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What Consumer-Facing CEOs Think: "It's Like Being At War"
U.S. companies are taking a margin hit as they continue to cut prices amid intense competition, according to Bloomberg Briefs' Richard Yamarone. In this disinflationary environment, Yamarone notes that consumer-related businesses are raising red flags on the struggling household sector, especially those at the lower end of the income spectrum. Here are 8 CEOs comments to clarify the 'real' situation (as consumer confidence somehow hits 7 year highs)...
Hooker Furniture [HOFT] Earnings Call 9/10/14: “We’ve seen a slowdown in orders during the late spring, early summer and that demand was not as robust as we would have hoped given our strong furniture market in April. That trend continued throughout most of the summer, which was characterized by fairly sluggish retail conditions.”
Restoration Hardware [RH] Earnings Call 9/10/14: “As of late, there have been multiple questions, comments and discussions in the press and among the investment community about the continued caution of the customer, the increased promotional environment, and an apparent overall retail funk in the marketplace. Being in the retail business is like being at war.”
Wet Seal [WTSL] Earnings Call 9/10/14: “The competitive space has been highly promotional for quite a while. We’ve done some modifying to our pricing strategy, got high/low. That’s something that I know with that we’re going to be taking a hard look at as the balancing of the pricing shifts, and what we’re doing promotionally the right mix at this point.”
Del Monte Foods [DLM] Earnings Call 9/9/14: “The tough operating environment for consumer packaged goods companies continues. As the consumer struggles with the slow recovery of purchasing power, promotional pricing is being used to drive traffic at retail.”
Burlington Stores Inc. [BURL] Earnings Call 9/9/14: “We feel that 3 percent to 4 percent in the third quarter is a good number relative to our total performance in the first half of the year. And as far as the fourth quarter go, fundamentally, we feel that we’re operating very, very strongly. We just feel it’s better to be cautious this far out from the fourth quarter. So, we felt that 2 percent to 3 percent was the right number overall. We know it’s going to be a highly promotional quarter as it always has been.”
Pep Boys [PBY] Earnings Call 9/9/14: “It is a competitive environment both within the automotive aftermarket and for consumer spending in general. It has been challenging to attract our target customers at a faster rate than we have lost less profitable low price focused customers.”
Campbell Soup [CPB] Earnings Call 9/8/14: “Our industry is now in a period of profound change and challenge and there has been a meaningful decline in the performance of the packaged foods sector. Forces like the economic environment, the transformation of consumer food preferences with regard to health and wellness and their demand for greater transparency, the powerful social and demographic changes, and the rise of e-commerce are all driving significant changes in consumer behavior with respect to food.”
Bebe Stores [BEBE] Earnings Call 9/4/14: “Our overall 35 outlet locations continued to experience negative traffic during the fiscal fourth quarter in the month of July. The promotional environment continues to be a headwind for us, especially at outlet locations.”
J Crew Group Inc. [JCG] Earnings Call 9/4/14: “The environment continues to be challenging. Traffic continues to be a headwind. We’re not immune to that factor. I think connected to that is the promotional environment, which remains in a pronounced, or a heightened situation. So those things are headwinds to our business.”
Source: Bloomberg Briefs
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Can't give their shit away.
Just tried to buy a box of peal off labels for my laser printer at the local Office Max. $38.99 + tax.
Same brand on line $4.99 and no tax. Retail is well and truely fucked.
You should of bought some used Hooker furniture instead!
Like being at war??
If they were at war, they would be up to their eyeballs in money!
Psych, We'll save you $2000 a year when you enroll(not buy) in classes at our College/University... and each semester that is the savings. You are Investing not spending. It is Credit Not money.
Contract with us for big savings.
When you save with us there is no price really...
Psych... American Business... American Propaganda.
Leveraging your Credit for your Future.
Went into a Lowes yesterday for heat shields for the grill, more employees than customers, it was like the Carlsbad Caverns in there.
