Despite Challenges for Electronic Retailers, Solid Signal Makes the Inc 500 List
Between the recent bankruptcy of Tweeter, losses and lay-offs at Circuit In contrast to many big-box stores and other retailers, Internet electronic retailer Solid Signal is experiencing strong growth in the industry by combining competitive prices, personal advice and hard-to-find products. Solid Signal helps professional installers as well as the average consumer find products and advice to create solutions to technology challenges. We provide extensive product information online, and allow customers to request personal recommendations. We also make it easy to call us – simple, but think of how many times you’ve tried to find a phone # on other websites. Because of this approach, Solid Signal has recently been named #183 on the Inc 500 list of the country’s fastest growing companies, with more than 1000% growth since 2003. See the full Inc 500 list at www.inc.com. As for the rest of the bunch, sales are expected to perk up later this year, according to the same article. Already September, the holiday shopping season will be here before we know it!�
City, and other news, it is clear electronic retailing is a tough, competitive business. A USA Today article from back in June discusses challenges – and opportunities – but does not even mention Internet electronics retailers and the niche they fill.
Thursday ~ September 09, 2007 by SolidSignal_JerryPosted in Solid Signal News| No Comments
Solid Signal in Crain’s Detroit Business
In our blog back in April, we mentioned a recent study that estimated the We were recently featured in an article in Crain’s Detroit Business Journal. http://crainsdetroit.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070730/SUB/707280322/-1/toc Thanks for helping Solid Signal grow.
U.S. market for consumer-electronics accessories is expected to grow more than 11% in 2007. Solid Signal is seeing growth in this market, and this, along with our loyal customer base, is helping fueling our growth.
Wednesday ~ August 08, 2007 by SolidSignal_JerryPosted in Solid Signal News| No Comments
Five Reasons to Use an HDTV Antenna
It seems like we’ve been hearing the debate about Satellite vs. Cable for years. What a lot of people don’t realize is that you can also use an antenna to get your HD programming. And antennas provide the best HD picture quality available – without the monthly bills. Here are five reasons to use an HDTV antenna. And even if you do have satellite or cable, an HDTV antenna can be used as a supplement for a low, one-time cost. Antennas can integrate right into satellite venues and provide HD in a situation where the program might not be available in HD from your satellite or cable provider. For more information, check out www.solidsignal.com/antennas/.
Monday ~ April 04, 2007 by SolidSignal_MikePosted in Solid Signal News| No Comments
We’ve moved away from Registerfly.com, thank you GoDaddy.com
As you might have noticed, Solid Signal’s website was down for a few days during the month of February because of the recent issues with our former domain registrar, Registerfly. We’ve since transferred our domain with the help of GoDaddy.com and feel confident our website will always be available to our customers. We know many of our customers have their own web pages – for personal and business use – and we encourage you to do research on your domain registrar to ensure what happened to us with Registerfly will never happen to you. Visit here for tips for protecting your website - http://www.isedb.com/db/articles/1623/. At Solid Signal, we strive to help customers create new solutions to enhance technology and also provide helpful advice – whether on the latest new products or from lessons we’ve learned in our business.
Monday ~ April 04, 2007 by SolidSignalPosted in Solid Signal News| No Comments
TV Rabbit Ears Are Back: In High-Def
Feb. 19, 2007 issue - When cable TV arrived in the ’70s, rabbit ears seemed destined to go the way of the polyester pantsuit. So, too, the clunky outdoor antenna, a rooftop fixture that once upon a time signaled the rise of television in American life. But a funny thing happened on the way to the analog dust heap: it turns out that a new generation of rabbit ears and antennas can receive high-definition television broadcasts. And it’s free. The irony is marvelous. Pushed into obsolescence by the technological advances of cable and satellite, antennas are re-emerging thanks to one of the most promising high-tech services of the digital age. High-def channels can be plucked out of thin air by antennas just like regular broadcast signals, no cable, no satellite dish, no monthly bill, no waiting for the cable man. It’s like the old days, except this time antennas (which cost between $18 and $150) may offer the clearest picture. “More than 90 percent of our customers say they want the antennas for high-def,” says Jerry Chapman, owner of online dealer SolidSignal.com, which ships “thousands of antennas.” The downside (and it’s a big one) is that antennas can only pick up the broadcast networks, not cable channels like ESPN or HBO. Still, antenna makers are enjoying a warm reception. Companies like Terrestrial Digital of St. Louis, Winegard of Burlington, Iowa, and Audiovox of Hauppauge, N.Y., are watching sales soar. Terrestrial Digital’s sales have doubled annually since its launch in 2003, to $1.4 million last year, says founder Richard Schneider. The company is “a hobby spiraled out of control,” he says, noting that he got his start essentially selling homemade antennas out of the back of his truck. “People thought I was selling drugs,” Schneider says. “Nerds were showing up in my driveway.” Winegard believes more consumers would embrace antennas if they only knew high-def can be delivered via the anachronism. “Our biggest focus right now is on consumer education,” says Aaron Engberg, manager of “off-air” sales. A corporate clash in televisionland has helped give antenna sales a boost. The dispute involves cable giant Charter Communications and broadcaster Belo Corp., which owns TV stations in several cities. In January, Belo said that unless Charter agreed to pay extra for the high-def signals Belo provides, it would bar the cable operator from redistributing any HD programming that originates from its stations. In cities like St. Louis, where Belo owns the CBS affiliate, that meant viewers wouldn’t get the Super Bowl in high-defas horrifying a prospect to many Bears and Colts fans as running out of beer and chips. Enter Terrestrial Digital’s Schneider, announcing an antenna giveaway in St. Louis. “The best HD for no monthly fee,” Terrestrial Digital declared in local radio ads, touting a free antenna for the first 200 customers. “It was bedlam,” Schneider told NEWSWEEK. “We had lines stretched around the block.” The Super Bowl was (believe it) saved by rabbit ears. In truth, today’s antennas don’t much resemble rabbit ears anymore: they’re smaller, and much more powerful. One model, called the Bowtie, “almost looks like chicken wire,” says Chapman of SolidSignal.com, based in suburban Detroit. Another comes in the shape of a picture frame. But the basic mechanism of the antenna is still the same: it remains “one of the few forms of consumer electronics where there’s been little change since the 1960s designs,” says Schneider. He and apparently growing numbers of consumers are convinced that antennas provide the best of high-def pictures. Because high-def signals are exceedingly more plump than standard TV signals and hog the capacity of their pipelines, cable- and satellite-TV operators “compress,” or squeeze, them (broadcasters don’t have to). There’s a wide belief that the forced dieting degrades picture quality. Naturally, someone must pay. Enter Philip Cohen, a Los Angeles lawyer who filed a class-action lawsuit against DirecTV last September. “Let’s just say the high-definition isn’t what it’s claimed to be,” Cohen says. DirecTV says the suit is without merit. Cohen says he’s aware that high-def can be had with a simple antenna, but because he lives in a hilly area, rabbit ears won’t help. May we suggest a rabbit’s foot?
The antenna, that relic of the pre-cable age, gets an afterlife thanks to high-definition TV.
By Johnnie L. Roberts
Newsweek
Tuesday ~ March 03, 2007 by adminPosted in Solid Signal News| No Comments
