WebProNews

Category: RetailConvergence

RetailConvergence

  • Walmart Now Delivering Groceries Directly Into The Fridge

    Walmart Now Delivering Groceries Directly Into The Fridge

    “We’ve got 4,700 stores within ten miles of 90 percent of the US population,” says Walmart Ecommerce CEO Marc Lore. “In those locations, we’ve got about 100,000 products including fresh and frozen. We’ve started doing pickup a couple of years back and now same-day delivery to the door. We decided to take it a step further and actually deliver it directly into customers fridges and so far so good.”

    Marc Lore, CEO of Walmart Ecommerce U.S., discusses In-Home Delivery and Next Day Delivery in an interview on Bloomberg Technology:

    Walmart Now Delivering Groceries Directly Into The Fridge

    This (delivery to a customer’s fridge) is a great opportunity for Walmart to leverage this unique asset to do things that only Walmart can do. We’ve got 4,700 stores within ten miles of 90 percent of the US population. In those locations, we’ve got about 100,000 products including fresh and frozen. We’ve started doing pickup a couple of years back and now same-day delivery to the door. We decided to take it a step further and actually deliver it directly into customers fridges and so far so good.

    I do think this is a great step change in the value proposition. Imagine going to work and coming home and having all the groceries stocked in your fridge. We just saw (in a previous trial using a third party) a really big opportunity to use our own Walmart associates to do the delivery. Their W-2 employees. They’ve been with Walmart for at least a year. We feel like that’s a big advantage.

    Can Deliver All Purchases Into Your Home Without Packaging

    We don’t actually need to have cameras in the home. The actual associate will have a camera on their vest. You could actually as a customer track on your app the associate going into your home, putting groceries into the fridge, and then leaving. You can look at it in real time or you can go back and look at it anytime you want. It’s very safe for customers as well.

    There are lots of possibilities (that will stem from in-home deliver). For example, being able to do a return. Imagine just leaving something on your kitchen table. That’s it, going to work and coming home and we’ll just take it away from you. Also, being able to deliver general merchandise into your home without any packaging. I think there’re lots of opportunities for services and health and wellness and all sorts of opportunities. We’re thinking them through now. We have some ideas.

    One Day Delivery Actually Costs Us Less Than Two Day

    Next Day Delivery has been great so far. It’s down in the LA region right now. By the end of the year, we’ll have about 75 percent of the population will have access to Next Day Delivery. Typically, the cutoff time is around 3 p.m. If you order by 3 p.m. you will get it the next day in a single box. That’s the other great thing too. A lot of times now you might receive it in multiple packages. It’ll be overnight in one box. We are really excited about that.

    It actually costs us less than Two Day Delivery. The big reason is that we’re able to get it in a single box. All this inventory is now mirrored or replicated close to the customer. If it’s close to the customer and it costs us less to ship it. If it’s one box it costs us less to ship as well. So yes It’s actually cheaper. We’re just being very measured in how we roll it out. By the end of the year, three-quarters of the country will have it. It’s gonna be moving pretty fast. About 40 of the top 50 metro areas will have access to it. So it’s about four or five areas a month that we’re adding.

    Dramatically Improved Contributed Profit Margins

    Right now, we’re in a really good position (regarding online profitability). Over the last year, we’ve dramatically improved our contributed profit margins. We’re starting to drive more mix into the higher margin categories like fashion and home. So feeling really good about the momentum we have. We have some dates in mind that we’re not obviously sharing. But we feel good about where we are right now. We feel really good about where we are and where we’re going.

    Walmart Now Delivering Groceries Directly Into The Fridge – Walmart Ecommerce CEO Marc Lore
  • FedEx Ground Now Offering Sunday Shipping

    FedEx Ground Now Offering Sunday Shipping

    FedEx has announced “that FedEx Ground has officially started delivering FedEx Home Delivery packages on Sunday for the majority of the U.S. population.”

    The moves comes as FedEx strives to “better serve the fast-growing e-commerce market.” Over the holiday season, Amazon banned its third-party sellers form using FedEx Ground over concerns the service was too slow and that packages would not arrive in time for Christmas. The news should go a long way toward dispelling those concerns moving forward.

    “Now that FedEx Ground delivers FedEx Home Delivery packages on Sundays to most U.S. residences, we have increased our speed advantage significantly to kick off the new year,” said Raj Subramaniam, president and chief operating officer of FedEx. Corp. “This provides added value to e-commerce shippers throughout the U.S. and the 188 million online shoppers in 7,700 cities and towns where FedEx Home Delivery packages are delivered on Sundays. As more customers expect weekend delivery, this enhancement to our network means that every day is now a delivery day at FedEx.”

    The change is another example of the increasing importance of e-commerce to the U.S. economy and the changes companies are willing to make to keep pace with it.

  • Walmart Can’t Let Amazon Out Walmart Walmart

    Walmart Can’t Let Amazon Out Walmart Walmart

    “I’ve been watching Walmart since 1968, they only came into existence in 62, they’ve done the same thing to the rest of retail,” says Jan Kniffen of J. Rogers Kniffen Worldwide. “They kept making a new step every time and the rest of retail had to follow and they won the game, they got all the market share. They can’t let Amazon out Walmart Walmart (when it comes to free one-day shipping). Walmart will fight this battle to the bitter end.”

    Jan Kniffen, CEO of J Rogers Kniffen World Wide, discusses Walmart’s likely reaction to Amazon’s free one-day shipping announcement in an interview on CNBC:

    Walmart Tweets One-Day Free Shipping…Without a Membership Fee

    Walmart is going to get to same-day delivery and so is Amazon. They’re just making the steps down. I would have come out with that tweet because they can say we’ll give it to you maybe same-day and no membership fee. They’ve been tit for tat for with Amazon right along. I think that Walmart with its 4,500 stores that are many distribution centers can keep up with Amazon on delivery. Can anybody else? Maybe not, but those two certainly can.

    Walmart can do same day and they should do it. The real question is what’s the cost to them to do this and what’s the cost to Amazon? They’ve already told us, it’s hundreds of millions of dollars. But what’s the cost to everyone else? Because market shares are what it costs everyone else. Walmart’s got to do this if Amazon does. They can’t give Amazon market share just because their deliveries are not as fast. But can anyone else keep up and pay the price that it takes to be able to do it? It’s really hard to imagine other people can. Amazon and Walmart both can.

    Walmart Can’t Let Amazon Out Walmart Walmart

    If you’re the investor I’m sure you’re going I don’t want this to happen. If you’re Walmart you’re saying I don’t really have a choice if Amazon does this I have to be competitive. Amazon caused Walmart or Walmart’s competitive nature caused it to spend a fortune over these last five years to be competitive with Amazon. When Doug (McMillon) came out and talked about it the stock went down a lot. Now it’s all come back and it’s all paid off and Walmart’s winning the game versus all of the other retailers. They’ve got to continue to do that.

