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Interesting notes from the Q1 financial disclosures today: Target is doing poorly and the CEO just announced that they are going to do a massive reboot of the franchise in 2017 that involves: - Investing money in upgrading stores - Creating new brands and product lines that are available only at Target. - Cutting prices - Redesigning the layouts of their stores to include more food/grocery aisles and less electronics. On the other end, Wal-Mart had one of its best quarters in a long time due to an unexpected reason: A 63% increase in online sales compared to last year. And Wal-Mart is launching a new Amazon Prime type feature that guarantees free 2-day shipping for orders from WalMart.com over a certain amount with no subscription fee. Interesting to see Wal-Mart of all people jumping on that wagon. I wonder if Amazon has become so ingrained into the consciousness of people that it can't be dislodged as the "default" option for online shopping like Google is for search engines. Leon Trotsky 2012 fucked around with this message at 04:35 on May 19, 2017 |
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May 19, 2017 04:33
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Gamestop is dying too? Good, i hated them since they started pushing the preorder poo poo so hard about a decade ago, plus buying barely used games for 10 bucks then selling them for 50
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May 19, 2017 04:59
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I ordered a desk for my husband from walmart and they had an option for in-store pickup that reduced the price from like $85 originally to $33. which was cool, because it meant we had extra money for other stuff. but they shipped it from california to our walmart store (in maryland) and I don't understand how it's possible they made any money off of it. 
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May 19, 2017 05:13
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The Snoo posted:I ordered a desk for my husband from walmart and they had an option for in-store pickup that reduced the price from like $85 originally to $33. which was cool, because it meant we had extra money for other stuff. I'd imagine their costs to move goods through their distribution system is minuscule compared to what they pay to have a freight company haul it to your door. I've honestly never bought anything from Walmart online but I imagine they use the same big carriers everyone else does, right?
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May 19, 2017 05:18
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:Interesting notes from the Q1 financial disclosures today: Target's website sucks and they never have sales. Create some kind of sale. Any kind of sale. People don't buy if they think they can have a sale on poo poo and redesign the website. That will fix a lot of their issues. Yeah Wal-Mart is taking off in the webspace. Buying Jet was smart.
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May 19, 2017 05:22
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ISeeCuckedPeople posted:It's not like you can put air conditioning in warehouses. That would increase the cost of goods extremely. uhhh also because it was literally ruining the goods they were storing. Because of the temperature and amazon wanted to ship food products. Pretty sure that human poo poo was secondary.
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May 19, 2017 07:39
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Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:Amazon doesn't do any of the crazy perks that google does which buys the latter a lot of good will for not very much money/employee. They still want crazy hours out of people. Like I'm sure there are specific teams that do crazy hours, but as a general rule if anything Google work life balance seems to be pretty great. At least from what I've seen.
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May 19, 2017 07:54
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ISeeCuckedPeople posted:Target's website sucks and they never have sales. This is another area where retailers shot themselves in the foot. When I worked at BB Corporate the website was dog poo poo. It was dog poo poo because it had no funding. It had no funding because because the entire management team was made up of former store managers. Store managers hated the website because they viewed it as stealing their sales. And managers were paid based on their in store sales. I'll bet there is a similar situation in at least half of retailers.
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May 19, 2017 14:16
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Came across this old article on Amazon Prime memberships by household income: http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-prime-penetration-by-household-income-2016-4 quote:New data from Piper Jaffray shows that half of all households in the United States are Prime members, up from about 35% two years ago. The penetration is highest, and growing fastest, among upper-income households with more than $112,000 a year in annual income — more than 70% of households in that demographic have a subscription, up from less than half two years ago. Is it really any wonder Amazon is destroying malls and retailers? Insane. dont even fink about it posted:The only retail left will be anything that can find an excuse to include grocery items. "I came in here for a motherfucking shower curtain, but I just walked out dropping $300." Calculated Chaos: Examining the Brilliant Strategy Behind Bed Bath & Beyond https://www.racked.com/2015/2/26/8110031/bed-bath-beyond-home-goods-market Confounding Factor fucked around with this message at 15:50 on May 19, 2017 |
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May 19, 2017 15:19
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It's always nice to hear that TJ Maxx is doing well still. I worked there for 15 years starting off as a cashier and then ending up as an assistant manager before leaving to pursue something else. Our store location was always completely nuts because it was in a wealthy suburb of Nashville and those WASP women love a good deal on some clothes. In the mid 2000s they added a Homegoods onto our location and you'd be shocked at how much furniture and stuff went out the door daily. We never had sales but did have a relatively short markdown schedule that cleared room and always allowed new merchandise to take its place. I wish I had bought some stock when I started as a high schooler in 2000 because I would have made some nice money by the time I left.
