Archived "Wall Street Analysts Predict The Slow Demise Of Walmart And Target"

[daninnj]

Well the point of the link was not that they are going out of business as much as they could have prevented the rut they are in now back in 1993 by keeping and developing their resources (they had the technology). I would bet money on it that if they launched searscatalog.com back in '93, it would be as big as Amazon now. While Target is not going anywhere soon, if they launched their own shopping website 10-15-20 years ago (and not have piggybacked on Amazon until 2011) and actually have been innovative back then (imagine if FF was around 10-15 years ago and yes... the technology was most certainly there although it would have looked different and probably cost much more) then maybe Target would have had a bigger online presence than it has now (The article about the company posted a few weeks ago said online sales only account for 2%... pitiful in this day and age).

My parents recently bought a retirement home with an alarm system. It's 3 hrs away from their current home and a couple of times the alarm system has gone off as something tripped the motion sensor. I saw some wireless security cameras at BJ's and it gave me the idea of putting them in the house to monitor it. Of course... I don't know how good they work so I went on my phone and checked for reviews... on Amazon. Do you think BJ's website comes up (either in my mind or on Google) when I go to search for the product? No, it's Amazon. Okay, after a few taps I find those cameras might not be the best ones but since I was on Amazon a few more taps brought me to ones with great reviews for a great price. Do I have any reason to check BJ's or Target's or Sears' website for them? Nope, they probably don't have them. BJ's lost a sale to Amazon. Hypothetically maybe if Sears (or Target) were more innovative back before anyone else was, they would have been the one to show up first on Google or have the strongest online presence.

 

[Retail Girl]

Target has actually been responding quite well. They're piloting the order online and its shipped by store (same day) idea in some stores (bigger cities). They're getting into tech with the mobile coupons (cartwheel) flexible fulfillment once the word is out there better will create convenience that customers are looking for. We're already doing city target's with the smaller convenient size similar to the pharmacy stores... They're definitely moving in the right direction, and our maturity over last year isn't as bad as they make it.. I'd have to look at the company as a whole but my District overall only has 1 store that isn't in positive maturity in sales... While I do a lot of shopping on Amazon (mostly supplements lol) there will always be the times people want to get out of their house just to shop, or they want something now. While same day is nice, its still not NOW.. Say a college student, has a paper due in a few hours, are they going to order the printer ink online for same day delivery or run to the store quickly and grab it... (and of course many other situations can be applied here this was just a quick thought as I've had to do it myself.)

The problem is in your first sentence. "Target has actually been responding quite well." Target needs to get out of the rut of responding and start leading. Until that happens, the drain will continue to be circled.

 

[daninnj]

I was soooooo excited for Target Ticket!! Nothing else out there like it!!! Oh wait...
I was soooooo excited for price matching!! Nothing else out there like it!!! Oh wait...
I was soooooo excited for fresh food and one-stop shopping!! Nothing else out there like it!!! Oh wait...
I was soooooo excited for flexible fulfillment and in store pickup!! Nothing else out there like it!!! Oh wait...
I was soooooo excited for my phone telling me what aisle something is in!! Nothing else out there like it!!! Oh wait...

 

[daninnj]

Target needs more exclusives. Michael Graves was the start of what differentiated us from the rest. What can we have that the other guys can't? I see "Only at Target" FiberOne bar flavors, but seeing as 100 boxes were half price on the clearance endcap, they didn't contribute anything. We need to have a reason for people to come to Target. There is nothing we have in our home section that will entice HomeGoods shoppers, nothing in our home improvement section that will entice Home Depot shoppers, nothing in our stationary department that will entice Staples shoppers, nothing in our electronics department that will entice Best Buy shoppers and nothing in our clothing department that will entice Marshall's, TJMaxx, department store shoppers. Exclusives are the key to our success. Something we stock in high demand that nobody can get anywhere else will bring people into our stores. They will then buy impulsively. This was our bread and butter years back.

 

[OhYouDidntKnow]

You'll see a lot of articles about what went wrong with Target and how to come back. One thing you'll never see is Red Cards. I'm not saying not to have a loyalty card. Red Cards as a main source of revenue is a loser.

