Tandy set to go online

Tandy Electronics plans to have its entire inventory available online before the end of this financial year.

The site, due to be launched in the second quarter of 2000, will be based on the site of its Canadian affiliate, Radioshack, which was launched in July this year.

"Our aim is to establish a very strong Web presence similar to that of our Canadian counterpart," said Tandy Australia's marketing director, Robert Hayes.

"The Canadian site offers a range of products, information and services, and we intend to adopt a similar strategy," Hayes said.

Tandy Australia and Canada's Radioshack are both owned by Intertan - an independent international arm of the US-based Tandy Group which operates the Radioshack franchise throughout the US.

Meanwhile, Tandy Australia is also in the process of finalising partnership agreements between itself, Sony, Panasonic and Kodak, which will see the company establish a "store-in-a-store" concept similar to that announced between Microsoft and the Tandy Group in the US.

The US deal will see the 7000 Radioshack stores across the US establish the concept in an aim to promote Microsoft's range of Internet products for dial-up and broadband Internet access.

Hayes said Tandy, which has more than 300 stores in Australia, has a close marketing and merchandising affiliation with its US counterpart, and said the company was looking to establish similar arrangements with companies like Microsoft and Compaq in Australia.