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May 19, 2017 18:23
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In the UK it's called TK maxx and it's actually really good for furniture, you never get anything consistent but you can get a massive lump of wood for surprisingly cheap.
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May 19, 2017 18:38
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ISeeCuckedPeople posted:Target's website sucks and they never have sales. They have tons of sales but you have to use their separate cartwheel app which is really dumb. The 5% for using their store debit card is nifty at least and it's probably the only chip/pin system in the US.
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May 19, 2017 20:56
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:On the other end, Wal-Mart had one of its best quarters in a long time due to an unexpected reason: I wonder if the grocery pickup option counts as online sales because that is by far the best idea to come from grocery stores in a long time.
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May 23, 2017 20:17
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HEY NONG MAN posted:What do you mean "logarithmic fining"? I was drunk posting in anger after sending off case reviews for charge backs for my company. After getting so many odious chargebacks from Amazon we started to meticulous documenting all orders going out to Amazon so we can fight said chargebacks. This has led me to believe there is a certain amount of randomness and inconsistency in the way they are generated. Chargebacks are basically fines levied by Amazon for "non compliance" This could mean a missing carton label, and incorrect Shipping notification, or a mismatched ASN number. These add up really fast and can very quickly kill your sales margin with them. I'm going to write up an effort post later this week on Jet/Amazon's vendor programs. And some of the distribution tactics in sales at the warehouse and distribution level. I would specifically love it if BrandorKP would comment in afterwards. I think he has alot of insight into supply chain management and can probably corroborate some of my observations. There is alot of talk about retailing at the consumer level. I would really like anyone else who can chime in at the supplier level. It's where things start to get really shady and crazy real fast. BlueBlazer fucked around with this message at 20:54 on May 23, 2017 |
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May 23, 2017 20:36
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CFox posted:I wonder if the grocery pickup option counts as online sales because that is by far the best idea to come from grocery stores in a long time. Grocery stores have been offering that by phone for a very long time. One of my grandpa's summer jobs in high school in the Bronx was taking acre of the phone order pickup at a supermarket, and also doing grocery deliveries for the same place. And that would have been I think 1951 or 1952. fishmech fucked around with this message at 21:21 on May 23, 2017 |
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May 23, 2017 21:19
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fishmech posted:Grocery stores have been offering that by phone for a very long time. One of my grandpa's summer jobs in high school in the Bronx was taking acre of the phone order pickup at a supermarket, and also doing grocery deliveries for the same place. And that would have been I think 1951 or 1952. It feels like one of those things like "made to measure" clothing that pretty much died out since the 50's outside of really high end markets and is coming back into vogue via online ordering etc.
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May 23, 2017 21:47
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Jack2142 posted:It feels like one of those things like "made to measure" clothing that pretty much died out since the 50's outside of really high end markets and is coming back into vogue via online ordering etc.
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May 23, 2017 22:03
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Jack2142 posted:It feels like one of those things like "made to measure" clothing that pretty much died out since the 50's outside of really high end markets and is coming back into vogue via online ordering etc. Eh it's more of a thing that suburban markets never bothered to provide, while the city markets continued to provide it because people were used to it. Even many of the relatively "new" services were actually founded in the 70s or 80s on a phone and fax basis, and picked up online ordering in the mid-90s once consumer internet became a thing. Peapod for instance, which is now owned by Ahold and only deals with their branded stores and warehouses. What we've seen in recent years is these services gradually being made available to suburban or even rural locations and chains.
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May 23, 2017 22:10
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BlueBlazer posted:I would specifically love it if BrandorKP would comment in afterwards. I think he has alot of insight into supply chain management and can probably corroborate some of my observations. I have a suspicion about what they are trying to do, if I get time I might post it premptively. Works busy right now though.
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May 23, 2017 23:56
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So I got my dad to talk to me about the sale of A&P back in 79 to Tengelmann Group. Apparently what they did was liquidate the pensions. If you weren't vested (and most vesting periods were longer prior to this sale, they were shortened by Congress because of it), you were wiped out. If you were vested they bought you out with a lump sum. The money taken from employees during the takeover apparently paid for the entirety of the purchase of A&P. So Tengelmann Group got it basically for free. Looks like it's been the same bullshit in grocery for a long time.
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May 24, 2017 00:04
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BrandorKP posted:So I got my dad to talk to me about the sale of A&P back in 79 to ... How did that not result in murder? Jesus Christ.
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May 24, 2017 00:08
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Xae posted:This is another area where retailers shot themselves in the foot. I think this happened at Dunder Mifflin.