"Hi! Can I help you find anything?" - perky door greeter says.
No, its right over here, thanks.
"Well, let us know if you do!"
Yeah, ok.
So I'm standing there looking at an empty box of what I need.
"Hi! Can I help you find anything?" - they're like ants.
Well yeah, you have anymore of these?
"No, we're out of those but we've go these universal ones."
Those are nine bucks apiece, I need three, thats thirty bucks for heat/drip shields.
"Yeah, sorry, they're back ordered.
Yeah, me too...I said leaving going over to the sheet metal aisle, I'll cut my own, for ten bucks.
I love how Walmart never has the cheapest item in stock. I think its the strategy, "get frustrated and buy the higher priced one." I stopped going there for the cheap stuff cause I know its never in stock.
+100... thanks for that... was wondering.
Now for AMAZON !
Everybody should NOW check the prices they list in comparison to other outlets on the internet that may now offer it a lot cheaper.
For example... 6 months ago i bought Blue Dewalt Saftey Glasses for about $4.40 from Amazon.
Then went back 8 months later & they are selling the SAME Blue Dewalt Saftey Glasses for the price $7.40+.
http://www.amazon.com/DPG52-BC-Contractor-Performance-Lightweight-Protec...
But if you shop around you will find the SAME Blue Dewalt Saftey Glasses for $3.50-$5.00 from a number of different vendors.
http://www.safetyglassesusa.com/dpg52-b.html
http://www.aaaindustrialsupply.com/dewaltsafetyglasses.aspx
http://www.c2csafety.com/servlet/the-1927/DEWALT-DPG52-dsh-BD-CONTRACTOR...
http://www.tasco-safety.com/sglasses/dewalt-eye-protection.html
etc...
If you are shopping at Amazon you now need to do working price comparisons... I call it The Amazon Rip... and i have seen it with a lot of other products they carry... couple bucks here couple bucks there... times millions of buyers and you have... The Amazon Rip !
/Sir Edge
Ebay is almost always cheaper than Amazon and you get to patronize some little guy's operation.
Thieir (W/M) issue is also the screw up of thier reknowned supply system... its buggered. Some stores have huge empty areas often - and that reads completely contrary to the scorecard which specifies that the stores have to operate "full". I suspect we're seeing a combination of ever more belt tightening on key employee IT positions, lack of investment in IT infrastructure, and some of the effect of the Chinese shoving it to North America for the hacking accusations through not shipping scheduled exports... the accusations were probably justified and accurate, but susceptibible to political retaliation, anyway. Do not forget that W/M has been in a serious cost tighening exercise for at least 9 months... and being run by accountants rather than operations people, it will show as lack of product. They are no longer sufficienty able to engineer "outs" as well as they once were able to do. The internal managemnt talent is going so fast downhill that you can't keep up with it.
Grilling season's over, likely adding to the scarcity. I know the shields you're talking about. Just a little tented piece of sheet metal.
For $50 you probably could have bought a whole new grill on clearance.
The trend I've noticed over a long period of time is what my Grandfather would have called the "throwaway economy". Stuff is made like crap, you can't get spare parts for it, they're viciously expensive if you can, and buying a whole new one on sale usually only costs about 2x what repairing the old one would.
Consumers are responding. Know anybody who actually knows how to fix anything themselves these days? Few and far between. I feel like I'm the last of my kind some days.
Yeah I just looked on-line, they want twenty bucks APIECE!
http://www.clagrills.com/allgrillparts/grillmaster/grillmaster-model-720-0737.htm
I can't cut heavy gauge stainless but I can cut a lot of thinner galvanized up until I need another grill.
I like cooking my chickens on charcoal and I just this summer discovered those "charcoal chimney" thingys that let you stack your charcoal and light with newspaper. No fuel! I picked up a couple. Will come in handy when lighter fuel (and everything else) is scarce.
P.S. Charcoal is a good prep item, if one has space.
