Bankruptcy is Us

[tw]

Long on my list of companies trying to bankrupt themselves have been Sears/Kmart, Radio Shack, and Acme. Two are well on their way. In all three cases, business school graduates have been claiming profits by closing stores. Because the purpose of those companies is to enrich the central committee of the communist party - also called top management.

In Sears, the top man bought it to profit from Sears large real estate holdings. He only was there to enrich himself - at the expense of Sears, Kmart, its employees, and America. Looks like he is almost finished.

GM is doing same. To claim more profits, they may be finally selling Opel and Vauxhall.

[glatt]

Sears is always almost empty when I go there, but it by far the best store in the area. In terms of the quality of the clothes they offer and the low price. I'm always surprised. They are the same price as Target, but much higher quality.

I really hope they don't close this store.

[Undertoad]

retail is over

(duh)

[xoxoxoBruce]

That may be a little premature, retail still took 80% last Christmas.

[Undertoad]

not brick and mortar retail though, right?

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by tw

Long on my list of companies trying to bankrupt themselves have been Sears/Kmart, Radio Shack, and Acme. Two are well on their way. In all three cases, business school graduates have been claiming profits by closing stores. Because the purpose of those companies is to enrich the central committee of the communist party - also called top management.

In Sears, the top man bought it to profit from Sears large real estate holdings. He only was there to enrich himself - at the expense of Sears, Kmart, its employees, and America. Looks like he is almost finished.

GM is doing same. To claim more profits, they may be finally selling Opel and Vauxhall.

Ok, there's the "business school graduates", but, no "emotional children"... so I guess that mea--OMYGOD!!!Someone'skilledTWandisimpersonatinghimontehcellar!!!!!

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

not brick and mortar retail though, right?

There's online and there's retail stores, what else is there?

[Undertoad]

OIC. Retail not dead, online retail alive, brick and mortar retail dead. Sears, Rat Shack, Acme all brick and mortar only.

~ RIP small and medium sized malls ~

~ Giant Foods not far behind, I expect ~

~ Flagship Acme in King o' Prussia is worse than the Giant! ~

[xoxoxoBruce]

But won't Giant and ACME be replaced by other chains, not online sales. Yes small strip malls have lost their grip but they're not necessarily going to be replaced by ebay. That's why I say you're premature in counting retail out. Sure for isolationists, like you and me, who don't want to deal with people, online is attractive. But normal people want the interaction and being able to touchy feely the goods.

[glatt]

Walk into a Target and you will know they aren't going anywhere. Throngs of people all the time.

[Undertoad]

But normal people want the interaction and being able to touchy feely the goods.

There's a new "normal"! Because in 2016, people made 51% of purchases online.

http://fortune.com/2016/06/08/online...ing-increases/

[An annual survey] polled more than 5,000 consumers who make at least two online purchases in a three-month period. According to results, shoppers now make 51% of their purchases online, compared to 48% in 2015 and 47% in 2014.

As online shopping accelerates, so does the use of smartphones to make purchases. The survey showed that 44% of smartphone users made buys through their devices, compared to 41% a year ago.

Walmart is closing 3% of their US stores this year! Amazon and Walmart grew at the same rate last year but Amazon did $82.7 billion in sales while Walmart did... can you guess... $12.5 billion!

2/3rds of people surveyed compare stores prices with prices on their phone.

Mark my words... the malls are going to be closing. Only big destination malls will survive, but even those are going to have to change. (KoP Mall, nation's second-largest and the only one visited by two Cellar moderators this week: instead of a Sears anchoring its western end, there's now a Dick's Sporting Goods. That's unthinkable 20 years ago.)

JC Penney is closing 138 more stores after it closed a bunch in 2015. Macy's may not survive. HH Gregg just died. Kmart is only barely alive - and its shoppers are not exactly the online sorts.

And all this is happening in a growing economy!

[Undertoad]

Target: I had to check! Sales down 0.5% in 2016. Fourth-quarter 2016 sales down 1.5%.

Financial projection for 2017 was another year down by single digits.

Target is a great retailer.

[tw]

Customer numbers are always a good indication. Never saw a Target, Walmart, Home Depot or Lowes (except just after 5 PM), Giant, or Wegmans with idle employees and near zero customers. Saw that constantly in Kmart, Sears, and Radio Shack.

Stores such as Walmart send corporate managers into stores to, for example, work as bagger. President of FedEx and Southwest Air are repeatedly seen delivering packages or working the aisles. That is essential to know what does and does not work.

Radio Shack is a glaring example. Not only do corporate employees not know what the products do. Once upon a time, Radio Shack parts always came with a description on the back what that part is or does. No longer. How often does Nardelli even buy his own groceries?

Why was Ford in so much trouble back then? Henry Ford did not even drive a car. William Clay does.

One cannot innovate (or make innovations possible) when one's total knowledge comes from business school philosophies and corporate spread sheets. That has been Sears problem for 20 years now. Everyone I know who was hired at Sears was a business or accounting student.

Walked into a Kmart between Christmas and New Years to buy a snow shovel. Sold out. And said no more shovels would be coming. The season was over. They were putting out lawn mowers and other grass implements.

It says which companies will be better investments in ten years. And which ones are on a ten year trek to bankruptcy.

Retail is not dead. But some stores (ie Radio Shack) will not even deliver your purchase to their stores. Their web site no longer says which stores have that product. Even missing were many products routinely found on store shelves. That is when retail is dead. That is what happens when the boss does not come from where the work gets done.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

There's a new "normal"! Because in 2016, people made 51% of purchases online.

The survey, now in its fifth year, polled more than 5,000 consumers who make at least two online purchases in a three-month period.

Wait a minute, they only polled people who had made 2 or more online buys? What about the people who made one or none? Biased much?

Walmart is closing 3% of their US stores this year! Amazon and Walmart grew at the same rate last year but Amazon did $82.7 billion in sales while Walmart did... can you guess... $12.5 billion!

Walmart has been closing tons of stores for years, they're the largest owner of unused retail space in the nation. It has been part of their plan to open a store, kill off the local mom&pops, then combine several stores into one location when the shoppers no longer have a choice but drive 40 miles to the new store.
Yes, Amazon is killing everyone with their 3% margin.

2/3rds of people surveyed compare stores prices with prices on their phone.

From that same bias poll...

The survey showed that 44% of smartphone users made buys through their devices, compared to 41% a year ago.

How many people don't have smart phone, and how many smart phone owners don't have another internet connection? That's not as crazy as it sounds, there's a lot of smart phones in the hands of people who can't afford any other internet toys and only have access through free WIFI.

Mark my words... the malls are going to be closing. Only big destination malls will survive, but even those are going to have to change. (KoP Mall, nation's second-largest and the only one visited by two Cellar moderators this week: instead of a Sears anchoring its western end, there's now a Dick's Sporting Goods. That's unthinkable 20 years ago.)

You may be right, but I think "retail is dead" is overblown, or at best premature.

And all this is happening in a growing economy!

But that growth hasn't trickled down, the people getting the benefit don't shop, they have people to do that for them.

[Undertoad]

Wait a minute, they only polled people who had made 2 or more online buys?

Excellent point, I had missed that detail!

We shall see though.

The smart phone users are buying from their phones. All online retailers have mobile versions of their sites.

Nine out of ten people are online, and three out of four people have smart phones. (Pew Research)

there's a lot of smart phones in the hands of people who can't afford any other internet toys and only have access through free WIFI.

If that's how they get their Internet, they will certainly use it to buy things. It'll save them money!

Most ghetto people have data, over second-rate carriers like Cricket. I think sometimes they get 3G data, which is slow but nearly free.