What's Circuit City's Website Worth?

So Circuit City (CCTYQ.PK) is in trouble, and the press is reporting that the company has days to either be purchased, or liquidated. We can’t predict what will happen. All we know is that we went into the Sarasota store today, and there were customers.

That might show where the value lies. Busiest places?

• The cellphone kiosk, with three staffers talking a handful of customers
• The Ipod accessories area
• The Firedog area, where folks were lined up waiting for computer help

The question becomes. What if Circuit City could keep those businesses if most of the rest of the company disappeared. Is that possible? Is that practical?

We raise a second question. We were looking at the Quantcast stats for the top 100 websites. And lo, between Typepad, and below FoxNews.com, is Circuit City. CircuitCity.com draws more Internet users than LinkedIn. Amazing.

Certainly, the retail operation feeds the online operation, but we bet that many people who shop online at Circuit City do not intend to go into the store. An astounding 9.4 million uniques a month. Wow.

Here are the top Internet sites, from 75 to 96:

• 75 foxnews.com 11M+ U.S. monthly people. The site is popular among a fairly wealthy, more educated, slightly more male than female, skewing older audience.
• 76 people.com 11M+ U.S. monthly people. The site caters to a more affluent, slightly female slanted crowd.
• 77 nih.gov 10M+ U.S. monthly people. The site appeals to a more educated, skewing older, somewhat female audience.
• 78 reuters.com 10M+ U.S. monthly people. The site attracts a heavily male, more affluent, more educated, skewing older following.
• 79 smarter.com 10M+ U.S. monthly people. The site caters to a slightly more female than male, 50+ audience.
• 80 wunderground.com 10M+ U.S. monthly people. The site attracts a skewing older, more affluent, slightly male slanted, mostly Caucasian, more educated crowd.
• 81 wikimedia.org 10M+ U.S. monthly people. The site caters to a slightly more male than female, teen, more educated audience.
• 82 nbc.com 10M+ U.S. monthly people. The site caters to a adult, more female audience.
• 83 ezinearticles.com 10M+ U.S. monthly people.
• 84 kmart.com 10M+ U.S. monthly people. The site caters to a more female crowd.
• 85 barackobama.com 10.0M+ U.S. monthly people. The site appeals to a more African American, fairly wealthy, skewing older, more educated, somewhat female crowd.
• 86 vzw.com 9.9M+ U.S. monthly people. The site appeals to a fairly wealthy, slightly female slanted, youthful audience.
• 87 symantec.com 10M+ U.S. monthly people. The site caters to a skewing older crowd.
• 88 att.net 8.8M+ U.S. monthly people. The site is popular among a very slightly female biased, skewing older audience.
• 89 rockyou.com 9.8M+ U.S. monthly people. The site is popular among a mostly female, teen following.
• 90 sun.com 9.8M+ U.S. monthly people.
• 91 findstuff.com 9.7M+ U.S. monthly people. The site caters to a slightly female slanted audience.
• 92 kohls.com 9.7M+ U.S. monthly people. The site caters to a more affluent, mostly female audience.
• 93 netflix.com 10M+ U.S. monthly people. The site caters to a adult, very slightly female biased, more educated audience.
• 94 typepad.com 9.6M+ U.S. monthly people. The site caters to a more educated, more affluent audience.
• 95 circuitcity.com 9.4M+ U.S. monthly people. The site attracts a adult audience.
• 96 linkedin.com 9.3M+ U.S. monthly people. The site caters to a very slightly male biased, middle aged, more affluent, more educated following.

Comments

[secroot:]

interesting article but would be interesting to have comparison with best buy website

Jan 12 10:55 AM

[DerekSunshine:]

According to Quantcast, Best Buy is around 12 million uniques per month.

www.quantcast.com/top-...

So, it's more, but not proportionally to sales.

Jan 12 11:03 AM

[Anonabyss:]

BestBuy sits at 38 - logically though, if their website is so trafficked (Circuit City's) then why has their business not gone up? One can only summarize that perhaps the "Best Buy" is at rather Walmart, Costco, or yes even Best Buy

Jan 13 07:59 AM

[Rayken:]

I agree a comparison with BestBuy.com would have been nice. In addition Amazon.com, Walmart.com, and Target.com would have been useful. Being number 95 on the top 100 websites really doesn't keep you in business. Sales keep you in business.

Jan 13 04:46 PM

[PhillyChef:]

I think they should try and make a go of it as a Web-based only franchise...no bricks & mortar, no overwhelming labor cost, etc. Just focus on electronics and FIreDog, as well as customer service and you're there. Amazon is basically a click-through/bundle site-ever try returning something there? Best Buy, while it might be the "Best", is always a pain at check out. I've shopped CC Web for over two years and rarely set foot in an actual store except to return an item!

Jan 19 11:54 PM

[Kerry1:]

if they're going out of business and in liquidation, maybe it would be more practical for someone to purchase the domain -- maybe best buy and have it as a secondhand website for their returns. It has the traffic so it would probably be almost instantly successful.

Jan 31 05:52 PM