Dude, cut the top and bottom out of a #10 can and stuff wadded up newspaper underneath the grate. That's how us rednecks been doing it for decades but we never told you urbanite guys the secret. I'm only doing this for you because you're ZH and aren't going to tell anybody who isn't a member of the club, are you?
Newspaper? What's that?
I won't tell them about that, but I can't wait to see their reaction when I tell them that I am not a redneck.
I never tried it, but I bet you could make one hell of a can cannon out of #10's.
We shot tennis balls out of regular cans, could use a volleyball for #10.
Do not use galvanized on your grill...zink poisoning is not funny!
I remember my father, who never complained about much of anything, being really pissed about factory sealed water pumps.
He was a damn fine country mechanic, and understood immediately, that you had to buy a new one. You couldn't take the damn thing apart, and replace a five cent washer. Those were the days.
Quick followup example: Water filters for your refrigerator's water/icemaker... (Now if you don't mind, I'll just whip myself a few more times with a freshly cut branch of blackthorn)...
https://www.filtersfast.com/Samsung-Replacement-Refrigerator-Water-Filte...
Buying them through Samsung they are $10 to $20 dollars more...
On your second note... I just finished a contract gig at Qualcomm, and they have an entire e-mail alias dedicated to learning how to fix things themselves. One of the first companies I have seen do something like this. Usually it is the older generation of engineers replying to a younger generation on how to take care of/fix things I learned in my youth after my father died. It's not like the younger generation aren't intellectually curious, they just weren't taught to do it themselves by a preceding generation that could just hire someone to do it for them.
No, you are not alone. Hell, I even went so far as to buy my own sawmill and cut my own lumber.
I've got a problem with the whole icemaker/water dispenser setup. I have seen people get pissed off at their "smart refrigerator" with plumbing or control problems and use it as an excuse to get a new one. The refrigerator is one of the most reliable appliances around so the manufacturers had to come up with a way to "fix until broke."
Yep. The first thing that breaks is the water. It's made my life hell for the last fifteen years. First, it broke in the night and flooded the kitchen. The damn thing was only a couple years old!
Call for a fix, 'oh, sorry, it just went off warranty last month. Three hundred dollar minimum.'
So I tinker with it, start looking at part prices, $100 minimum, and I can't tell which part, so i'm looking at another $300 minimum plug & play. No.
So I tell the wife to breakout the ice trays, we're not using the fridge water anymore. Once or twice a week for the next ten years I hear about it. Screaming, pleading, crying.
Finally, the freon and motor go out and we go fridge shopping. My one deal-breaker, no water/ice maker. But they don't have any! You can't find a fridge without at least an ice maker. 90+% of them have in-door water dispensers. Sure, you can get the small, college dorm room ones, or a $4k sub zero without, but nothing in between.
So now I sit here, listening to the ice maker making stranger and stranger noises, waiting out the last year of warrenty so it can break, the wife screaming at anyone that touches the ice maker because it might break m
I am not disagreeing totally with the "throwaway" comment.
But part of it is understandable.
Back in 1965 a refrigerator cost $700 - which was a month maybe two months pay for most people - if something went wrong with it a service call was $25 labor maybe $35 for parts - 35/700= 8.5% of the cost of a new one.
So you fixed it - because it didn't cost much VS what a new one would cost.
Today a refrigerator costs $900 less than a weeks pay - if it breaks a service call costs you $250 for labor and $300 for parts 500/900= 55% the cost of a new one.
So you figure - the thing is 4 years old - fuck it - if one more thing goes wrong with it I would be better off buying a new one.
There is a lesson there if you are fortunate enough to be able to take advantage of it.. When I bought my house, it had a laundry room, so I bought a washer and dryer. No longer having a wife who insists on the newest crap, I bought a 1970's vintage Maytag washer/dryer set for $150 from a repair shop that took them in on trade and fixed them. Still working 10 years later although I think I had to replace a $7 belt in the washer.