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May 24, 2017 00:24
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Triangle Shirt Factotum posted:... How did that not result in murder? Jesus Christ. My parents went gently caress this poo poo and moved to Florida. They lived in a 10' trailer down by the river. Dad was a boat painter paid in cash for a few years. Until they needed healthcare when mom got pregnant with me and he got sucked back into grocery and then got stuck there for healthcare reasons.
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May 24, 2017 00:47
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dont even fink about it posted:Right now Amazon is in an extended honeymoon phase where it is still the cool place to work and do the minimum two years to get the good stock options. Microsoft went through this phase, and the adjustment was rough, but it survives. I get tons of recruiter spam from Amazon and have always ignored it, a big part because of all the stories about how it's a terrible place to work as a developer? I didn't even know they still had stock options; their recruiters sure don't advertise this. Do you have more details?
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May 24, 2017 07:07
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Confounding Factor posted:Came across this old article on Amazon Prime memberships by household income: One of the problem is shelf deals and a single company will monopolize a product space by paying a ton of money to a retailer. Like try buying a mop that isn't the green Libman trash. Three grocery store, Lowe's home depot Menard's that's all they had
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May 24, 2017 14:06
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Chuu posted:I get tons of recruiter spam from Amazon and have always ignored it, a big part because of all the stories about how it's a terrible place to work as a developer? Yeah, me too. It makes them look really desperate - my skill set is a long way from e-commerce. I assume they spam everyone with a CS degree and a LinkedIn account.
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May 24, 2017 15:15
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BarbarianElephant posted:Yeah, me too. It makes them look really desperate - my skill set is a long way from e-commerce. I assume they spam everyone with a CS degree and a LinkedIn account. Recruiters are paid on commission and if they don't perform are fired fast. Most of those are probably outside recruiters too. I've heard that Amazon is siloed to such and extend that your experience as a developer is good or bad depending entirely on your managers.
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May 24, 2017 15:24
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hobbesmaster posted:Recruiters are paid on commission and if they don't perform are fired fast. Most of those are probably outside recruiters too. Sure. But I don't get this spam from "cool" companies like Google. Just Amazon. Makes me feel that they are desperate enough for warm bodies to work with spammy recruiters. The places that people are desperate to work at don't need to do this - candidates come to them.
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May 24, 2017 15:35
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BarbarianElephant posted:Sure. But I don't get this spam from "cool" companies like Google. Just Amazon. Makes me feel that they are desperate enough for warm bodies to work with spammy recruiters. The places that people are desperate to work at don't need to do this - candidates come to them. I had two separate occasions where I was talked into phone interviews with their recruiters with continued pleas of, "I know what your looking for and I'm not it." After which I was insulted to the point where I hung up after a very gracious "gently caress you for wasting my time." My loath for Amazon is full circle.
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May 24, 2017 19:31
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Chuu posted:I get tons of recruiter spam from Amazon and have always ignored it, a big part because of all the stories about how it's a terrible place to work as a developer? I didn't even know they still had stock options; their recruiters sure don't advertise this. Do you have more details? you get RSUs, not stock options. BarbarianElephant posted:Yeah, me too. It makes them look really desperate - my skill set is a long way from e-commerce. I assume they spam everyone with a CS degree and a LinkedIn account. why would your skillset being related to e-commerce matter? almost nobody i know at amazon ever worked in anything related to e-commerce before they worked there. the linkedin spamming is probably because recruiters for various groups work independently, such that you might have multiple people all looking for the same things. FamDav fucked around with this message at 23:36 on May 24, 2017 |
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May 24, 2017 23:31
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If you're not getting recruiter spam, especially as a developer, you probably need a better LinkedIn/LinkedIn with more keywords, which is its own subject. There is a developer shortage in most areas. When you do get spammed, here is almost certainly what is actually happening: You are not getting spammed by Google or Amazon itself. You are getting spammed by recruiters who are under the gun to produce results for their dark masters at the call center in India. None of these people work for the tech company at all. They are attempting to fulfill a contract deal wherein you get paid say $50/hour and the company makes $10/hour off that from their deal with Google for sourcing you. Google, meanwhile, has released this opening to 5 or 10 head-hunting services all working the same leads using the same tactics, so you will get 2-4 emails or calls about the exact same job (at different hourly rates!). I have seen this from every company, including The Great Google. If you're not getting recruiters working a Google position, it's because you don't have the keywords or are not on the right sites. When you get a call/email from the actual company, you will know it. If you are a dev and you are getting multiple calls from a real company, it's because they have a shortage and they don't have time to wait around for you to figure out they are looking. Here's a hint: When companies offer their employees referral bonuses that sometimes total into the thousands of dollars, it is not for more baristas for the coffee bar. Amazon and Google are growing. Don't mix things up and psych yourself out of a job because you're too good to even consider it. You ain't.
