Sears' Decline Actually Demonstrates Amazon's Vulnerability

RCM ^ | 01/09/2018 | By Allan Golombek

[slowhandluke]

Sears could still be alive, selling via Amazon, if they had kept any quality.

They lost me when Craftsman became Crapsman. The low level stuff was K-mart level, the higher stuff was up-priced versions of low level Ryobi or maybe DeWalt at the top.

They lost my wife when Target started selling better quality kids clothes at the same price.

In a small town, at a small Sears store, you could order from the catalog and pick it up at the store somewhat conveniently. In a large store in a large town, the catalogue pickup was a mess, as it used the same informal 'just pile it anywhere' filing process for packages waiting for pickup.

They were being stupid on all fronts well before Amazon ate their lunch.

The internet makes some changes easy, but the fantastic improvement in inventory management, warehouse handling, and shipping that Amazon provided were not easy. That was in large part a brick and mortar effort.

Bezos simply thought harder and better about what business(es) he could be in, what he wanted to be in. The Sears guys just kept cutting quality, never re-thought anything.

And Bezos was supported by a many boatloads of money to build what he built without having to show a profit. The money folk did not see anything in Sears management that excited them.

[Oatka]

Sell if you own it. In fact if you didn’t sell this years ago you’re late to the game.

You forgot the sarcasm tag.

Jeff Bezos is now the richest man EVER: Amazon CEO's fortune rockets

[snip] "In the last 12 months, Amazon’s stock has climbed by nearly 57 per cent. So far in 2018, the e-commerce giant’s shares have jumped 6.6 per cent."

[Oatka]

I have 3 major sources of purchases outside groceries: Amazon, eBay, and Walmart.

Basically the same here. I use Amazon the way people use the brick 'n mortar stores. Shop there, find what I want, check the reviews and then search for the same item on eBay. Usually find it and get free shipping, something you can't get on Amazon without going Prime.

[Crucial]

I do think Walmart is Amazon’s best competitor.

[nicollo]

The Amazon proposition is if its online portal is worth the 20% margin it charges. The answer is yes, and companies like Nike are going all in now. It will be a long while before someone can compete w/ Amazon, but they will. For now, Amazon will rule.

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

My local Sears closed several years ago. The only thing it was good for was the Craftsman section - gave me a place to hang out while the wife and kids shopped. They had nothing worth buying other than tools, though - hadn’t spent a dime their for years before they closed.