    I’ve been watching Walmart since 1968, they only came into existence in 62, they’ve done the same thing to the rest of retail. They kept making a new step every time and the rest of retail had to follow and they won the game, they got all the market share. They can’t let Amazon out Walmart Walmart. Walmart will fight this battle to the bitter end. The question is do you still want to own the stock? My answer is yes you do just like you still want to own Amazon stock. These two win the game.

    Target is the Third Man Out in This Three-Horse Race

    I’m not pushing Target. I think Target is the third man out in this three-horse race. Target has done a great job. They’re a much better retailer than they were three or four years ago. They were the best retailer in the country in 2006. Now we’ve reached the point where it is sort of a three horse race and I just don’t see how they continue to win the game.

    I understand the call (by Barclays) and they are doing a much better job in apparel than they’ve done in years. But they’ve still got to fight this battle on things like same-day delivery with Walmart and Amazon. I don’t see how they win.

    Walmart Can’t Let Amazon Out Walmart Walmart


  • Microsoft Gaining Ground As Retail Cloud Alternative To Amazon

    Microsoft Gaining Ground As Retail Cloud Alternative To Amazon

    According to a report by Bloomberg, Microsoft is increasingly positioning itself as the cloud vendor of choice for retailers seeking to avoid Amazon, as well as more generalized software vendors.

    The software giant has been rolling out a number of cloud tools and services designed specifically for the retail market. Microsoft has had tremendous success in this market, as many retailers want to avoid relying on software made by their primary competitor, Amazon.

    “A key part of our offering is that we partner and we don’t compete,” Shelley Bransten, Corporate Vice President, Global Retail & Consumer Goods, told Bloomberg.

    One such feature that has come from that partnership is one that allows Teams users to use their phones as walkie-talkies for in-store communication. Microsoft is quick to point out, however, that features such as this one have value far beyond the retail environment.

    The end result of this focus has been some large, high-profile defections from competing products to Microsoft. Ikea, for example, has already moved 70,000 employees from Slack to Teams and “plans to have the rest of its 165,000-person workforce on Office 365 cloud software and Teams by the end of spring.”

    As Bloomberg points out, Microsoft’s stature in this market is turning heads. CEO Satya Nadella is scheduled to speak at the National Retail Federation’s annual show next week, “underscoring how significant the industry is to Amazon’s biggest cloud competitors.”

  • Walmart Announces Alphabot—Autonomous Carts That Speed Up Online Orders

    Walmart Announces Alphabot—Autonomous Carts That Speed Up Online Orders

    Walmart has just announced the first of its kind technology aimed at speeding up online grocery orders.

    The Alphabot system was created specifically for Walmart by Alert Innovation and is set to help Walmart launch its first pilot program in their Salem, New Hampshire supercenter.

    Alphabot is designed as a high-speed automation system that significantly speeds up the process of collecting and preparing an online grocery order. The systems uses autonomous carts to retrieve the items and send them to workstations where associates “pick, assemble and deliver orders to the customers,” as well as check the final order for accuracy.

    As part of the Salem store’s re-grand opening, “a 20,000-square-foot extension connected to the store houses the new system and will serve as a dedicated grocery pickup point with drive-thru lanes for customers. When completed, automated mobile carts will retrieve ordered items – stored warehouse-style in this new space – then deliver them to our associates at one of four pick stations.”

    According to the company, “the vast majority of grocery products we offer in-store will be fulfilled through this system, though our personal shoppers will still handpick produce and other fresh items.”

    Walmart plans to have Alphabot running by the end of the year and hopes to roll it out across the U.S.

     

  • Use Apple Card to Buy An iPhone With Zero Interest

    Use Apple Card to Buy An iPhone With Zero Interest

    Earlier this year, Apple unveiled the Apple Card, a credit card issued in partnership with Goldman Sachs. Today, the company took the next logical step, announcing that Apple Card can now be used to purchase an iPhone interest-free for 24 months.

    According to Apple’s website, “just choose your new iPhone and then select Apple Card Monthly Installments as your payment option in the Apple Store app or online at apple.com. If you don’t have Apple Card, you can easily apply when you check out on your iPhone. Or you can visit an Apple Store and a Specialist can help you purchase an iPhone with Apple Card Monthly Installments. You can also apply for Apple Card in the Wallet app on your iPhone before you go shopping for your next iPhone.”

    The iPhone’s purchase price will be decided into 24 monthly payments, paid via Apple Card Monthly Installments. The Monthly Installments can be monitored and maintained in the Wallet app.

    The new option is similar to that offered by many carriers, with the cost of the phone split into interest-free payments across 24 months. One advantage of using the Apple Card, however, is that the purchase earns 3 percent Daily Cash. Apple makes a point of highlighting that users don’t have to wait the full two years to get the Daily Cash. Instead, it is immediately added to Wallet.

    This promotion is just the latest example of why tech companies are increasingly moving into the finance market, and the integration benefits that come from doing so.

  • TripAdvisor Acquires SinglePlatform to Help Restaurants Enhance Experience

    TripAdvisor Acquires SinglePlatform to Help Restaurants Enhance Experience

    TripAdvisor has announced the acquisition of SinglePlatform from its parent company, Endurance International Group.

    SinglePlatform works with restaurants to help them publish and manage their menus online, as well as other pertinent information, such as their hours of operation and contact information. The service has become increasingly important to restaurants, given that “93 percent of diners check menus online before choosing a place to eat.”

    “We are obsessed with making restaurateurs’ jobs easier and more successful, and our acquisition of SinglePlatform is an important step in offering them a place to conveniently manage their entire online presence across the web from TripAdvisor,” said Bertrand Jelensperger, senior vice president, TripAdvisor Restaurants. “We look forward to bringing SinglePlatform’s technology and know-how to a truly global audience to help millions of restaurant owners and managers unlock more digital opportunities.”

    “We could not be more excited to join forces with TripAdvisor,” said Josh Glantz, senior vice president and general manager, SinglePlatform. “SinglePlatform’s strength in the United States combined with TripAdvisor’s global reach and advertising platform for restaurants perfectly positions our combined team to offer more solutions for owner-operators and multi-location brands everywhere to reach consumers at the moment they are looking for dining options.”

    The combination of TripAdvisor and SinglePlatform is a logical one, as TripAdvisor is one of the platforms SinglePlatform publishes information to. Meanwhile, TripAdvisor has been working to expand its services and value to the restaurant industry and the new acquisition will help it make significant strides in that direction.