Not sure I believe the manufacturer - but even if only part of what they claim is true the extra energy and water usage have cost you more over those 10 years than the price of a new W&D.
I recall many years ago having a hose blow out on our 10 year old Kenmore washing machine - I called Sears - they had to order the part - it was $150. I told them to shove it. Back then a new one was $200.
I took the hose off - it was preformed into a "Z" shape - a plain straight hose would not work.
I took the hose into the auto parts store - handed it to the guy behind the counter and ask him if he had one like it.
He ask - what year and model?
I said 1995 Kenmore - he said - do you mean Kenworth? I said no Kenmore washing machine.
He goes into the back and brings out a hose that looked exactly the same except one end was a little longer - I cut it off to match - It was $5. IIRC it was for a Ford.
That washer lasted a few more years -
Speaking of grilling...anyone notice how it's become cheaper to go out to eat than to cook a good meal at home??? (At least for 2 people)
Does it make you wonder what's in the burger?
Same here. I prefer Lowe's but it was home depot yesterday. Never got so much attention before, and actually a fair amount of expertise. Was nice considering I have completely given up on personable, competent help anywhere.
Except my local gun shop.
I've noticed that about Lowes too.
LOTS of employees just staaaaanding around doing nooothing.
Customers? meh... not so many.
Were there more employees in the store than customers?
Yes.
I wonder how long Lowe's can get away with that kind of labor model.... it was mostly young kids that I'm sure couldn't find a job anywhere else if Lowe's let them go.
I went into Lowes to buy a hammer drill. Their least expensive one was on sale but they were out of stock. The tool manager asked what I was looking for, I told him they were out stock and he then said if I was interested he would sell me the considerably more expensive drill for the same price. I've never seen people at Lowes dicker on price before, esp. on tools. He was acting like it was a fire sale or something.
+10 on the profile pic
Staples, Office Max and Office Depot are all like ghost towns. Pre-Hope and Change - I used to shop in one of them usually every other week. Now, I go in them maybe once every 3 months and never buy anything.
I guess I go in there for nostalgia when the USA actually had an economy. I pretend there is still an America and an economy.
That's how I feel exactly when I go there too.
Isn't it weird? These office supply stores are now like museums when Amerika had an economy pre-Hope and Change. I cannot fathom how they stay open.
I worked at Office Depot from 2005-2008. I saw its stock at the peak....around 45 dollars a share. When the economy collapsed I saw it go to nearly .50 cents share. They almost were delisted. We went from 9 employees in one store to just me and the copy girl all day on an 9 hour shift. The manager would have to come out of his hidey hole just to give each of us a 15 minute break.
Saw Thanksgiving go from the Zombie Apocalypse in terms of hoards of people from 6 a.m. on throughout the day until 2008 when we could have closed up shop after the 1st hour that morning. And there wasn't that many zombies to begin with.
Never have been back......not even as a shopper. To any of them.
I'm in Canada, dropped into my local Staples for a calculator, there were 4 employees for every customer. How do i know? Cause it was just me and another guy, no other customers. Lots of employees though.
How can thess stores keep this up?
I was checking on a new office chair from Staples on-line and it was already on sale, I looked at a couple more items, went back to the chair page and a pop-up came up and offer me an additional 40% off on the on-sale chair I was looking at earlier with free next day delivery but I had 1 minute to make up my mine on the deal (it had a countdown clock), which I took. I've never had an on-line store bait me to buy something before. The chair was delivered next day with free pick-up/return if I wasn't satisfied.
I wonder how much of that $38.99 is local property and "use" taxes.
Local small restaurant here was paying over $12,000 a year on their building a few years ago. Two story with basement and about 120' x 30'. So what does a big box store pay?
But then the local pols and crats will come out and pontificate that "online is unfair to the local tax base...blah, lying blah." Now what's unfair is stealing every dollar and dime they can get their hands on. But they won't tell you that. Nope.
An American, not US subject.
"Guillotines: Think global, use local."
