Comments on: We’ll Be “The Future Of Retail” Blog For a Minute

By: Christian

Christian — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:40:07 +0000

What a stupid way to represent a company with a store in shipping containers. Canada shouldn’t EVER be used for guidance; neither should Australia.

By: AATL Shopper

AATL Shopper — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:23:48 +0000

Don’t get me wrong, I love Macy’s. But is it the new Wal-Mart? You know, the taking over everything, shut out small town stores, monster?

By: Justin Hill (Sponge1987/ShopKoFan)

Justin Hill (Sponge1987/ShopKoFan) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 01:50:36 +0000

@Justin Hill (Sponge1987/ShopKoFan), What I meant to say when I said ShopKo is not “the only retailer left,” but that it’s “one of the only regional retailers left” or “the only regional retailer left worth mentioning.”

By: Justin Hill (Sponge1987/ShopKoFan)

Justin Hill (Sponge1987/ShopKoFan) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 01:42:51 +0000

ShopKo is the only regional retailer left. They are undergoing an upscale makeover at most of their existing locations in response to the successful opening of their newest prototype stores. Like I said before, I do see a future in a regional retailer like ShopKo, and hope for them to open new locations in the future in their existing markets as well as new locations in new states. Kmart is getting the thunder stolen from them by Walmart and Target. I hope ShopKo becomes the third largest retailer in the future. I think ShopKo would be better off distinguishing themselves from Walmart and Target, by becoming an “upscale niche discounter,” instead of the conventional “big box” store. I see ShopKo opening in most single-story malls inside the likes of a vacant JCPenney, Sears, Ames/Hills, Woolco, Bradlees, or Bon-Ton store, or on as a first-level anchor of a two-story mall with the second floor going to the likes of Kohl’s or TJ Maxx. Most ShopKo stores are between 80,000 and 110,000 square feet, meaning that ShopKo can fit any space previously used by another big box store or department store.

By: Jonah Norason (Pseudo3D)

Jonah Norason (Pseudo3D) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 20:47:39 +0000

@Rich, actually I believe the local store does have locally-produced merchandise (printed at CC Creations, a local company)

By: Rich

Rich — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 20:09:23 +0000

They probably buy the sports merchandise from a single vendor but tailored to a local market. I would guess that they have gotten even more uniform over time in their buying because central management of the supply chain and just in time delivery is one way they have been able to wring savings out of logistics.

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:54:19 +0000

Wal-Mart often has a few local merchandise. Some stores will sell jogging pants that have local high school team names on them (while other Wal-Marts don’t). It’s almost as if each store has the choice of opting in to that.

Back in the early 80s, it seemed that Wal Mart stores were even more local in their merchandise choices. Every store had a different layout and was a different size and had more or less of different things, and sometimes a larger store wouldn’t have some things that a smaller one would have.

I enjoyed going in Wal-Mart stores back then. Much more merchandise was bought from American companies and the stores had a different atmosphere — much less “monolithic” and more local and friendly.

By: SEAN

SEAN — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:50:51 +0000

@Rich, When Wal-Mart opened in White Plains NY in 2007 not everyone was thrilled because of there histiry of destroying communities where they go. As a result, the store is not performing up to snuff & rumers of it’s closure have been floating around.

By: Jonah Norason (Pseudo3D)

Jonah Norason (Pseudo3D) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 02:46:05 +0000

I think that Wal-Mart DOES change merchandise depending on the market, because I sure know that anywhere else, Texas A&M merchandise would be unavailable.

By: Rich

Rich — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:32:56 +0000

@Gary, wal-Mart has done this with categories where they want to “kill” like toys, CDs and books. Unfortunately, these are low margin categories that are dying, except for toys. Wal-Mart admits that its profits increasingly come from things like check cashing and wire transfers. This is why they wanted to start a credit card-oriented bank. They wanted to make even more money from financials, probably from predatory lending rates on credit cards for low income people. But….basically Wal-Mart limits sizes and brands to simplify logistics and build volume. This is why some areas of the store like computer stuff are so crappy. It’s doubtful they would go for a boutique experience, although they have tried to add higher end lines in some areas. Wal-Mart also goes for uniformity which precludes concepts that would work well on a Target turf but not in a lower income small town in Texas, for example. Wal-Mart has received billions in tax abatements and incentives to locate in communities in the past. They won’t be getting that added income now. Wal-Mart needs to tailor its stores better or risk a long, slow decline like Sears has had. The recession has bought them time and they’ve been updating their stores, but the long haul for them is likely to limit their profit growth. The only places for them to expand are urban areas and inner ring suburbs—these are expensive places to operate (rent, insurance, taxes and, in some cases, shrinkage) and the local people and governments are far more sophisticated than the small towns and developing exurbs where Wal-Mart has always been king—those places are usually bought and paid for by real estate interests. The cost of entry to established areas is greater and, in many cases, people have other options and more opportunity to see where Wal-Mart is a better deal (food, a limited range of popular items) and where they are not.

Wal-Mart recently flopped when they brought in more stylish clothing. It was a hit in urban areas, but not in small towns. Unless, they bite the bullet and some how adapt to a more expensive and complex model of operating stores, they will have problems in the future because not everyone buys what’s popular in kennesaw, georgia or Fredericksburg, Virginia. Their profit growth is unsustainable without cutting service (already non-existent) or squeezing suppliers further. Alternative mass merchandising models could thrive if only because suppliers are tired of the micromanagement that Wal-Mart does with them. Variations on the dollar store format, with niche items and demographics would be one possibility. Moving traditonal boutiques out of malls and into lower cost environments with high volume/low service models would be another.