  • Virtual Restaurants Helping Power Uber Eats Growth

    Virtual Restaurants Helping Power Uber Eats Growth

    “Virtual restaurants is a very interesting initiative,” says Uber Eats EMEA head Rodrigo Arevalo. “Basically by leveraging the data on our platform, we can partner with other restaurants in order to cuisine types that only exist on food delivery platforms. If there is not a restaurant in a certain neighborhood we will partner with restaurants to make that happen. In the UK we are already doing 200 virtual restaurants and we are expanding throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.”

    Rodrigo Arevalo, head of EMEA at Uber Eats, discusses how virtual restaurants are helping power Uber Eats Growth in an interview on Bloomberg:

    Virtual Restaurants Helping Power Uber Eats Growth

    Virtual restaurants is a very interesting initiative. Basically, by leveraging the data on our platform we can partner with other restaurants in order to cuisine types that only exist on food delivery platforms. That has two benefits. The first one is that it helps restaurants utilize their kitchens a lot more. The second one is that it increases their revenue on their top line. It’s a very interesting initiative to provide more choice and to increase business for restaurants. 

    If there is not a restaurant in a certain neighborhood we will partner with restaurants to make that happen. In the UK we are already doing 200 virtual restaurants and we are expanding throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. It’s a type of local exercise that we are trying to tack on. It’s going really well and we’re excited about that.

    Uber East Demonstrates the Potential of Uber’s Logistics Platform

    Uber Eats fits into Uber’s overall strategy and portfolio in the way that it demonstrates the potential of Uber’s logistics platform. Just in three and a half years, we’ve been able to build a multi-billion dollar business and today we are already the biggest food delivery app outside of China. It’s all about the logistics network that we have built and how we can leverage the potential of that platform. 

    It’s about focus for us. We want to make sure that we deliver on the plan, deliver on the vision that (Uber CEO) Dara Khosrowshahi has set for the company. Focus is basically three pillars for Uber Eats. The first one is restaurant selection, providing consumers choice. The second one is customer experience for eaters, for restaurants, and for delivery partners. The third one is underpinning that with great technology and a great product that people would love to use every single day. 

    Uber Eats Partners With 220,000 Restaurants Globally

    We partner today with 220,000 restaurants globally and there is a vast variety of selection from every kind of meal that you would like; comfort food to the healthiest options such as vegan, salads, etc. We believe selection. We believe in consumer choice. We want to make sure that we provide all of those options to them. We very much focus on providing that information, providing those options, and making sure that consumers make an informed choice.

    When it comes to packaging we already partner with several companies that provide sustainable packaging. Given our platform, particularly in the UK, we already look for ways to facilitate sustainable packaging for restaurant partners, making sure we do our part in that sense.

    Virtual Restaurants Helping Power Uber Eats Growth – Uber Eats EMEA head Rodrigo Arevalo
  • Everything Can Be Digital At The End Of The Day, Says Wingstop CEO

    Everything Can Be Digital At The End Of The Day, Says Wingstop CEO

    “Everything can be digital at the end of the day,” says Wingstop CEO Charles Morrison. “We still take a lot of phone orders and a lot of people still walk. So every time somebody accesses us we want the opportunity to digitize that transaction. Why? Because the digital transaction tends to have almost a five-dollar higher average ticket and is more profitable for our franchisees which means a better return on investment and more new restaurants to grow on.”

    Charles Morrison, CEO of Wingstop, discusses how digitalization is powering their growth and profitability in an interview with Jim Cramer on CNBC:

    Everything Can Be Digital At The End Of The Day

    We believe it’s a fantastic partnership with DoorDash. What they focus on is making merchants successful. As the merchant that’s exactly what we want. And they take care of the logistics. In our partnership, we’ve made sure that we are always working together to ensure that no matter how you access Wingstop, whether it be carryout or walk-in or through delivery, you’re going to get the same great experience. We believe they’re best positioned to provide that.

    Everything can be digital at the end of the day. We still take a lot of phone orders and a lot of people still walk. So every time somebody accesses us we want the opportunity to digitize that transaction. Why? Because the digital transaction tends to have almost a five-dollar higher average ticket and is more profitable for our franchisees which means a better return on investment and more new restaurants to grow on. I think people spend more time with the menu (on digital). They get to know the menu. They add a couple of items on to that and they’re not as intimidated by the phone call and the rush that they see at the front counter.

    Digital Technologies Create Efficiencies To Help Us Grow

    We’ve been a socially active brand as it relates to social media for many years. We’ve become large enough and have scaled to national advertising. Our franchisees generously added one percent to the advertising spend so they now spend four percent to a national fund. That has been redeployed into fantastic new media and new creative which is really helping drive that same point 7.1% comp that you saw in the first quarter.

    In our brand, we’re pretty well insulated (against labor shortages). We have a very small roster already, so in that small footprint, it doesn’t take a lot of people to operate a Wingstop. I don’t know that you’ll necessarily see us doing anything to remove the number of people in a restaurant. We do believe through digital technologies and further digitalization of our business that we can create efficiencies that create capacity that will help us to grow. This will take the pressure off the labor line.

    Everything Can Be Digital At The End Of The Day, Says Wingstop CEO Charles Morrison
  • Building the Target of the Future

    Building the Target of the Future

    “We dropped back several years ago and started thinking about building the Target of the future,” says Target CEO Brian Cornell. “It really started with an investment in understanding the consumer and really understanding what they were looking for and how to build the capabilities starting with data science to really guide us through that journey. Whether that’s technology or supply chain capabilities, product design, or our focus on execution at the store level, data and analytics have been important guideposts for us as we’ve gone through this journey.”

    Brian Cornell, CEO of Target, discusses the details of how the company is building the Target of the future in an interview at the Stanford Graduate School of Business:

    Reimagining Stores and Investment in Technology is Paying Off

    Target’s (current success) is really a combination of a number of things that we’ve been working on for several years now. If I go back to February of 2017 we laid out a three-year vision for the company. We said we’re going to invest billions of dollars. At that point, I said $7 billion dollars over a three year period to invest in reimagining our stores, in building new smaller stores and urban centers and on college campuses, reinvest in our brands, invest in technology and fulfillment capabilities, and make a big investment in our people.

    The success we’re seeing right now is really a combination of all those elements starting to mature. We’re executing at scale and they’re all starting to work together. That’s driving for us great top-line growth, market share gains, and importantly more traffic in our stores and visits to our site.

    In Most Cases Shopping Starts With the Mobile Phone

    I actually think blend (of digital and physical) is the right term. I think from a consumer standpoint they’ve really lost sight of whether they’re shopping in a physical environment or a digital environment. In most cases, their shopping starts with that mobile phone in their hands, that digital device. It’s how they decide where they’re going to shop and what they’re looking for. If you went to one of our Target stores this afternoon I guarantee you we’d find consumers with a phone in their hand, they’d be looking at their latest Pinterest, they’d be checking things on their favorite digital site, and they’d have their shopping list there.