You are correct because I own a retail store. However, that $4.99 online is just another dent in the eventual bankruptcy of that particular seller--unless of course they are a "favored" mega online house.
That's quite a massive difference in price there. Almost hard to believe really.
In any event, retail is fucked "for now" because the status quo just ain't going to be sticking around all that much longer in my opinion.
The days of shopping online are going to change because the costs are going to change. I don't believe the "Amazons" are going to make it in the long run.
I can't put my finger on it but I see online sales for particular goods going the opposite direction. Not all items of course.
When I actually try to spend money locally in a big box store I usually end up leaving. The other day I went into one with the intent of buying shoes locally. I found the type I wanted but not the size. When i asked the clerk if I could get them ordered in the correct size she told me to go to the computer kiosk to order them and it would take 10 days, YES 10 days to get there. I remembered the model number and brand, ordered them on Amazon that night and recieved them in two days- with ALOT more selection of colors and the price was a few dollars cheaper. These stores simply don't WANT our business. These places can't lift a finger to try and compete with the likes of Amazon. I suppose they dont feel that the customer deserves to be able to openly review an item and know if it is a piece of crap before they buy it. They don't like the competitive pricing or the fast shipping. Good for them. See y'all in bankruptcy court. How can I really care when typically you are just choosing between one factory in China or another factory in China? None of these stores really give a crap about America or its employment. Just about profit. So in turn, I could care less about them.
When I actually try to spend money locally in a big box store I usually end up leaving. The other day I went into one with the intent of buying shoes locally. I found the type I wanted but not the size. When i asked the clerk if I could get them ordered in the correct size she told me to go to the computer kiosk to order them and it would take 10 days, YES 10 days to get there. I remembered the model number and brand, ordered them on Amazon that night and recieved them in two days- with ALOT more selection of colors and the price was a few dollars cheaper. These stores simply don't WANT our business. These places can't lift a finger to try and compete with the likes of Amazon. I suppose they dont feel that the customer deserves to be able to openly review an item and know if it is a piece of crap before they buy it. They don't like the competitive pricing or the fast shipping. Good for them. See y'all in bankruptcy court. How can I really care when typically you are just choosing between one factory in China or another factory in China? None of these stores really give a crap about America or its employment. Just about profit. So in turn, I could care less about them.
Those Wall Street darlings are subsidized in various ways you will never have access to. Money for cronies is free because it can be created infinitely. It doesn't matter if they lose money on operations. They can outlast you. If you do not like sound money gold, this should help move your needle. Fiat is corruption and abuse. They will use it to stamp you out no matter what the effect on the economy or greater good.
Recently went to the local big-box office retailer in search of a toner cartridge for an older HP printer. They didn't have it in stock but could order it for $120, or the remanufactured version for $80. Since there would be a wait either way, I checked on ebay and found it for $40 FOR TWO OEM HP CARTRIDGES, including shipping. When they arrived, the boxes were stained like they had been in a small flood, but the sealed-in-the-bag cartridges were fine. Big box retail is definitely going the way of the DoDo.
Recovery Summer No. 5
Christmas Sales In the Shitter Season No. 6 On Deck
(If it weren't for inflation, GDP would be contracting again - Keep hammering away at and destroying the real purchasing power of the largest remaining portion of the middle class bell curve, Yellen, you troll looking Druish Whore)
Just wait till it gets cold, then they can blame it on the weather again.
"The less than anticipated sales is the result of more than anticipated snow!"
Anyone get Restoration Hardware catalogs? They used to send they to me. I have no idea why. They send out these things bigger than a phone book. Overpriced 1% crap.
Used to get locksmith catalogs back in the day.
But I still prefer Mrs.N's Venus & Victoria Secret catalogs ;-)
Ahem.....Shirly's and Fredrick's of Hollywood. Just sayin'
It's a Faustian Bargain, let that fiat trickle down into the hands of the great unwashed and watch prices spiral out of control or continue to ring-fence the excess liquidity in the possession of the oligarchs and watch retail die a slow death.
