Archived Retail under pressure

[tgtfla]

First Sears Will Die. Then Maybe J.C. Penney. Then...
interesting read,while we are not
mentioned,we visited our local SuperTarget yesterday,not the one I work at and I could nor believe the amount of out of stocks on sale items Sunday afternoon,sales signs everywhere but only empty shelves,in the hour I was there only seen one tm hanging out with the techs and one in the back to school,we don't do ourselves any favors.

 

[PM2NO]

One week a couple aisles of our shoe department looked like a clearance aisle the whole week. Now granted it was a sale and guests mess up our aisles but it was clear that the leads didn't feel it was a focus to have it zoned.

We are changing a bunch of brand names at once so time will tell if that helps or not.

 

[SilentCrow]

Amazon is telling everyone adapt or die

 

[greg yarms]

Amazon is telling everyone adapt or die

I disagree with this. Retail stores will never go away completely. Target needs to focus on being better than walmart and other discount stores.

 

[NPC]

I disagree with this. Retail stores will never go away completely. Target needs to focus on being better than walmart and other discount stores.

I agree with you, Yams. I get why E2E is happening. Customer Service really is what sets retail apart from online. I think a smart way to adapt would be to hire "pros" for the departments they're in. People that are familiar with and understand the products they're working with. One of the advantages of going into a store is getting to talk to someone to answer questions. I think that's what Target is attempting with e2e...of course they're executing it terribly because Target just refuses to invest enough to meet their lofty expectations.

 

[buliSBI]

Its all a cycle
1930s-1950s it was all about shopping local or downtown.
1960s-1970s strip malls and discount stores got big.
1970s-1990s shopping malls got big. Downtown shopping decreased.
1990s-2000s - now big box/outlet/pavilion shopping got big
2010s - Delivery/pickup services are big. Retail is returning to metro downtowns.

The Mall decline was do to high overheads, increase in retail real estate costs, catering to high-end and specialty stores, and increase in delivery/pickup services.
Big Box Stores are adjusting slowly to todays demands.
Departments stores are almost unable to adjust from the catalog showroom process to on the rack/shelf to delivery/pickup.
Pavillion shopping is still strong in metro areas but will also need to keep up.
People are getting more satisified with shopping on a budget. And willing to wait a day or two for something. Shopping local if they can.

 

[HRZone]

People that are familiar with and understand the products they're working with.

To be fair, Target is doing this in AA, beauty and electronics. Applicants without experience are supposed to be turned away

 

[NPC]

To be fair, Target is doing this in AA, beauty and electronics. People without experience are supposed to be turned away

Like I said, seems to be the direction with e2e

 

[Rock Lobster]

To be fair, Target is doing this in AA, beauty and electronics. Applicants without experience are supposed to be turned away

Yes but there is a problem here. Target does not pay enough to get this kind of talent consistently in its departments. We cannot pay the lowest in town and expect to have all day Beauty experts. You might get lucky and find one or two people who might do Beauty well, but that requires a ton of luck to find.

Target needs to act quickly now more than ever. It's current stores have too much payroll being spent on replenishment, not because the stores themselves are bad, but because our out of date systems require it. We touch every box multiple times before it gets to the floor. We backstock, pull, and rebackstock the same Sku over and over. Target needs to address this, and fast, and then invest in the team of the future when they save all that money from gutting logistics. Increase pay and hire department experts. You will be amazed at the talent you can get when you bump the pay of stores by 3-4 bucks and put people in positions that actually interest them.

 

[BoxCutter]

We cannot pay the lowest in town and expect to have all day Beauty experts.

We have 2 young women (late teens and early 20s) who just push the product. I was in Cosmetics shooting RIGS and those two just kept talking with one another and never interacted with the few guests who were shopping in the Cosmetics aisles. I don't know anything about Cosmetics but even I can tell they are not experts.

 

[oath2order]

Amazon is telling everyone adapt or die

I do hate to say this; but Trump was right about something.

Trump rips Amazon, says it causes 'great damage to tax paying retailers'; shares slip

He said that Amazon is killing jobs.

They are.

 

[subotai54]

I do hate to say this; but Trump was right about something.

Trump rips Amazon, says it causes 'great damage to tax paying retailers'; shares slip

He said that Amazon is killing jobs.

They are.

No he's not, because:

A) Amazon also creates jobs. Should we also be angry at retailers like target/walmart for "killing jobs" ?

B) Amazon pays taxes on online sales just like target and walmart do.

 

[oath2order]

No he's not, because:

A) Amazon also creates jobs. Should we also be angry at retailers like target/walmart for "killing jobs" ?

B) Amazon pays taxes on online sales just like target and walmart do.

Amazon kills more jobs than it creates.

 

[subotai54]

Amazon kills more jobs than it creates.

same thing people have always said about big box discount retailers like target. It's just capitalism at work

 

[oath2order]

same thing people have always said about big box discount retailers like target. It's just capitalism at work

Yes, and it was true when they said it about Target.

 

[Tessa120]

To be fair, Target is doing this in AA, beauty and electronics. Applicants without experience are supposed to be turned away

To be honest though, how long does it take for someone to learn to talk about the product? Not long. If someone is willing to learn, that's most of the battle right there.

And daily life counts for a lot too. Don't mix pink and red, don't mix two patterns, you'll have to open a port and set up a static IP address if you want to host Ventrilo on your computer instead of paying for one, AMD is better than Intel because performance is roughly equal but AMD is tons cheaper, and don't go too pale when trying to achieve the nude look because you will look like you are ill.