"The big-box retailer was long known for a "cheap chic" style that drew shoppers looking to spend $20 on everyday basics but who left with $100 worth of "impulse purchases"—items they didn't expect to buy. "

It's what people expect. It's what people want.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/reta...-under-ousted-ceo-gregg-steinhafel-1403577233

 

[Mhugh220]

I was soooooo excited for Target Ticket!! Nothing else out there like it!!! Oh wait...
I was soooooo excited for price matching!! Nothing else out there like it!!! Oh wait...
I was soooooo excited for fresh food and one-stop shopping!! Nothing else out there like it!!! Oh wait...
I was soooooo excited for flexible fulfillment and in store pickup!! Nothing else out there like it!!! Oh wait...
I was soooooo excited for my phone telling me what aisle something is in!! Nothing else out there like it!!! Oh wait...

I'd like to see Target become unique in their decision making. A lot of Target "innovations/initiatives" have already been perfected by competitors. Before I left, Flexible Fulfillment was introduced as though it was the best thing in the world and only Target has thought of it. However, the system sucked. For any other store, I've never made an online purchase to pick up and get to the store to find out it wasn't in stock. Macy's has a similar system to Target, crappy!

Brick and mortar will be hard to get rid of but I do see people moving away from shopping Target and Walmart. Recently I have found myself to looking to smaller retail stores, non-chain, for products. And groceries? I'll always go to Whole Foods, Giant, Kroger, etc over Target or Walmart.

 

[Backroom81]

I think it will be a while before Spot can do anything unique in the industry. There's a lot of catching up that needs to happen first.



One thing I've been noticing lately is just how little coverage we have on the floor compared to other retailers. I was at a hardware store earlier today that has maybe 1/5th the amount of sales floor space of an average Target store but still had 4-5 employees on the floor specifically to help customers. They could probably cut that down to 2 and lose nothing on service presence because they weren't stocking anything. They were there purely to help people find things. If they operated using Target's payroll budget, there would probably only be 1 person on the floor for maybe 4 hours a day at most and that person would be throwing the truck.

This got me thinking of how payroll used to be. When I first started at Target, there was almost twice the number of TL and ETL positions as we have now and we were a lower volume back then (A in 1999, AA now). We used to have a lot more floor coverage and cashiers as well. Despite all that extra payroll across the company, Target was still making enough money to finance a vision of doubling in size over the next 10 years. When the 1000th store opened up in 2000 or so, they made a big deal about it and had a statement about plans to have 2010 stores by 2010. I can understand that the number of leadership positions was a bit much and we used to joke constantly about "too many chiefs, not enough Indians" but I feel like we've cut too much over the years.

Service used to be one of the things Target was known for and guests would frequently tell us that's why they shopped with us instead of Wal-Mart.

 

[RedDog]

I think it will be a while before Spot can do anything unique in the industry. There's a lot of catching up that needs to happen first.



One thing I've been noticing lately is just how little coverage we have on the floor compared to other retailers. I was at a hardware store earlier today that has maybe 1/5th the amount of sales floor space of an average Target store but still had 4-5 employees on the floor specifically to help customers. They could probably cut that down to 2 and lose nothing on service presence because they weren't stocking anything. They were there purely to help people find things. If they operated using Target's payroll budget, there would probably only be 1 person on the floor for maybe 4 hours a day at most and that person would be throwing the truck.

This got me thinking of how payroll used to be. When I first started at Target, there was almost twice the number of TL and ETL positions as we have now and we were a lower volume back then (A in 1999, AA now). We used to have a lot more floor coverage and cashiers as well. Despite all that extra payroll across the company, Target was still making enough money to finance a vision of doubling in size over the next 10 years. When the 1000th store opened up in 2000 or so, they made a big deal about it and had a statement about plans to have 2010 stores by 2010. I can understand that the number of leadership positions was a bit much and we used to joke constantly about "too many chiefs, not enough Indians" but I feel like we've cut too much over the years.

Service used to be one of the things Target was known for and guests would frequently tell us that's why they shopped with us instead of Wal-Mart.

My wife makes this comment all the time when go from Target to the PetSmart next store and the Per Smart has twice as many people on the floor than Target. She used to love Target and spend hours and lots of money there, now she breezes through the store and picks up a couple things or does not bother if the lines are to long at the check lanes. Bad for Target, good for my wallet.