    That device really guides them through the shopping experience. I think more and more there’s a blurring and a blending that’s taking place and it’s a combination of both. The consumer today is enjoying the fact that shopping has become really easy. They get the best of both. They get a physical experience when they want it and if they don’t have time they can shop from their desk or from their classroom. They’re constantly in touch and we’ve made it really easy now for them to interface with our brand on their own terms.

    Building the Target of the Future

    We dropped back several years ago and started thinking about building the Target of the future. It really started with an investment in understanding the consumer and really understanding what they were looking for and how to build the capabilities starting with data science to really guide us through that journey. I can talk a lot about strategy, but the other thing that we’ve recognized is how important it is to have the right capabilities in place. Whether that’s technology or supply chain capabilities, product design, or our focus on execution at the store level, data and analytics have been important guideposts for us as we’ve gone through this journey.

    We’ve been fortunate in that we’ve recruited quite a few Stanford grads. I think what’s attracting them to our business is the richness of our data. The fact that on an average week we get 30 million consumers shopping our stores and a similar number going to Target.com. We have all this rich data and we understand where consumers are shopping, what they’re looking for, and I think they’ve been really intrigued by the ability to take that data and help us build a future.

    The Consumer is Looking For a Unique Personalized Experience

    I’ve certainly seen this trend towards personalization and localization. If I think about the changes in consumer packaged goods, in some cases those big brands that you and I grew up with, well they’ve been replaced by smaller local niche brands that we didn’t see when we grew up and they’re being regionalized across the country. I think the consumer today is looking for that unique personalized experience, whether they’re shopping a Target store or they’re walking through a local store right here on the Stanford campus.

    I think I walked in recognizing the importance of a clear strategy for an organization. But I’ve come to realize just how important culture is, a clear purpose, and importantly ensuring that our strategy is supported by great capabilities and the importance of team. I think (as we look toward the future) we’ll still be true to the purpose we have today. It’s really focused on bringing a little bit of joy to all the families we serve each and every week and really enhancing their everyday life. I think that focus on families, that connection we have today with moms with kids with families across the country, will be as true in the future as it is today.


    Building the Target of the Future – Target CEO


  • We Want To Be the World’s First Global Sleep Brand, Says Casper CEO

    We Want To Be the World’s First Global Sleep Brand, Says Casper CEO

    “We really consider ourselves the sleep company,” says Casper co-founder and CEO Philip Krim. “Everything we do is about helping our customers sleep better. It’s about getting a great mattress but it’s about everything that could help you sleep. We’re trying to take products to market that are end to end about sleep solutions. We want to be the world’s first global sleep brand and we think we’re well on our way to doing that.”

    Philip Krim, Casper co-founder and CEO, discusses how Casper, a highly successful direct to consumer brand (DTC), is still in the early days of growth in an interview on CNBC:

    We Want To Be the World’s First Global Sleep Brand

    We actually think Casper stands alone. We really consider ourselves the sleep company. Everything we do is about helping our customers sleep better. We think end to end about sleep. It’s about getting a great mattress but it’s about everything that could help you sleep. In January we launched a technology product, a lighting product, that actually helps you wake up better and fall asleep better. We’re trying to take products to market that are end to end about sleep solutions. We want to be the world’s first global sleep brand and we think we’re well on our way to doing that.

    We think we’re really one of the first of our kind. We were a digitally native business, having launched online with Casper.com, but we’re actually now scaling our business offline as well. We’ve opened up 23 retail stores and we have great partners with folks like Target. We believe that we will have a business where no matter how consumers want to shop for our products we have great products and great experiences. We actually think there’s really not a public company comp that’s done that journey.

    Repeat Revenue Increases Dramatically As We Launch New Products.

    Yesterday we launched our hybrid line which is actually the combination of innerspring technology and foam technology. We launched two different models around that. For us, we’re actually still able to compress those mattresses, ship them anywhere in the country, and they’re really phenomenal products that we’re in development for over a year in our Casper Labs program based in San Francisco. From a cost structure, it works just the same way as our foam mattresses. You can compress it, you can ship it anywhere, it’s super fun to open and they sleep really great.

    We make great pillows, we make great sheets, and we make great lighting products. We are seeing higher and higher attachment rates as we launch new products and we’re seeing repeat revenue increase dramatically as we launch new products. We’re only a five-year-old company, actually as of this month. We launched April of 2014. As we get our customers to be a little bit more mature we’re seeing them come back time and time again not just to buy mattresses but to buy our full suite of products. That’s really exciting for us.

    We’re In the Early Days of Scaling

    We actually changed the way that you would return a mattress. In the industry traditionally it’s a huge pain, but with us, you call us up and we’ll pick up the mattress. You don’t even have to pack it back up, nothing. We will come to pick it and up and then we donate it locally. We appreciate that you gave us a shot. We also are changing the way that people shop for the products. We have our Casper.com website where you can learn all about these great products but we have 23 stores that we’ve opened. We’re opening up over a dozen this quarter, two this week in fact, and those stores are a great complement to the online experience.

    We don’t break out profitability overall. Casper has a great product, we have a great business model, and we’re seeing that by taking it to market both online and offline that it’s actually growing our online business in a very efficient way. We think this go to market strategy is working well. We’re in the early days of scaling it and we believe we can keep building this out for years to come.

    We Want To Be the World’s First Global Sleep Brand, Says Casper CEO


  • Younger Consumers Want To Connect Emotionally with Brands, Says PVH CEO

    Younger Consumers Want To Connect Emotionally with Brands, Says PVH CEO

    “Especially today, younger consumers want to connect emotionally with brands,” says Manny Chirico, CEO of apparel company PVH, which owns many lifestyle brands including Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger. “They don’t want to just aspire for your brand looking down the runway, they want to be part of the life of the brand. I think Tommy Hilfiger does it well.”

    Manny Chirico, CEO of apparel company PVH, which owns many lifestyle brands including Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, discusses how the company has turned around by focusing on ecommerce, technology, and connecting with young consumers. He was interviewed on CNBC:

    Consumer Experience is Critical

    You have to be willing to make the investment. I think we really have done it (turned around the company), from not only a brand marketing point of view, but investing in all the new technologies and investing in the ecommerce platforms that really will drive the business going forward. Our stores are highly profitable and we need to continue to invest in those stores. The consumer experience is critical and we’re making connections with a younger and younger consumer.