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May 25, 2017 00:17
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hobbesmaster posted:
This is accurate.
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May 25, 2017 00:30
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hobbesmaster posted:I've heard that Amazon is siloed to such and extend that your experience as a developer is good or bad depending entirely on your managers. That is every big company. Rampant incompetence aside I enjoyed my time at BBY Corporate. Until we got a new manager who thought "Death March" was a guide book instead of cautionary tale. One week is was chill people getting work done and the next is was a high pressure work 24/7 or get fired.
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May 25, 2017 01:08
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dont even fink about it posted:When you do get spammed, here is almost certainly what is actually happening: You are not getting spammed by Google or Amazon itself. You are getting spammed by recruiters who are under the gun to produce results for their dark masters at the call center in India. None of these people work for the tech company at all. They are attempting to fulfill a contract deal wherein you get paid say $50/hour and the company makes $10/hour off that from their deal with Google for sourcing you. Is this true even if their contact e-mail is @google.com/@facebook.com/@amazon.com?
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May 25, 2017 05:32
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BlueBlazer posted:I was drunk posting in anger after sending off case reviews for charge backs for my company. After getting so many odious chargebacks from Amazon we started to meticulous documenting all orders going out to Amazon so we can fight said chargebacks. This has led me to believe there is a certain amount of randomness and inconsistency in the way they are generated. Chargebacks are basically fines levied by Amazon for "non compliance" This could mean a missing carton label, and incorrect Shipping notification, or a mismatched ASN number. These add up really fast and can very quickly kill your sales margin with them. My company had dealings with amazon and we put an end to them back in 2014 due to their incredibly shady practices involving fines to suppliers. I work for a european wide clothing brand and some of the things i've seen 'big' retailers do just makes me wonder how they stay in business. Edit - In fact I could do a very long post about how they decided to stop paying us for 6 months because we hadn't invoiced them correctly for a pallet of sun tan lotion. The fact we did not supply them sun tan lotion, do not manufacture sun tan lotion or indeed, were not the company they kept calling us when requesting this invoice did not factor into getting this resolved very quickly. serious gaylord fucked around with this message at 08:29 on May 25, 2017 |
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May 25, 2017 08:25
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serious gaylord posted:My company had dealings with amazon and we put an end to them back in 2014 due to their incredibly shady practices involving fines to suppliers. I work for a european wide clothing brand and some of the things i've seen 'big' retailers do just makes me wonder how they stay in business. At that point you're probably dealing with very bored people who don't really give a gently caress about putting more than the minimally required effort to not get fired into processing your complaint number? 
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May 25, 2017 08:40
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I CANNOT EJACULATE WITHOUT SEEING NATIVE AMERICANS BRUTALISED!
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blowfish posted:At that point you're probably dealing with very bored people who don't really give a gently caress about putting more than the minimally required effort to not get fired into processing your complaint number? It's really interesting how "silo-ed" Amazon is. I have an in-law in cloud services that's opposite of how he is encouraged to deal with problem tickets.
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May 25, 2017 16:43
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Sears posted its first profit in over two years today and the stock value went up over 30%. (It's a one-time thing from the $700 million they got for selling the Craftsman brand and a bunch of real estate + cutting costs; sales are down 12.5%) But if you went all in on Sears stock last week and dump it all today, then you just made a lot of money.
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May 25, 2017 18:28
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serious gaylord posted:My company had dealings with amazon and we put an end to them back in 2014 due to their incredibly shady practices involving fines to suppliers. I work for a european wide clothing brand and some of the things i've seen 'big' retailers do just makes me wonder how they stay in business. MY GIRLFRIEND works for an environmental waste company with large retail accounts and I get to hear all kinds of dumb poo poo about them not paying their bills. It's insane how large companies can just say, gently caress you, I'm not paying this bill because I need an invoice copy in triplicate with x y z attached, and then I'm still going to wait half a year before I do.
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May 25, 2017 18:36
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Large companies love to poo poo all over small vendors/suppliers because they can. If theyre your largest customer, and they know it, you really can't say no if they decide to start paying you 180 days out. That being said, client of mine owns a vending/coffee service company and one of their clients(a large oil field company) stopped paying. Vending company showed up Monday at 8am and started loading up the coffee machines. By about 8:02 a manager with the oil company was screaming on the phone to their boss in Houston and by 8:10 they had paid the entire 90 days worth of invoices by credit card and everyone could now get their caffeine fix. Some days, the little guy wins.
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May 25, 2017 18:57
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