Brands that might disapear

[Christine]

Ubiquitous 20th Century Brands That Will Disappear - AOL Money & Finance

Old Navy

 

Old Navy is one of Gap's three brands and it is the one that is pulling down overall sales at the big clothing company. Old Navy has a little over one thousand outlets. Maintaining the costs of separate buying, marketing, and management costs just isn't worth it. Soon, Old Navy locations may just become Gap stores.

 

Countrywide

 

Countrywide had an operation on almost every street corner, or so it seemed. The mortgage bank would give almost anyone a home loan.They were not so generous when foreclosure time came around. Bank of America is buying Countrywide. The CFC brand has so much negative baggage and such a poor image that BAC will be smart and quickly put its name on all of the Countrywide branches.

 

XM Satellite Radio

 

XM Satellite Radio will disappear either in a merger with Sirius, where the acquiring company will use its brand for both services or because without a merger, XM may not make it. The company has over $1.2 billion in long-term debt. The XM brand could begin to disappear a few months after the potential marriage is complete.

 

 

E*Trade

 

E*Trade has survived in a discount brokerage business where a number of famous brands, like Quick & Reilly, have gone away because of mergers.

 

For the time being, management at the company says it does not want to sell out, but the firm's $12 billion in home equity loan exposure may make staying independent impossible.

 

K-Mart

 

K-Mart is one of the two big brands at Sears Holdings, Eddie Lampert's failing retail play. Based on same store sales for last year, K-Mart is the less successful of the two retail operations. Spending to promote K-Mart and Sears may cost more that the holding company can afford. It certainly makes sense to kill off the K-Mart name and re-label all of the stores with Sears.

 

Dodge

 

Dodge is part of the Chrysler company which was recently bought out by private equity firm Cerberus. Chrysler management has already said that the company has too many brands and too many dealers. Dodge vehicles will probably be re-branded as Chrysler and Dodge will go the way of the Dodo.

 

Circuit City

 

Circuit City has been synonymous with electronics retail, but companies like Best Buy and Wal-Mart have brought too much marketing muscle and wholesale buying power to the industry. Outside investors are already circling Circuit City trying to "improve shareholder value". That means the chain will probably be sold.

 

Gateway

 

Gateway was recently bought by Taiwan PC firm Acer. Some investors may not remember when Gateway was considered a peer of both Dell and Compaq. In 1993, Gateway was in the Fortune 500. Acer will not keep the Gateway brand and its own. The dual promotion costs are too high. Starting soon you will be buying an Acer PC online or at your electronics retailer.

 

 

Vonage

 

Vonage almost invented VoIP. It certainly made it popular. Then cable companies began to market the service to existing customers and much of the "first mover" advantage Vonage had went away. One of the large cable companies is likely to take over the Vonage customer list and let the brand disappear.

 

Yahoo!

 

Yahoo! is still trying to keep itself out of the hands of Microsoft, but with a $31 offer and no other bidders even close, Redmond is going to take over. Microsoft is not generous about letting other brands have the limelight. Yahoo!'s brand will last while the e-mail and instant message operations are integrated, but soon enough it will all be MSN.

 

Motorola

 

Motorola is still likely to sell its large handset unit to someone. It simply loses too much money and it is dragging the company under, As Motorola's stock price drops, the amount it will take for its handset operation will drop. That Motorola phone is likely to be called an LG handset sometime next year.

[lscilley]

That was interesting thanks. Had no idea some of those companies were not doing so well.

[Jacqueline]

Wow thats crazy. I love Old navy, I will die if they disapear (

[boscobel]

Oh no! I love Old Navy!! I am sad now...

[Sandra E.]

Thanks for sharing this, it's very interesting. I remember when Old Navy appear and everyone went to check it out. Even though their prices are more affordable than the Gap the quality is just not there. Even though they have some cool stuff.

[Christine]

I was told at an Old Navy recently that they are trying to redo their lines and going to up their prices in hopes that it will help. They are going for more of a holister kind of look (basically Abercrombie, but not that expensive).

[Jacqueline]

Quote:

Originally Posted by carly Oh no! I love Old Navy!! I am sad now...

Let's go Sun, lol.

[beachbride08]

I love Old Navy too! I always get great deals on kids clothes there for gifts.

[melody]

I was shocked when I read that "sharper image" were not honoring gift certificates which leaves thousands of customer with worthless pieces of papers. From what I understand, they are going through chapter 11 and it might be temporary...let's hope so

 

The Sharper Image Not Honoring Gift Cards, Certificates - Boing Boing Gadgets

[tlomlad]

wow no idea these big names were not getting it done!