RadioShack

RadioShack's slow death across two bankruptcies (2015, 2017) and ultimate liquidation illustrates how an organism can lose its ecological niche without ever making a catastrophic mistake. The company that once sold components to electronics hobbyists, then pivoted to selling phones with carrier contracts, found itself competing with Best Buy on selection, Amazon on price, and carrier stores on phone deals. RadioShack was squeezed from every direction without a defensible position. The mechanism failure was identity crisis preventing adaptation. RadioShack's 7,000 small-format stores were optimized for selling components and mobile phones with high-touch service. When components became niche (hobbyists moved online) and phone contracts became commoditized (carriers opened own stores), RadioShack's format became a liability. The stores were too small for product selection, too numerous for profitable operations, and too focused on categories being disrupted. RadioShack attempted pivots—mobile devices, Fix It Here repair services, partnerships with Sprint—but each pivot competed against specialists with better execution. This is competitive exclusion across multiple fronts: the company couldn't find any niche where it had advantage. The RadioShack brand now exists as an online-only retailer, a ghost of its former self. The 7,000 stores, 35,000 employees, and neighborhood presence have vanished. RadioShack's lesson is that retail niches can disappear entirely when online commerce eliminates the need for local inventory. The company didn't fail at execution; it failed to have a reason to exist.