TigerDirect
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Type of site
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Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1985 (as BLOC Development Corp.) 1987 (as TigerDirect) |
| Predecessor(s) | |
| Headquarters | El Segundo, California, United States |
| Area served | United States and Canada |
| Founder(s) |
|
| CEO | Frank Khulusi |
| Industry | Retail |
| Parent | PCM, Inc. |
| Website | |
| Alexa rank | 1,119 (February 2014[update]) |
TigerDirect is a El Segundo, California-based online retailer dealing in electronics, computers, and computer components that caters to business and corporate customers.
Previously owned by Systemax, the brand was known for its acquisitions of the intellectual property of the defunct U.S. retail chains Circuit City and CompUSA, and relaunching them as online retailers. The two brands were subsequently shuttered and consolidated into the TigerDirect site.
In 2015, TigerDirect phased out all of its remaining brick-and-mortar retail operations, and PCM Inc. acquired Systemax's online North American technology retail business.
The bulk of the company's business was based on web and catalog computer electronics sales, where TigerDirect has carved out a niche by placing a heavy emphasis on rebate marketing as a way to offer lower prices. The company also operates retail store and business-to-business channels. The online company WorldwideRebates.com performs some of its rebate processing, and shares common ownership.
The company was founded as BLOC Development Corp., a publisher of utility and application software products starting with FormTool, in 1985. The original company was a pioneer in utility software with several top 10 titles. The original founders were: Frank Millman, Jorge Torres, Tim McGuinness, Frank Haggar, Phil Bolin, Stephan Whitney, and Bob Horton. Frank Milman and Jorge Torres conceptualized the first product "FormTool", then the development team led by Tim McGuinness, Ph.D. developed the initial and several successful follow-on versions.
In 1989, Tiger Software became a subsidiary of publicly held Bloc Development Corporation. BLOC Development was also the parent company of BLOC Publishing (a sister company of TigerSoftware), which continued the development and publishing of the company's flagship product "FormTool", and 20 other products; and SoftSync, former publisher of the "EXPERT Software" titles and the Macintosh accounting software "Accountant Inc."). BLOC Development later changed its name to TigerDirect.
TigerDirect abandoned the profitable software development in favor of the TigerSoftware catalog by 1991. Unfortunately, the new model under the leadership of Gilbert Fiorentino was unprofitable, and the company was sold in distress to Global DirectMail (now known as Systemax). In 1994 TigerDirect launched a series of profitable smaller catalogs that included GraphicsExpress, as well as CDROM and MAC catalogs. In 1996, after an aborted attempt at acquisition by Hanover House, it was acquired by Systemax (NYSE: SYX) The commercial website TigerDirect.com was launched in 1995 by Tim McGuinness, Ph.D. (one of the original Bloc Development Founders), selling computer and electronics, books and software. In 2000, the firm expanded its product offerings to include "refurbished" and "recertified" products, brand-name computers from IBM, HP, eMachines, Gateway and others.
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