    We’re all dealing with the challenge of the distribution models changing, but fundamentally we’ve always been a multi-channel retailer. We have big businesses in brick and mortar, both direct-to-consumer in our own stores and through our key wholesale partners like Macy’s here in the US or Galeries Lafayette in Europe. Those key players we continue to invest back into those platforms.

    Younger Consumers Want To Connect Emotionally with Brands

    The challenge with that high-end collector fashion business is are you connecting with a younger consumer today and how do you make your investments as you as you go forward? I think it needs to be more balanced than it’s been. Especially today, younger consumers want to connect emotionally with brands. They don’t want to just aspire for your brand looking down the runway, they want to be part of the life of the brand.

    I think Tommy (Hilfiger) does it well. We just have a fashion show in Paris with Tommy selling product immediately after that trying to connect with the consumer at more affordable price points than what you would see from the luxury point of view. That’s how you build big businesses. We’re not trying to build niche businesses selling just $2,000 men’s suits or evening gowns. We’re really about building big lifestyle businesses.


  • Technology and Innovation Powering Levi Strauss Growth Strategy, Says CEO

    Technology and Innovation Powering Levi Strauss Growth Strategy, Says CEO

    Levi Strauss began trading on the New York Stock Exchange this morning under the ticker symbol ‘LEVI.’ By mid-afternoon, the stock was at $22.66, substantially higher than the price offered to institutional investors. It’s clear that investors believe that Levi’s can leverage technology and innovation to successfully compete online and in brick and mortar stores.

    Levi Strauss Soars in NYSE Debut

    Charles Bergh, CEO of Levi Strauss, discusses how technology and innovation are driving increased sales and market share in an interview with CNBC coinciding with their IPO:

    We Are Denim and We’re the Market Leader Globally

    We are denim and we’re the market leader globally. A lot of people as we were doing the (IPO) roadshow said aren’t you guys just riding the denim wave? We’re creating the denim wave. We’ve been driving the category with innovation across our men’s business and our women’s business. We’ve expanded to other categories. Last year we finished with 14 percent growth coming off of 8 percent growth the prior year. The business is really humming right now.

    I believe this is sustainable for the long term. Maybe not double digits forever. But we’ve got clear runway for growth across the categories that we’re competing in. We’re building share in our core categories and expanding to new categories. Last fiscal year, when we finished the year our growth was really broad-based. If you looked at it in the categories where we competed we grew every single category. If you looked at it by geography we grew every single geography. If you look at it by channel we grew across wholesale, including US wholesale, which is a little bit of a melting iceberg right now. We grew in our own brick-and-mortar and ecommerce. It was very broad-based growth last year and we’re confident we can continue that.

    We Have Built a Very Big Platform for Big Data

    First of all, to be successful it does come down to strong brands. Consumers at the end of the day love an emotional attachment with their brand. We’ve recreated that that love for Levi’s. We have built a very big platform for big data. In fact just a couple of weeks ago we announced that we’ve hired a head of advanced analytics and machine learning who will sit on the executive team and report directly to me. We are mining the data that we do collect and really turning it into revenue.

    Our strategies are working and one of the key strategic choices that we made seven years ago, shortly after I joined, was to become a leading world-class omnichannel retailer and it is working. The mix has shifted to omnichannel. When I joined the company it was about 20 percent of our business. Today, it’s almost a third. It is faster growing than our wholesale business and we’re continuing to invest in it. Most of our capital investment is going into retail and ecommerce and knitting that seamless consumer experience together.

    Implemented New Instance of SAP and Investing in RFID

    It (IPO funds) is going to go into continued investment in building out our omnichannel. So both brick-and-mortar retail as well as our ecommerce business and then knitting it together with technology. For example, we’re implementing a new instance of SAP and investing in RFID (radio frequency identification). We’ve implemented RFID across our business in the US and UK and that’s actually really turning into money. Every one of the products in our store is tagged with RFID.

    I’ve actually had this experience happen to me myself in our new Times Square store. There was an item I wanted to buy and they didn’t have it in my size. A stylist came over and scanned the tag and she could see that my size was available in the back room. Just two minutes later I was in the dressing room trying it on. A year ago before our RFID that would have been a lost sale. That just wouldn’t have happened. It gives us instant clear visibility to the inventory in our store, both in front of house as well as back of house.

    Levi’s Driving Market Share Through Product Innovation

    Back in 2013 and 2014, the headlines were the death of denim. It was all about athletic tights and Lululemon tights. It became a throwdown moment for us as a company. We have an innovation center a couple of blocks from our office. We brought our suppliers, the mills that make denim for us, into that innovation center. We understood what women were really telling us by wearing tights. That used to be a denim occasion. They wanted soft stretchy comfortable material that made them look great and gave them confidence. That was what was driving that conversion. So we innovated around soft stretchy comfortable denim which we can now do. We developed proprietary four-way stretch so that women don’t get baggy knees, which is their biggest dissatisfier.

    We relaunched our business in the middle of 2015 and we’ve grown 14 quarters in a row and in the last eight quarters at double-digit rates. It has been a huge part of our growth. We were under $800 million just on women’s bottoms about three years ago. We’re over a billion dollars today. We are number one globally with a nine percent market share, but we’re not number one in a number of markets including right here in the US. So I really do believe we can continue to grow at an accelerated rate on our women’s business. There are lots of what I like to call share donors out there for us to build share while we’re building the category.

    We haven’t seen any (backlash to being an American brand). This brand stands for everything good about America. Freedom, democracy, and allowing people to express themselves. Authentic self-expression is what the Levi’s brand is all about. We’ve not seen any backlash. None. We think there are lots of opportunities still for us. I am not worried at all about denim. We are denim and we’ll continue to drive this category through great innovation and marketing that connects with consumers and sends them into our stores.

    Technology and Innovation Powering Levi Strauss Growth Strategy


  • Retail Demise Due to Rise of the Internet and Inability to Keep Up

    Retail Demise Due to Rise of the Internet and Inability to Keep Up

    The demise of many retail chains is due to the rise of the internet and the inability of some retailers to keep up, says long-time retail executive Gerald Storch. “The proximate cause of the demise of chains like Charlotte Russe, Gymboree, Payless, Toys R Us, and Sears is the rise of the internet and their inability to keep up that environment,” said Storch. “It’s the decline in physical traffic to bricks and mortar stores and the mall.”

    Gerald Storch, CEO of Storch Advisors, and an innovative retail executive, formerly CEO of Toys “R” Us and Vice Chairman of Target, discusses why some retailers are failing while others are thriving in an interview on Fox Business:

    Retail Comp Store Sales Up 6 Percent During Holiday

    Retail sales have been very strong this holiday. Of course, there are winners and losers. The winners are the people who are doing it right, who are mastering the internet and who are driving value to the customer. You see 4.2 percent out of Walmart, almost 6 percent out of Target, over 7 percent out of Costco, and about 18 percent in the US out of Amazon.

