say a CompUSA. I personally bought a 1GB Nvidia card for $40 at CompUSA. We have a 32MB PCI Video Card for $50...really?!

3. CPU Fans. Maybe just one SKU of these, just something to have on hand in case we need to replace one.

4. USB KVM Switch Box. Many multi PC users...at least in my area. Stock Traders ftw!

5. External CD/DVD Drive. I know, we used to have them...but for whatever reason, they are now gone with the remodel and not POG'd for anywhere. We need them back!

6. Blue Ray, Blue Ray, Blue Ray (External). I know it didn't really take off the way it looked like it was going to, but for whatever reason...I do get asked quite regularly if we have these.

7. USB External Video Capture Device. It's kinda the "new" thing to do. Obviously because of my customer base...I get asked a lot if we have "A Tivo thing that will work on a computer."

8. IDE Hard Drives. We do have customers wanting to fix their old PCs instead of buying a new one, and they absolutely love their custom built Windows 98 "Extreme Awesomeness" computer.

9. The Targus Docking Station, for lack of better words...is outdated. Please take a look at something that could be a little more "new age".

10. We used to carry them...the little dongle cables that will take an Ethernet into a USB on the PC.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST...

A+, #1, Numero Uno, The Top Cheese - Home and SMB Monthly Tech Support Skus and a Gmil that works for it! Yes, I am a sales guy, so yes...I will be relentless about this until I have it in my arsenal! After I have these SKUs Chris, I'll start bugging you about an idea I have on how to get us a great list of "leads" to sell these to.

Thanks,

Frank Braile
Store 597

I would have to agree with all of the above. But maybe some higher end ram to go with our "normal use" ram? I think it would go well with the better video cards and would give us a chance to up sell on new computers

Know i missed the deadline, But these are potential items with decetn IMU
#1- DSL Modem (Asked for Daily by customers, GIANT oppurtunity)
#2- Power Supply
#3- Combo modem/Router
#4- CD/Dvd Burner (no idea why we removed)
#5- Ethernet to USB
#6- Firewire Cardbus for laptop (modern PCs dont appear to have a firewire port)
#7- Hard Drive Case
#8- Usb powered lights and fans (asked for daily)
#9- Usb to component video cables (still a large market with out HDMI either tv, or port)
#10- Better Cheaper Video cards. Dont seem very competative here. Think Dual monitors
#11-Internal Wireless cards for Desktops

But I believe we just need to carry a few of the things that we once carried before. Even before being TSS, there has been quite a few missed install opportunities due to not having the parts needed. Sometimes I've had customers who were willing to go elsewhere to get the parts and come back, but it is sometimes risky (given those other places can also do installs) and looks better if we actually carry the products. These products have already been listed, but I just figured I would stress the need of these three things in order of importance:

1) Power Supply (350W+, but nothing too crazy)
2) Video Card (Mostly low to mid-end AGP and PCI, maybe a couple of PCI-E)
3) Case/Processor Fans

Speaking from experience, most people who come into the store with computer issues are not high-end users, so we wouldn't need a whole bunch of high-end parts. Most gamers who require better Video Cards, RAM, etc. are more than capable of installing these parts on their own (and finding it cheaper). Considering that these parts don't sell often, purchasing and trying to sell high-end cards wouldn't make any difference in overall revenue either. I believe our focus should be on having parts available for those who do need it.