GPS Vehicle Tracking Tools and Blog

Taking a starting point competitor Best Buy Inc., RadioShack Corp. said Wednesday plans to change its wireless and GPS shows stores in 4000 so that buyers can compare products and features side by side.

With time for the holiday shopping season, the Fort Worth-based consumer electronics is the installation of the chain interactive wireless and GPS screens and improved signage to create a more organized store, said Peter Whitsett, executive vice president and general manager of merchandising.
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Stores will be easier to navigate and shows the whole house product categories, the company said in the annual conference of suppliers.

“This will help customers compare and contrast the characteristics of the product and helps focus attention on issues that may have knowledge of our officials,” said Whitsett.

Best Buy has been going after a bigger share of the wireless business, which represents one third of RadioShack sales annually.

This year, the expansion of wireless carriers including several of the products exhibited for comparison were installed in stores and branded as Best Buy Mobile, a joint venture with the UK Carphone Warehouse, Europe’s leading mobile phone .

It is also adding 35, 1000-square-foot free-standing Best Buy Mobile stores in Chicago and Minneapolis at 15 locations which has been testing in Manhattan and North Carolina for nearly two years. You can add autonomous Best Buy Mobile stores in Texas next year.

RadioShack said it is also extensively remodeled 14 stores in markets targeted under a test. These stores are increasingly dramatic changes in color, design and shop signs that the system upgrade, the company said.

RadioShack is paying for these projects before they declared the 2008 capital expenditure budget of $ 80 million to $ 100 million. It said remaining stores to get the updates next year.

RadioShack, which operates 6000 stores the company and retail outlets in the U.S. and nearly 700 wireless phone kiosks, has struggled to increase sales and profits. It has cut staff, closed shops and reduce the space it occupies within its headquarters for more than half to reduce rental costs.

Getting the big picture of where your fleet is important for any business, but particularly for small businesses. One very interesting place to go to see this analogy at work is the war rooms of classic World War 2 movies.

These had the fun oversized maps with blond German girls pushing models of panzers around a map of France, Russia, or the Ardennes. While they might not have looked exactly like this (what in Hollywood looks like real life?) they do represent something that really did happen in real life. It makes sense why armies had these types of things - because it helped the leaders get a big picture of what was going on in the field to make command decisions.

Your small business can benefit from this type of information. By knowing exactly where your serviceman, package, or driver is at any given moment you will be able to get them exactly where they need to be at exactly the right time. You will be empowered to provide exemplary service to your customers that will help you generate return customers and word of mouth marketing, both of which are crucial to sustain your small business.

GPS fleet tracking will help you do this.

There a few different models for GPS fleet tracking that will empower you to do this. The primary one is through a web-based interface that allows you to interact with the raw GPS data transmitted by units in each of your vehicles. The
can be regular GPS navigation units (like a Garmin or TomTom) if the manufacturer also supports GPS fleet tracking or it could be a GPS device made for GPS fleet tracking.

Either way, not only will you get information at your headquarters - but your drivers will have access to real time driving instructions that can be changed during travel to respond to new needs. This is critical for transmitting job orders to vehicles already out on call.

There is a report by the Aberdeen group that came out in March of 2008 that shows that small businesses see dramatic improvement in the number of work orders filled by implementing GPS technology in their fleets. If your fleet is between 1 and 10 vehicles the benefit is significantly more pronounced. You will see also see an increase of on time deliveries as well.

When you consider that as the boss you are able to see exactly where your fleet you can easily see why this is so. Your employees will know that you can monitor their progress at any moment and that they will be held accountable in everything. You will also will be able to apply your years of experience in advising your drivers how to best manage their routes or who to send to which jobs. The power will be in your hands with GPS fleet tracking to make the most of your small business and take it to the next level.

There is little reason not to invest in GPS fleet technology because the benefits are so pronounced that it would be silly not to invest in it if your company can afford it.