Travelling to Mumbai and Toronto in the same week gives the opportunity to see different sides of the retail spectrum and to compare what is on offer with what happens in the UK. And one of the unifying factors of these two wildly opposite cities is the manner in which they treat the business of selling electricals.

Travelling to Mumbai and Toronto in the same week gives the opportunity to see different sides of the retail spectrum and to compare what is on offer with what happens in the UK. And one of the unifying factors of these two wildly opposite cities is the manner in which they treat the business of selling electricals.

In both, this is a category-led enterprise -– one where you trawl the aisles, locate the type of merchandise you are looking for and then make your way through the offer. Associated accessories are generally offered within their appropriate category areas and small, high value items, such as digital cameras and phones, have a tendency to be close to the front of the shop and near the cash desks (presumably in order that several pairs of eyes can be kept on them).

What is interesting about this is how little variation there is in the way in which things are done, which makes you think that as DSGi steps up its in-store efforts ahead of the long-anticipated arrival of Best Buy, then perhaps things won’t be quite so difficult after all.

Or put another way, unless Best Buy can do something truly revolutionary, its sole differentiator is likely to be price – something that can be tackled by the strategic use of promotions.

It is difficult not to wonder however why an area of retailing whose sole purpose is to tempt shoppers with the kind of endless novelty that is supposed to shout buy me at every opportunity, should have done so relatively little in terms of the way in which it presents its face to the customer.

Currently, it’s a two-horse race between Comet and the new Currys and PC World megastores that drag shoppers through their doors principally by offering more of everything. Both follow similar lines, although the colour schemes are different, and it’s hard not to get the feeling that they may be frequented by shoppers because they happen to be there, rather than because they offer a cogent reason for shopping them ahead of their rivals.

And a quick look in both Canada and India confirms that technology retailing is probably one of the most uniform retail experiences there is.

It would be cheering therefore to imagine that Best Buy might offer its potential shoppers something that will make them sit up and look.

The chances are, however, that it will be little different from anything else and when retailers bemoan the fact that selling technology is about declining margins, they could do worse than examine the in-store reasons why this might be the case. DSGi’s stores still look pretty good though.