    I put out an index called the Storch Advisors Index and the volume weighted comp store sales gain of major chains in the US was 6 percent for the holiday season. Of course, there were some poor performers but that’s because they are not keeping up with the consumer. Whether it’s JC Penny, Sears, Macy’s, Kohls, some of those are becoming yesterdays.

    Gov. Report Showing Retail Sales Down is Absurd

    I know the folks at the government work hard to collect that data but I think there’s something missing there. The world has changed. First of all the internet has happened and I think that makes a big difference. There is no way, if you look at those numbers it says the internet was down in December. Only a report from Washington could say that. That’s ridiculous. It says the internet underperformed department stores for December. Absolutely absurd.

    Why can that be true? Actually, the raw data said that sales were up about 9 percent in December. But then they applied a negative 10 percent seasonality discount because it was December. I’m not sure that discount factor was correct. Among other things, both Cyber Monday and Black Friday fell in November this year and they were huge as we saw by all accounts. There is something a little wonky about that report. I choose to put it on the side and say it’s not typical about what’s really going on in retail right now.

    Retail Demise Due to Rise of the Internet and Inability to Keep Up

    The proximate cause of the demise of chains like Charlotte Russe, Gymboree, Payless, Toys R Us, and Sears is the rise of the internet and their inability to keep up that environment. It’s the decline in physical traffic to bricks and mortar stores and the mall. The origin though comes down to the fact that all of those companies have one thing in common, hedge funds and private equity put huge leverage on those businesses.

    So at a time when the world changed and the internet happened, they had to invest huge sums in the internet and they had to make their stores more beautiful than ever. You can only do that with money. All these firms were leveraged right before, bang, this retail apocalypse happened. They had no money to make any difference. It didn’t matter if you had the best management in the world. The management at Charlotte Russe is pretty damn good. But they couldn’t do anything about it because they didn’t have the money to spend. Walmart did have the money to spend. They’ve been spending it and that you are starting to see in the results.

    Walmart and Amazon Battle it Out

    You have Walmart buying a lot these ecommerce companies to get stronger in ecommerce. Then you have Amazon buying the bricks and mortar. Why did they do that? One reason. To keep up with Walmart in grocery. Grocery is the ultimate perishable, food. It has a lot of waste. Grocery is already around the corner from everyone’s homes. You have to ship them from the stores. Walmart has the stores to do it and they are proving it now. Groceries is one of their best performers in the latest quarter.

    Amazon was looking at how do we beat Walmart in grocery? Grocery is a huge market and one of the last ones that Amazon hasn’t conquered. They thought, well, we could try to ship it from wholesalers and centralized locations. They started that way and it does not work. So they bought Whole Foods so they could be around the corner from people’s homes. That’s why they are expanding Whole Foods. They may be the only grocer in the country that is adding locations, all so they can ship to your home.

  • We Are Not Going Back to Old Retail

    We Are Not Going Back to Old Retail

    With the future of retail we have crossed over the demarcation line, says Walter Robb, the former co-CEO of Whole Foods. “We’re not going back to the old retail,” said Robb. “It’s just not going to happen. That’s the combination of digital and physical. We’re in what I would call new retail, which is the integration.”

    Walter Robb, former co-CEO of Whole Foods, discusses the retail revolution currently underway in an interview on CNBC:

    Traditional Retail Models Are Under Pressure

    From where I sit the customer is doing pretty well. They’re spending. They’re pretty strong. There was a lot of pessimism at the back half of last year that was reflected in some of the stock prices, but I think that was overblown. We’re going to see a customer that’s doing pretty well this year in 2019 and might surprise a little bit to the upside. That being said, traditional retail models are under pressure. The customer is spending their dollars in so many different ways and places than they could before. You used to just open up four walls and open a store and now the customer has so many more options.

    We do know that in the United States we’re about 24 square feet of retail space per capita and that’s two and a half times more than any other industrialized country. We have too much space so there’s going to be a winnowing out that’s going to happen here. There’s going to be winners and losers and we’re already seeing that. In 2019, I think that continues, but I do think that we’re in the second half of that. What we’re actually seeing that the mall is beginning to switch over and putting in exciting new uses and we’re seeing retail stores start to open again.

    We Are Not Going Back to Old Retail

    With the future of retail, we have crossed over the demarcation line. We’re not going back to the old retail. It’s just not going to happen. That’s the combination of digital and physical. You’re seeing the digital retailers, the Allbirds, the Warby Parker’s, come out and say, alright we’re going to open physical stores because we realize our customers want to experience our brand and be with us in that way. They’re bringing new ideas to that presentation of retail, which is pretty exciting.

    At the same time, you’re seeing physical retailers adapt to digital ways. Take a look at Target and how they’ve employed all the new tools that they have for the customers, in-store apps and those sorts of things. You’re seeing a combination of these two. In some cases it’s adolescent and in some case it’s more mature, but we are not going back to just the simple form retailer. We’re in what I would call new retail, which is the integration.

    The edge of which is actually in China with a supermarket called Hema from Alibaba, which is which is simply fantastic. It’s integrated on the back end and on the front end. I think you’re seeing retailers say, we’ve adapted to the age of Amazon and we understand this is how customers want to shop. We’re seeing a whole new generation of businesses and entrepreneurs say, I’m going to bring the customer this fusion of digital and physical in a way that’s really exciting and really compelling. We’re not going back. I opened my first store in 1978 but that’s just not as easy to do anymore because you have to have that the tools to really understand your customer personally. I think it’s pretty exciting to see what’s happening.

    Physical and Digital Retailers Need Each Other

    The business model on the last mile is very challenging unless you’re connected into a physical store. If you just out there floating without a connection to physical retail those have not proven to be sustainable. I think it’s clear to me that the customer wants that choice. I think the data is very clear that they want both. They’re not going to give up physical stores and that’s why you’re seeing these digital and physical retailers. They need each other and they need both parts of that to make the thing actually compelling for the customer.

    I think there’ll be a shakeout. You seem some consolidation already, but the most interesting combinations are where the physical retailer buys the digital, where Target buys Shipt and where Walmart buys Flipkart or whatever you see around the world, realizing the combination is the most powerful. That will be the most sustainable from a business model perspective.

    We Are Not Going Back to Old Retail, Says Walter Robb, former co-CEO of Whole Foods

    Also Read:

    Nothing Short of a Revolution Happening in the Food Marketplace

  • Nothing Short of a Revolution Happening in the Food Marketplace

    Nothing Short of a Revolution Happening in the Food Marketplace

    There is nothing short of a revolution happening in the food marketplace today and it is not a quiet one, says Walter Robb, the former co-CEO of Whole Foods. “It is disrupting things left and right, all the way up the value chain back into the farmer’s field,” says Robb.

