Sears, Other Retailers Reel From Gales Of 'Creative Destruction'

Investors Business Daily ^ | 1/05/2017 | TERRY JONES

[expat_panama]

Sears. Macy's. Kohl's. Traditional department store retailers have taken hard hits over the Christmas holidays, with sales lagging the generally robust performance of retailers overall. Now, these mall stalwarts are slashing thousands of jobs and hundreds of stores, trying to right-size themselves. It's no coincidence.

Sears on Thursday became the latest retailer to announce that it was restructuring... ...Macy's is letting 10,000 people go. And Kohl's warned about its decline in sales over the holidays. Analysts expect Kohl's to announce cuts.

A few years back, it was discounter Wal-Mart, the biggest retailer on earth, announcing it was closing 100 stores.

What's going on here? In a word, Amazon.com.

The online e-retailing giant has become a dominant force...

...as brutal as it sounds, this is actually a good thing... ...new generation of retailers is using technology to personalize the customer's buying experience and use artificial intelligence to compete on the web.

Sears will never be the same. Nor will the rest of the industry. And economic changes such as those experienced by our venerable high-end retailers aren't pleasant. But they usually are beneficial and even necessary, bringing new growth where there was none and offering new possibilities for workers and customers alike. So while we lament the nostalgic past, we should also embrace the possibilities of the future.

[Beagle8U]

It is the same thing with man’s clothing, if you don’t wear 34” inseam X 34” waist jeans/pants you are out of luck.

[Beagle8U]

“Just got Amazon Prime.”

What is that? Some kind of jungle rot?

[sheana]

Hah you’re as bad as me. Awhile back my DVD player on our boat stopped working so the granddaughter, a friend, and I took off to Walmart. Picked up a cheap DVD player and a few movies that were on sale. Got to the register and one of the movies wouldn’t ring up. The gal actually looked at me and said.....there’s no price on this so I can’t sell it to you. I said.....are you really too lazy to call someone to do a price check? Instead you just tell me you can’t sell it? Then I don’t want any of it.......and we walked out.

[tbw2]

Every mall shooting, group of kids gathering to have a mass fight like those that occurred across the nation on 12/26, is a ringing endorsement for Amazon Prime.

[moovova]

I used to enjoy visiting stores and “searching” for things. Many a project came together in my mind simply by strolling the Lowe’s or Homo Depot aisles. There’s also a huge, family run hardware downtown that I used to visit because they had shelves and racks of stuff you don’t normally find at the big box hardwares. A lot of inspiration came from that store. Now, it’s just easier to go online.

I’m close to finishing a 16x20 hardwood deck (Brazilian walnut). It seems like it’s taking forever...but I guess it is. While the concrete and treated lumber framing came from Home Depot, I actually ordered the imported lumber, most hardware, screws, other fasteners online. That’s the best thing about online ordering...wide variety & great selection.

Now days, projects are fewer and farther between...trips for parts are sparse...a gallon of paint here or there, maybe. I’ve also found it takes longer for projects to be completed...purchased parts pile up in the expectation of completing a project one day.

RE Sears...I find their website to be very user unfriendly...decent selection but hard to navigate. I don’t think I’ve ever ordered anything from Sears online. (Maybe it’s my computer.)

[moovova]

“Just got Amazon Prime.”

“What is that? Some kind of jungle rot?”

Ha! It’s a new way of life!

(See Scientology.)

[Mad Dawgg]

I started buying clothes on Amazon a few years ago. If you use the "Questions Tab" supplied with each listing on Amazon you can usually get a very good idea on fit and quality and particulars of the merchandise.

I have yet not gotten what I ordered. I've only had a couple of incidents where the first item(s) I purchased were not right and they were happily exchanged for an item that fit me at no charge. BUT you must peruse all the particulars of the seller and make sure they have loads of good ACTUAL feedback that is positive. When looking at their ratings look for the term "certified purchase" (IIRC) by the people rating their product.

