RadioShack Launches Comeback as E-Commerce Brand

Need to Know

• The ailing home electronics brand has been acquired by Retail Ecommerce Ventures (REV), which will relaunch Radio Shack as an online-only retailer.
• The relaunched RadioShack.com will also support existing physical stores that still stock Radio Shack products.
• Radio Shack filed for bankruptcy twice between 2015 and 2017; the retailer is the seventh brand REV has acquired in the past two years.

Analysis

RadioShack is coming back.

Retail Ecommerce Ventures has acquired assets and marketing materials from Radio Shack and plans to relaunch the iconic brand as an online-only property. The ailing home electronics retailer, which filed for bankruptcy twice between 2015 and 2017, will be relaunched by REV in the coming months via a new-and-improved RadioShack.com.

“We were impressed with both the strong existing sales and sales potential of the Radioshack.com and related websites across the globe, including the U.S., Canada, India, Australia, Europe and China,” Tai Lopez, executive chairman of REV, said of the acquisition. “Our approach builds off the existing strength of extraordinary brands such as RadioShack and supports our mission of transforming these beloved entities into Internet-first companies.”

Unlike other recent REV acquisitions, which were in the process of liquidating, Radio Shack still had a functioning website, and operated 500 independent stores.

“I believe in REV’s vision, leadership, and the success they have shown in bringing iconic brands back to life,” said Ron Garriques, one of RadioShack’s former owners. “REV was quick to recognize the retail sector’s shift to e-commerce, which has accelerated as a result of the pandemic, and to capitalize on the opportunity to breathe new life into well known and loved brands.”

RadioShack, which was founded in 1921, marks just the latest acquisition by REV, whose core strategy is reviving and revitalizing trusted consumer brands via e-commerce relaunches. “Every brand goes through phases of love and hate, but what we care about is it’s known,” Lopez said of REV’s acquisitions. “We can revive it on top of the high awareness that already exists.”

REV has acquired seven ailing consumer brands in the past two years, six of which it acquired in 2020. Other brands that have gotten the REV treatment include Linens n Things, DressBarn and Modell’s Urban Goods. Most recently, REV relaunched housewares brand Pier 1 as a new-and-improved online brand; the new Pier1.com went live just under a month ago. The company’s online-only revival strategy is well-tailored to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic when bricks-and-mortar shopping has given way to an overwhelming spike in online commerce.