Circuit City expands reviews on Web site

Effort to boost online sales

By Danny King -- Video Business, 8/13/2008

AUG. 13 | Circuit City will expand its product review section on its Web site with more content from magazines such as Consumer Reports in an effort to boost sales over the Internet.

In addition to more content from Consumer Reports, the No. 2 U.S. electronics retailer behind Best Buy will have more reviews from Sound & Vision and Popular Photography, Circuit City said in a statement today.

Circuit City has been trying to use the Internet to offset declining same-store sales and cut losses amid both an economic downturn in the U.S. and increased competition from Best Buy and Internet retailers such as Amazon.com.

For the most recently completed quarter, Circuit City’s direct channel revenue, which includes Internet and call-center sales, rose 3% from a year earlier, while overall U.S. sales dropped 8.8%, Circuit City said in June.

Last month, U.S. movie-rental leader Blockbuster withdrew a bid worth as much as $1.32 billion for Circuit City, citing “market conditions” and choosing to add electronics products to its inventory of DVD content. Blockbuster first disclosed the February bid for Circuit City in April.