Page 43 - Articulate Files

Simply Electronics

Supply Chain Management, the Grey Market,

International Business

The main events of

this case study take

place over the period
of June, to August,

2016, and charts the

actions of Simply

Electronics, an online
provider of electronics

goods.

The author decided to

buy a GoProHero4 Silver camera from Simply Electronics
Limited. It was advertised to be delivered between 3 and 5

days. After 43 days it had not arrived.

In the intervening between order and bankruptcy Simply
Electronics (SE) prevaricated and when examination of

online forums was undertaken extreme disquiet began to

build. Moreover, SE’s use of coupons and discounts
furthered this perception.

Examination of the situation and the company threw up a

plethora of information, which pointed to the company

being engaged in the grey market, and exploiting price
differentials between countries and regions, engaging in

arbitrage, and simple cash retention.

Examination showed that the company was not all it claimed

to be, and by the beginning of August entered bankruptcy. It
had fallen foul of the inherent flaws within the grey market