How To Compete With Bigbox Stores

Most computer technicians living in a decent sized city have big box computer store of some kind near them. The definition of a “big box computer store” is a company that sells computers and has many large stores across the country. Many stores like this that often stock computers with decent specifications for as low as $400. To make matters worse, some of these stores that used to only sell computers have now expanded into fixing them as well.

So, how can you compete with the big box stores?

If you want to complete against those $400 computers that the big box stores sell; you can’t compete in regards to cost, or at least you shouldn’t. While I am sure you could scrape together some cheap parts to possibly match them in price, it won’t be worth your while in the end because it will probably come back for warranty work because you used cheap parts.

If a client mentions one of these low priced systems to you, you can either educate them about the improved speed and reliability of a higher priced system or if they still want to go with the low priced big box system, you can offer to set it up for them after they buy it because it is likely they will have a printer or a wireless network that it needs to be set up with.

Technical services are just about always the best way to compete with the big box stores. While you may not have the purchasing power of some of the big boys to buy parts and therefore cant mark it up enough to make it worth your while; the big boys often take days to get some of the simplest computer repair jobs done and many of the technicians working at these places are very young and inexperienced resulting in mistakes being made.

Most of the employees at big box stores are also unable to bend the rules even when the situation needs it citing “corporate policy”. There is no quicker way to annoy a customer if an employee cites a stupid policy or one that doesn’t apply to the situation. You know your own costs, you know how much this client is worth to you and therefore you can make decisions like working on computers for free to keep the client happy if you have to.

The prices for technical services at big box stores are also much more than your average “mom-and-pop” store. A certain big box store in the US charges $199.99 for in-house virus removal or a whopping $299.99 to do it onsite. It’s not hard for you to pay for your overheads like insurance and advertising and still beat those prices.