I now buy 95% of my clothes on Amazon but I am not a clothes hound by any means in fact I am slowly purging my closet and drawers of more and more stuff and I just buy multiples of the exact same pants and shirts and socks and underclothes. My wife was frustrated at first thinking I was nuts but then she looks at my closet and drawers and I take up 10% of the space she uses and most of my clothes get used every year. She has stuff she hasn't touched in 5 years and longer and probably never will. She is slowly coming round to my way of buying clothes.

[Mad Dawgg]

Sears did the same thing back in the day.

They would make a product successful and as it grew more popular they would deal the price down from the supplier and all of the sudden the supplier was working for Sears and they were at their mercy because most of the sales they geared up to produce came from Sears stores and Sears catalogs. Then sears would start applying more pricing demands and either start producing their own versions or buy out the company. Craftsman is one of the few products Sears actually created from scratch.

[deadrock]

Nicely put.

[GOPJ]

Amazon Prime is wonderful! Smart move.

[chaosagent]

Sears also sold Allstate motorcycles and mopeds back in the 60’s.

[daniel1212]

I’m close to finishing a 16x20 hardwood deck (Brazilian walnut).

Sounds beautiful but expensive. What would you use to fill/repair some deep marks in hardwood floors (caused by some lye)?

That’s the best thing about online ordering...wide variety & great selection.

Yes, and i am able to help neighbors to find better prices thereby. I am also able to run more than one profile of Firefox at once, and have one mainly for shopping (another mostly for text), and with the session manager ext. you can save any session of tabs. Using Colorful Tabs, and TabMixPlus (reduce tab width) and the FTDark theme helps.

Example:

RE Sears...I find their website to be very user unfriendly...decent selection but hard to navigate.

They hardly come up in my searches, and prices seem to be higher with less selection. But Amazon needs to let us choose how many items per page we can view.

[Deplorable American1776]

Sears been dying since Kmart bought them. They (Sears Holdings) took 2 stores and running them into the ground.

Macy's took the regional names off the stores, made Conservatives mad when they support left wing causes and did ads featuring nontraditional (read gay, lesbian, TG) families.

[HamiltonJay]

Sears lost its way long before Amazon...

Lambert is a lesson in self delusion..

This guy needs to step aside and let someone, ANYONE, with some retail knowledge and experience take over.. but he won’t so its just year after year watching the slow motion death spiral of SEARS.

[HamiltonJay]

Fry’s was always 1 step above flea market... even in its heyday.

[Deplorable American1776]

An ‘Easter bonnet’? I doubt Ms. DeplorableAmerican1776 ever worn an Easter bonnet, let alone my deplorable daughters.

[moovova]

“What would you use to fill/repair some deep marks in hardwood floors (caused by some lye)?”

I don’t know...I’m not an expert on a repair of that nature. Your best bet would be to contact a HW flooring company/refinisher. They may even suggest replacing the damaged area with the same wood. Maybe they can blend the new finish with the old...maybe they’ll have to refinish the whole floor.

My project is a first time DIY. I’m learning as I go!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I have found that clothing from Kohl’s is true to size. I LOVE their ‘Croft & Barrow’ line of Ladies Wear and their Tek Gear for workout/wine-drinking-movie-watching-yoga-pants clothing. ;)

I’m really surprised to see Kohl’s in this mix. They are VERY strong in Wisconsin and haven’t changed management or gone down the, ‘Gay Way Path’ or anything that I’ve read about.

*SHRUG*

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“Gracious, you could even order a kit house from Sears.”

When I was looking to buy my first home, I looked at one. It. Was. Stunning.

Out of my price-range at the time, but man-0-man, what a lovely home!

These days? I’d rather have a Pole Barn. I could live in half of it and keep the animals in the other half, LOL!

[radiohead]

I have a question for those with retail expertise. Sears and Montgomery Ward were well-known catalog stores. If you think of the internet as a catalog, amazon is also a catalog store.

Why couldn’t Sears and Wards compete in this space? Did they recognize it too late? Were their facility and personnel costs too high?

I buy almost everything from amazon and walmart.com. But I’m not store loyal; I buy from online merchants that have what I want. If Sears had something I wanted (and that might be the key right there), I’d online shop with Sears, too.

So, thoughts as to why the big catalog stores couldn’t compete with amazon?