    Walter Robb, former co-CEO of Whole Foods, discusses the revolution happening in the food marketplace in an interview on CNBC:

    Nothing Short of a Revolution Happening in the Food Marketplace

    There is nothing short of a revolution happening in the food marketplace today and it is not a quiet one. It is disrupting things left and right, all the way up the value chain back into the farmer’s field. For me, to see these (organic) brands and to see it show up at the Super Bowl, the biggest media stage of the world, is kind of an exciting thing.

    Some 75 percent of the food we eat is from 12 plants. Somebody’s woken up to that realizing, wow, there’s a whole lot of stuff that we can create from stuff we don’t even know yet. The Natural Food Expo, which is the next month in LA, 85,000 people are going to that show. This is where the energy and the edge of the food industry is at right now.

    We’ve broken into this area now where there’s an amazing amount of innovation with young companies and entrepreneurs. This is where the growing edge of the food industry is now. It’s not just natural and organic but it’s this innovation around new foods and new food types.

    Amazing Amount of Innovation With Entrepreneurs

    You have to build the tools to really understand your customer personally. I think it’s pretty exciting to see what’s happening. On the physical side, Walmart is doing a lot of things, Kroger is doing a lot of things, and Whole Foods is doing a lot of things to try to integrate digital and physical retail in a way that gives the customer a very rich experience.

    I do think in terms of the food service delivery, Grubhub has had phenomenal growth. What’s happened is the world has woken up to how exciting food is again. We kind of went along after World War two for a number of years with this kind of dull drum of production, just regular stuff with the major CPG brands.

    If you get a $5 latte and it’s probably a $5 delivery charge at what point does the customers say that’s a great value problem? I don’t know, but I think we’re going to find out. I do think this idea that the customer wants the convenience is here to stay and that they’re used to having that option. In some cases, they will choose it. Where that line is it’s too early to say exactly where they’ll say, that’s too expensive or that’s not a good deal.


  • Customers Rapidly Deserting Malls for Ecommerce, Says Former Toys ‘R’ Us CEO

    Customers Rapidly Deserting Malls for Ecommerce, Says Former Toys ‘R’ Us CEO

    Nordstrom is the class act of the department store segment and doing everything right says Former Toys ‘R’ Us CEO, Gerald Storch. Unfortunately, that is not enough according to Storch because customers are deserting malls for ecommerce.

    He predicts that only top-tier malls will survive and even those will have to adapt to attract millennials. For Nordstrom and other department stores to survive and thrive they will have to quickly need to learn how to make money on the internet.

    Gerald Storch, former CEO of Toys ‘R’ Us and CEO of Storch Advisors, discusses the death of most malls and the need for department stores like Nordstrom to do better at making money on the internet on Fox Business:

    Nordstrom “Doing Everything Right” But It’s Not Enough

    Nordstrom is the class act of the department store segment. They are doing everything right. Everything people say they should be doing but it’s not enough. Their stores are in great condition. They invest in their stores, they’re beautiful. They invest in their people, their service is the best in the industry. You love going to Nordstrom.

    They have great internet and have invested in their ecommerce sites. They have great data management and customer relationship management skills. They have great style, their merchandise is pretty good.

    Customers Rapidly Deserting Malls for Ecommerce

    But it’s not enough. There is a hole in the bottom of the boat and the water is pouring in and they can’t bail fast enough. That hole is that customers are deserting the malls and they are going to mass merchants off the malls and of course to ecommerce.

    I don’t think it is the demise of the department store. I think the all-channel model will still succeed. But in order to be profitable, a department store like Nordstrom needs to learn how to make more money on the internet. You can’t just say do all the things in the bricks and mortar store, make them more experiential, etc. They’ve been doing that and it’s not enough.

    You can see that in their results. Their high-end stores were up in sales only three-tenths of one percent over the holiday period. That includes their ecommerce which was up 18 percent. You don’t have to know a lot of algebra to know that their physical bricks and mortar stores were sharply negative during this season.

    You need to embrace the inevitable. You can’t just build a sort of fancier stagecoach in order to prevent the advent of the automobile. You have to build a profitable ecommerce site. That requires redoing their business system in order to be profitable online.

    Only the Best Malls Remain Viable Enough to Transform

    We talk about ‘A Malls’, ‘B Malls’, and ‘C Malls’. The ‘C Malls’ are gone. They will become doctors offices, insurance offices, places to get your nails filed, that kind of a thing. They’re done. Forget about them.

    The ‘B Malls’ are a mixed bag. Some of them will be fantastic mixed-used developments. They need to be repurposed. You can’t keep them the way they are. That’s for sure. You saw Google putting office space in there. I think you will see a lot of residential, apartment buildings along with streetscapes in those kinds of malls.

    The ‘A Malls’ are still viable and they will be. They’re putting in great restaurants, theaters, entertainment, and successful concepts which attract young people, millennials, who have not really been going to the mall.


  • Kroger CEO: How We Compete for Software Engineers with Facebook

    Kroger CEO: How We Compete for Software Engineers with Facebook

    Kroger and all retailers are fast becoming tech companies and thus have the difficult task of competing with companies like Facebook for top tech talent. According to Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen, one of their secrets to recruiting software engineers is the promise of more responsibility quicker than anywhere else.

    Rodney McMullen, Kroger Chairman and CEO, reveals how Kroger competes with Facebook and the tech world for software engineers at NRF 2019, Retails Big Show:

    How Kroger Competes for Tech Talent

    In terms of the number of employees, I think you will have the same number but the skillsets will be a lot different. If you look at digital, for example, we have 500 people in our digital team. Within 2-3 years we will have a thousand. With software engineers, it is a completely different type of talent. Yes, we compete with (Facebook). It’s kind of fascinating.

    It’s important for people to eat. It’s important for people to eat things they like. If you come to Kroger you are able to help people get exactly what they want when they want it. You get immediate feedback on something that is incredibly important. If the customer likes it you see it immediately. If they don’t like it you see it immediately. So you get great feedback.

    More Responsibility Quicker Than Anywhere Else

    I always tell people when we are recruiting them, I guarantee you that you will have more responsibility quicker than anywhere else. We have 25-year-old and 30-year-old people running $100 million and $200 million businesses.

    On a couple of tests that we have going on right now, we have two interns that actually did the software work to get it in place. When their internship finished they went back to college and kept working with us to finish the project they worked on. It’s one of those things that you get a tremendous amount of responsibility incredibly fast.