 

[HRZone]

enough to get this kind of talent consistently in its departments. We cannot pay the lowest in town and expect to have all day Beauty experts. You might get lucky and find one or two people who might do Beauty well, but that requires a ton of luck to find.

You're preaching to the choir hear. Anyone with good beauty experience is going to a retailer that pays commission.

We have 2 really good beauty tms with no retail experience but they both have a passion for it and aspire to cosmetology school. @Jenna120 , They are gone when they realize they can make much better elsewhere.

 

[RightArm]

I agree with you, Yams. I get why E2E is happening. Customer Service really is what sets retail apart from online. I think a smart way to adapt would be to hire "pros" for the departments they're in. People that are familiar with and understand the products they're working with. One of the advantages of going into a store is getting to talk to someone to answer questions. I think that's what Target is attempting with e2e...of course they're executing it terribly because Target just refuses to invest enough to meet their lofty expectations.

Yes, I can see how E2E could work out and be beautiful but as you said the execution is horrible, especially now. Not enough TMs to get the job done. If anything that's the real stress in retail as I see it right now. Used to be guests would see us folding shirts at a table that had been blown to bits and quote "at least its job security" and even if we hated them for it, it kinda was. These days, however, it's job insanity. Like we need ONE more thing to juggle. Yes, I have to push the truck, put reshop away, set tables, wave this stupid RFID gun in the air, AND be your damn maid too. Thanks....thanks alot. Cause I sure as hell didn't have enough to do. pfffft

Imagine what we could accomplish if consumers were simply more considerate? Alas, such a world does not exist. *sigh*

 

[NPC]

Imagine what we could accomplish if consumers were simply more considerate? Alas, such a world does not exist. *sigh*

They would just cut hours since less time would be needed to clean up.

 

[SilentCrow]

When I say Amazon is saying "adapt or die" I'm not saying retailers are going to go away. I'm saying Amazon is forcing them to revisit their strategy and operations. If you don't adapt you're going to die. Fortunately, Target seems to be revisiting their strategy to meet the change in the market.

Those who don't implement change to adapt are going to fade away imo.

 

[SoCalMama]

You're preaching to the choir hear. Anyone with good beauty experience is going to a retailer that pays commission.

We have 2 really good beauty tms with no retail experience but they both have a passion for it and aspire to cosmetology school. @Jenna120 , They are gone when they realize they can make much better elsewhere.

That's what I was thinking. I used to make a ton of $ at Nordstrom. Besides, didn't anybody learn anything from CVS' experiment with Beauty 365? Literally nobody was ever in that part of the store.

 

[ColonelAngus]

Amazon kills more jobs than it creates.

can you cite examples? When I scour the job ads I always see listings from Amazon. Their starting pay is way better than Target because they're responding to the market and paying competitive wages to retain workers. Target doesn't do this and they shed just as many workers as they hire. Maybe if Target focused on better pay for those of us on the bottom of the ladder doing the grunt work they might fare better in the market. Right now they seem to have a bloated corporate environment, have an overpaid CEO, have spent a shit ton on remodels and have been cutting costs left and right at the expense of its workers. That to me is a sign that Target is desperate

 

[Backroom81]

It's current stores have too much payroll being spent on replenishment, not because the stores themselves are bad, but because our out of date systems require it. We touch every box multiple times before it gets to the floor. We backstock, pull, and rebackstock the same Sku over and over. Target needs to address this, and fast, and then invest in the team of the future when they save all that money from gutting logistics. Increase pay and hire department experts. You will be amazed at the talent you can get when you bump the pay of stores by 3-4 bucks and put people in positions that actually interest them.

Our E2E process has us touching boxes almost twice as much as the previous process. It's stupid.

In addition to that, I never understood why our trucks were never almost purely "truck to shelf". When higher volume stores get trucks daily, why the hell does so much freight come in as backstock? Why doesn't 90% of it go out (at least for items with decent shelf capacities) with just enough backstock to ensure you don't run out before another case comes in?

 

[PM2NO]

can you cite examples? When I scour the job ads I always see listings from Amazon. Their starting pay is way better than Target because they're responding to the market and paying competitive wages to retain workers. Target doesn't do this and they shed just as many workers as they hire. Maybe if Target focused on better pay for those of us on the bottom of the ladder doing the grunt work they might fare better in the market. Right now they seem to have a bloated corporate environment, have an overpaid CEO, have spent a shit ton on remodels and have been cutting costs left and right at the expense of its workers. That to me is a sign that Target is desperate

I think what oath is saying is that is not so much that Amazon is killing their jobs but killing jobs when other companies are losing profits and have to let employees go in order to compete or close up altogether. And Amazon's job market is not necessarily in every town so some of them can't go to Amazon when those places close

 

[Rock Lobster]

Our E2E process has us touching boxes almost twice as much as the previous process. It's stupid.

In addition to that, I never understood why our trucks were never almost purely "truck to shelf". When higher volume stores get trucks daily, why the hell does so much freight come in as backstock? Why doesn't 90% of it go out (at least for items with decent shelf capacities) with just enough backstock to ensure you don't run out before another case comes in?

Yes! If you want to find flaws in our supply chain and why it's so inefficient just go to our Backroom. I dare anybody that knows anything about supply chain (or even common sense) to go through their Backroom aisles with a Zebra. Just start checking the average sales of items compared to your frequency of delivery. I have dozens of items (sometimes hundreds) and have an average sales of 1-5 a week on them. I literally am sitting on a months worth of inventory for many SKUs, and take 7 trailers a week! I can point these out all day in my Stockroom, it's absolutely absurd how inefficient the current model is.