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Best Buy Completes Mobile Rollout Effort
Minneapolis — All 965 U.S. Best Buy locations now feature a Best Buy Mobile store-within-a-store thanks to a nationwide rollout effort that began in October 2006 and was completed this week.

Best Buy Opens 45,000-Sq.-Ft. Mall Of America Store
Minneapolis — Best Buy is opening a 45,000-square-foot store at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., along with an additional area called the Best Buy Rotunda at Mall of America.

NPD Offering Store-Level Sales Data
PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y. — Market research firm The NPD Group has begun offering store-level point-of-sale (POS) data to consumer technology retailers and manufacturers, providing a customized view of their unique markets. Store-level information includes dollar and unit sales rates, pricing, sales-per-store, distribution levels in stores selling a particular product or products, and numerou...

CEA Kicks Off Free-Trade Tour At J&R
NEW YORK — The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) kicked off a 30-city "America Wins with Trade" bus tour last month at J&R Music and Computer World here in lower Manhattan. On hand for the event were CEA president and CEO Gary Shapiro, J&R principal Rachelle Friedman, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other dignitaries.

PRO Imaging Buying Group Turns 50
FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. — The Photographic Research Organization (PRO) buying group has turned 50. At its annual convention, held here last month, the retail group touted its evolution from its founding in 1958 with just six retailers to its current stable of 131 members and 41 affiliate test-program participants, representing a total of 400 retail stores.

LG Consolidates Data Systems
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA —LG Electronics said it has selected systems software developer GXS' trading-grid technology to consolidate and centralize its interactions with more than 200 global trading partners. The change will help LG optimize its systems management and get products to retailers' shelves quicker with more efficiency, the company said.

Clarification
A story about Friendly Computers that appeared on p. 26 of the July 21 issue of TWICE should have indicated that the company has integrated its PC repair and maintenance services into 20 Computer Renaissance retail locations nationwide, and has re-branded the stores as "Computer Renaissance Powered by Friendly Computers.

Abt Deploys BoldChat Live-Chat Features
CHICAGO — Abt Electronics said it has upgraded its onscreen live-chat features by deploying BoldChat on its Web site. Although Abt had already offered a live-chat option, consumers who used Mozilla Firefox or Apple Safari Web browsers weren't able to use it, John Abt, the company's president, said in a release put out by BoldChat.

Wal-Mart Testing Home Services With Dell
DALLAS — Wal-Mart was scheduled to begin testing a CE service model last month with Dell. The pilot program is expected to be offered through "Solution Stations" located in 15 Dallas-area Wal-Mart stores, the retailer said. The Dell-managed effort will provide HDTV and home theater installation, computer repair, wireless solutions and other support services to help customers "build out th...

Costco Hurt By Rising Costs
ISSAQUAH, WASH. — Rising energy and freight costs coupled with vendor price hikes in most categories except CE are impacting Costco's bottom line, the warehouse club warned. Chief financial officer Richard Galanti told analysts during a conference call last month that vendors are imposing price increases of 5 percent, 10 percent and higher in virtually all product categories except appare...

TWICE Retail Roundtable Redux: Outlook Mixed On CE's 2nd Half
NEW YORK — Days after the New Year dawned, a panel of industry executives gathered around a conference table at International CES to share their take on the state of the consumer electronics business. Much has transpired during the ensuing six months, and TWICE invited our panelists back for an updated outlook on the back half of the year.

Back-To-School Period Starting Earlier
NEW YORK — Like Halloween sales in summer, and Christmas come-ons in the fall, the back-to-school selling season is starting earlier than ever. In an attempt to secure their piece of shoppers' federal stimulus checks, retailers began mounting their back-to-school promotions within weeks of last semester's closing bell, prompting at least one consumer group to complain that children are be...

NRF: Back-To-School Spending Mixed For Consumer Electronics
WASHINGTON — While parents plan to spend more on electronics products for their youngsters during the back-to-school period this year, college-bound kids are cutting back on their CE purchases, a new survey suggests. According to the National Retail Federation's (NRF) 2008 Back to School Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, parents will spend $151.

Sony Style Enhances In-Store Services
San Diego — Sony Electronics has expanded its Backstage in-store service program for Sony Style stores with one-on-one computer training sessions, Vaio PC workshops, and by adding digital imaging and portable products to its repair menu.

Circuit City To Launch Online Training Tool
Richmond, Va. — Circuit City will launch an interactive, online training center next month that will directly connect sales associates with the chain’s vendors.

Best Buy Broadening Musical Instrument Biz
Minneapolis — Best Buy is expanding its test of premium musical instruments.

China's Suning's Similarities Outweigh Differences From U.S. Counterparts
QINGDAO, CHINA — In a city that many Americans probably have never heard of, with a population of 7.5 million or so, it isn't much of a surprise to find an electronics/appliance chain that had $9 billion in sales last year. The city is Qingdao, home of this month's SinoCES trade show as well as one of the host cities for the 2008 Summer Olympics starting next month.

Issue Resolution Key To Repeat Call-Center Business: CFI
ANN ARBOR, MICH. — Resolving a customer-service problem on the patron's first call will entice that person to continue doing business with that company 49 percent of the time. This was found in a study by the market research firm CFI Group in its second annual Contact Center Satisfaction Index (CCSI).

M. E. Source Adds 75th Dealer
ANAHEIM, CALIF. — Al's Stereo & Communications of Racine, Wis., has joined Mobile Entertainment Source (ME Source), the specialty mobile entertainment division of the Brand Source buying group, becoming its 75th member. The addition underscores the rapid expansion of the group's membership ranks since its official launch in March.

EDGE Member Co-Hosts Consumer Electronics Expo
FRISCO, TEXAS — The Consumer Electronics Expo (CEE) 2008, held here last month at the Embassy Suites Dallas-Frisco Hotel, drew more than 700 attendees and 100 CE exhibitors, according to the Edge Distributors Group, whose member Electronic Lane co-hosted the event along with Electronic Lane Mobile, Sunbelt Associates & Distributing and Southwest Electronix.