    The Future of Retail

    I think the store will be multi-purpose. I think about one of our bigger stores. It wouldn’t surprise me if you had a small warehouse in the back of that store. You will use the same footprint, but half of it may be a physical store that is an experience space, half of it will be more warehouse efficiency space.


  • Brands That Adjust to the New Economy Are Going to be More Successful

    Brands That Adjust to the New Economy Are Going to be More Successful

    Former CKE Restaurants CEO Andy Puzder says that brands that adjust to the new economy are going to be more successful. He says that Walmart and Target adjusted to the new economy and that’s why they are doing great. Similarly, the fast food chains that don’t adjust will not do as well as those that have like Chick-fil-A, In-N-Out Burger, and Shake Shack.

    Andy Puzder, Former CKE Restaurants CEO, discussed the how brands need to adjust to the new economy on Fox Business:

    Fast Food Industry Needs to Adjust to the New Economy

    I think there is a lot of competition now from grocery stores. Grocery store sales are up and people are eating at home. So that’s something that people that are running restaurants need to keep in mind. Secondly, people need to adjust to the new economy. It’s much like in retail. Sears is failing but Walmart is doing great. Kmart’s failing but Target’s doing great. That’s because Walmart and Target adjusted to the new economy.

    It used to be if you ran a fast food restaurant you had an advantage with the drive-thru because a soccer mom coming home from a soccer game could pick up some food and drive home and it was very convenient. Now, maybe it’s not as convenient. You could call Uber Eats and you can choose from 40 different restaurants and it’s delivered to your door. You don’t even have to sign for it. Uber uses your credit card just like when you go with an Uber driver.

    Brands That Adjust Are Going to be More Successful

    The convenience element is changing. Brands that pick up on that are going to be more successful than brands that don’t. You see brands like Chick-fil-A doing very well, In-N-Out Burger, Shake Shack, these kinds of niche brands that aren’t these larger brands that have been associated with the traditional service. Millennials react differently to that. The world is changing and restaurants need to react just like other industries.

    Markets Are Overreacting – Economy is Booming

    Transportation and construction are particularly relevant because if the economy is growing that’s where you are going to see the jobs. You will see it in people building and you will see it in people delivering goods. We are seeing continued economic growth. I would also point out that consumer spending was the best since 2006 this last holiday season and consumer spending drives two-thirds of our GDP growth. The economy is doing very very well.

    I don’t know why the markets are so overreacting to the negative news that comes out. The economy is booming, people are doing very well. Wages are up, more people are working, we have 7 million job openings, and people are taking home more of what they earn because of the tax cuts. There is really nothing on the horizon that would indicate that we are heading into a recession or even much of a slowdown.

    A Good Economy is Not Good News to Certain Party

    I think we are going to see continued accelerated growth this year despite what you are hearing in the news media. A lot of it is political. A lot of it is because there’s a Party out there for whom a good economy is not good news. That Party happens to control a lot of the news media so they’re having an impact. I think we are really having a dynamic economy and it can and will continue. The American people should be patient.


  • Lands’ End CEO: If You Are Not on Amazon You Are Not Relevant

    Lands’ End CEO: If You Are Not on Amazon You Are Not Relevant

    “For us, our partnership with Amazon was all about new customer acquisition,” says Lands’ End CEO Jerome Griffith. “If you look at searches online, more people go to Amazon to search for clothing than anyplace. If you are not there you are not relevant.”

    Jerome Griffith, CEO of Lands’ End, discussed the recent turnaround of Lands’ End and the reasons for it on Fox Business:

    We Are Doing Well Because We Went Back to Basics

    We’ve had six quarters of sales increases and five straight quarters of EBITDA increases. The company is on a good track right now. We are doing well because we went back to basics at Lands’ End and made Lands’ End what Lands’ End was meant to be.

    We Veered Away From Who the Customer Was

    The company has a very loyal consumer base. In fact, the conversion rates online are some of the best in the industry. That means the customers like what we give them. What happened over the years is we sort of veered away from who the customer was. We seemed to be saying we want a different customer. Now we don’t. We know who our customer is and we want them.

    If You Are Not on Amazon You Are Not Relevant

    For us, our partnership with Amazon was all about new customer acquisition. If you look at searches online, more people go to Amazon to search for clothing than anyplace. If you are not there you are not relevant.

    If Tariffs Come We Will Weather the Storm

    Right now we are extremely well diversified, we don’t have one country that we are over-penetrated. So even if tariffs come into effect I think we will probably weather the storm. This company is really focusing on our business fundamentals, top line growth, bottom line growth. Outside of that I can’t affect what the market does on a day in and day out basis. I tell the guys here worry about what you can affect, not what you can’t.


  • Walmart Planning Delivery Right Into Your Fridge

    Walmart Planning Delivery Right Into Your Fridge

    Walmart is looking at delivering groceries right into your fridge says Walmart Ecommerce President and CEO Mark Lore. And the step after that Lore says is delivery without even ordering, presumably using IoT technology to keep track of your refrigerator inventory.

    Mark Lore, President & CEO of Walmart U.S. E-Commerce and Founder and CEO of Jet.com discussed the future of ecommerce on CNBC’s Mad Money:

    Our Stores are Hybrid Warehouses

    This is very exciting and this is one of the reasons why I was so excited to come to Walmart. There are 4,700 stores within 10 miles of 90 percent of the population, fresh and frozen and every one of these stores just about, and we’re doing pickup free pickup on groceries in 2,100 stores and started rolling out same-day delivery as well. We should have 40 percent of the population covered by the end of this year and 60 percent of the population covered by the end of next year.

    Our stores are hybrid warehouses. But what’s really interesting is that we’re moving stuff in full truckload quantities. If you think about it, these stores that are doubling as warehouses are already profitable before the first pick. So we have a lot of like good turning inventory and the food is fresh.

    Stores Are a Huge Advantage with Same-Day Delivery

    We’re charging for delivery and customers are paying for it so that’s sort of a wash. We’re picking product in the stores that already have a really good sort of marginal profit because the stores are already profitable and our fixed overhead is covered.

    I think this is a big advantage (over Amazon) and one of the reasons why I’m so excited to be at Walmart. Stores give Walmart a huge advantage in this sort of like Omni approach to retail.

    Walmart Planning Delivery Right Into Your Fridge

    Think about the next level from that, delivery right into the fridge. Basically a one-time code, they come in with the camera on their chest, you can watch it on your iPhone and see them come in and put it in your fridge and leave. This will build confidence and trust in these Walmart associates doing the delivery. Imagine going to work and coming home and there’s the stuff in your fridge already. That’s the next step.

    Take it a step further, not even having to order it. How about just being able to keep you in stock on everything you need and just not even having to think about it.