Archived Target's 4th Quarter Store Sales Dropped Versus 2015

[smashandthrash]

The distribution network needs a lot of work if it is ever to achieve what Amazon has. If that is still the goal. Even Walmart's network is far more impressive.

 

[SFSFun]

You would be naive to think Target isn't currently working on improving and expanding any of the issues with Flexible Fullfillment.

Well their last grand idea three years ago was to begin implementing SFS so they could avoid opening another dedicated fulfillment center. And that turned out to be pretty shortsighted because they are already running out of capacity again.

 

[Rock Lobster]

Well their last grand idea three years ago was to begin implementing SFS so they could avoid opening another dedicated fulfillment center. And that turned out to be pretty shortsighted because they are already running out of capacity again.

The question then to me becomes, at what point does our brick and mortar selling space become less valuable than dedicated space in stores to support online orders? There are really two potential options in my book. The first (and easiest) would be to redo the transition process a whole. If transition merchandise was sent after a planogram was completed (instead of weeks before) you would resolve many of the space constraints in stores. The CEO has said you can tell how sound a supply chain process is for a company by checking the backroom and looking at how full it is (if its full, its not productive). Well, this would greatly reduce this problem. If Target wants to expand its online presence, receiving needs to clear out in all stores and dedicate not just more space to packing, but storing pallets and a way to load entire pallets for delivery (as of right now we just had each box by hand through the dock door to our carriers, one at a time... extremely inefficient especially if order totals get increased).

The second option, and far more costly, would be to not deal with the transition process (and leave it as is), but have to remodel stores to either add backroom space by adding onto the building, or by removing low performing sales departments and pushing the stockroom out a bit more to give us space.

I think its pretty obvious which is the best option.

 

[On6]

Target isn't exactly failing.

Every single brick and mortar retailer is adjusting to the relatively new landscape created by Amazon. If you think Cornell can just spend a bunch of money, wave a magic wand, and fix all the problems associated with competing with Amazon overnight, you're living in a dream world. Target is routinely developing and deploying new strategies while spending a LOT of money. Flexible Fullfillment, RFID, and UDCs are just some of the ideas incorporated into the strategy to remain competitive. You would be naive to think Target isn't currently working on improving and expanding any of the issues with Flexible Fullfillment.

I understand how money works. I know resources are not unlimited and difficult decisions have to made. But I've also worked for this company for awhile now. I see how they cut corners as much as possible to make things appear better to the shareholders. It's going to take a lot more money to fix things if they want to compete with Amazon.

 

[Frontlanegirl]

Anyone would be naive to believe Target's improvements and expansion would be well researched, thought out, tested, and implemented relatively problem free.

Yes, I'm looking at YOU, myDevice.

Is that a working MyDevice...lol

 

[SFSFun]

If Target wants to expand its online presence, receiving needs to clear out in all stores and dedicate not just more space to packing, but storing pallets and a way to load entire pallets for delivery (as of right now we just had each box by hand through the dock door to our carriers, one at a time... extremely inefficient especially if order totals get increased).

This part is something that UPS is open to adjusting with higher order totals. We were able to convince our UPS contact that it works out much easier if they send a trailer for pickups so we just load entire pallets at a time. On the rare occasion that a driver wants to stack it box by box, he gets to do it himself.

 

[BackroomAlpha]

Sales being down by that much are natural nowdays with online retailers making the hump larger to get over. The bright side is spot sold a 30% larger increase in online sales so it is competing there. Theyre doing the right thing with expanding on the online markets.

Nothing to worry.

That being said, i do believe within 5-10 years span we will see more of a decrease in store sales and increase in online transactions. How that wealth will be dispersed amongst districts is beyond me but I have heard rumors of stores being closed in those years to expand on warehouse development as Target attempts to compete with the online marketing world.

Headway. New horizons. Be grateful the company change is good, kmart did not choose to change and look what happened.

 

[qmosqueen]

My store will never close we did another 150 k yesterday and that was a Thursday. 10k over sales.

 

[balthrop]

My store will never close we did another 150 k yesterday and that was a Thursday. 10k over sales.

Say not this for the Fates my visit upon you the sales of a ULV store during the 1st quarter while a blizzard and a power outage rage outside the front door.

 

[qmosqueen]

Say not this for the Fates my visit upon you the sales of a ULV store during the 1st quarter while a blizzard and a power outage rage outside the front door.

Why whhhhy does my aaaa+ store have to cover the fates of ulv stores.

 

[HRZone]

The bright side is spot sold a 30% larger increase in online sales so it is competing there

This is whats misleading. A 30% increase in our online sales isnt as impressive when you consider how small a piece of marketshare we have.

 

[HRZone]

My store will never close we did another 150 k yesterday and that was a Thursday. 10k over sales.

And yet your store is still cutting payroll. Cutbacks at the corporate level affect all of us. Even the most successful stores.

 

[Deli Ninja]

And yet your store is still cutting payroll. Cutbacks at the corporate level affect all of us. Even the most successful stores.

And those cuts to successful stores will cause those stores to fail. My store used to do well in sales consistently, but hour and position cuts due to having to carry other stores in our district has contributed to drops in sales, leading to our store being downgraded (meaning MORE cuts!). It's a vicious cycle that will end in the eventual failure of the company if something isn't done about it. But we can't do anything about the problems we see because corporate doesn't see them. Maybe they should stop using the company jet for "surprise" visits...

 

[IHeartCarts]

Online sales were up but how much money do we lose with the free shipping? Also SFS supplies are expensive.

 

[Frontlanegirl]

Online sales were up but how much money do we lose with the free shipping? Also SFS supplies are expensive.

This is where profit information would be key.

 

[On6]

Free shipping is something a lot do companies are offering to a certain extent. With that said it must be considered in the overhead costs.

 

[signingminion]

Why whhhhy does my aaaa+ store have to cover the fates of ulv stores.

For the sane reason the ulv near me had been getting all the new tests before us. Only Cornell knows. They are under sales more than we are over but they got the bullseye reinvention first, they have the premium Italian test pog, they haven't got the mannequins yet only due to cost. But they have a vml...

 

[Life201]

Yes and no... The future is online, so this is a short-sighted solution to a long-term problem. I think Target is aware of this, but every store only has so much square footage to work with. The logistics process as a whole as it is now does not help this problem, and as we look for ways to make stores the fulfillment centers for online orders, it will continue to be a problem until it is addressed. How do you add ship from store to a building that already has to order shipping containers every 4Q because their backroom isn't big enough? We had issues with the DC being too far ahead of transitions and final pushes over the last 6 months. We were sitting on all of the Christmas final push (which clogged up our BR to no end) when the Valentine's Transition came in, then we got the huge plastics seasonal push two days later... we had three entire areas worth of crap... so a call to the storage container company was in order.

Oh I don't think brick & mortar stores are going to vanish completely & I think it's important for retailers to try to be among the smart survivors as this evolution process plays out.

Does it really make good sense to help kill your physical presence while you concentrate most of your attention to building a separate type of shopping experience?