The upper middle class / lower upper class around these parts are so flush that they don't know what to do with the money. You can only have so many teevees in the mancave and the kitchens and bathrooms can be remodeled only so many times.
I would bet a lot of them are on credit. Redoing kitchens and luxury cars based on the home value going up or their 401K or they are connected to the govt business fascism scam.
The CEO comments translated - no bugger's coming into our stores, no bugge's spending, no bugger's buying our tat clothing/crappy processed food they can't afford.
But more for the public unions with increases in taxes and fees to meet state and local budget shortfalls.
Taxpayers are captive flocks of sheeple to be sheared & slaughtered, since barely 20% of them vote in local elections.
Forward Government Unions!
It is said that, "If voting worked, it would be illegal."
I would say, "If voting worked, they wouldn't encourage it."
Or put another way: Imagine a protest against the high levels of theft, taxes, and corruption in your town by you and many others so inclined. Imagine how they would deal with that. Hope you imaginings include paying for trauma care. But then the same criminals encourage you to "Get out and vote." LOL
They'll arrest you for speaking too long at a town hall meeting, but feel free to vote.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlZd3De_JoY
LOL
An American, not US subject.
George Carlin had the best idea and use for the time that would have been wasted voting.
Some things that do work:
-Spoiling your ballot. Check off all names. Politicians get nervous if over 15% of ballots are puposely spoiled. This means that voters do care enough to go out and vote but do not consider any candidates worthy to be elected. If purposely spoiled ballot numbers get very high then it's seen as an indication that the electorate is getting angry. Note, this option has been eliminated by moving towards electronic balloting machines (these jokers do not want your opinion, no matter what they say).
-Boycotts. Difficult to organise, but very effective if you can get it going.
-Refusing to go into debt or adding to your debt. Borrowing from a bank means the bank effectively creates that currency out of the air but gets interest on it as you pay them back. No debt means less profits for banks. Paying down/off your debts means less profit for banks.
-When you pay cash you save yourself interest and service charges, also lowering banks' profits.
"Spoiling your ballot."
Hard to do now anonymously, as they have those anonymity violating ballot "checking" devices on top of the ballot box.
I used to vote in all elections by casting an empty ballot. However, in 2006 I was accosted by an "ate-up" shaniqua for trying to cast an "illegal" ballot that was not marked. She then feigned not knowing how to pass it through the machine and was ultimately assisted by a less belligerent useful-idiot.
In the mean time she was threatening to call the gun and badge thugs on me for a) attitude and b) "politicking at the polls" when I answered her question about casting an unmarked ballot with, "I don't and won't vote for any of those criminals."
That was it for me.
An American, not US subject.
Note: Now I remember: The "illegal" ballot thing was because she said I could not cast an empty ballot, so I started punching out all of the chads on the thing with my pen. Now that pissed her off. Always fun to be accosted and threatened by someone so much lower down on the evolutionary, intelligence and educational ladder.
True until there are a couple million together in a single place. Could happen. If it does, a lot will be noticed and the jackboots will STFU
Every system has many vulnerabilities, most of which do not involve violence and destruction. The trick is seeing and then utilizing those vulnerabilities.
"For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill." Sun Tzu, Art of War, Ch. 3.
One must observe
An American, not US subject.
the business models hinge on a monetary model
that no one cares to explore and to their demise.
odd, no? maybe just stupid?
I think a company with a name like Hooker Furniture might have bigger problems than sluggish retail conditions when it comes to slowdowns in orders.
People can't afford a hooker, so why buy their furniture
If you build it she will come.
I am sitting at a Hooker Furniture desk from the Seven Seas line right now. It is a library type desk, not a pedestal type, and it has beautiful inlay of various hues and grains, including an 8-point compass inlay. It's a great desk. I've had it over 10 years and used it every day.
I owned a retail furniture business myself till 2011 and I've seen A LOT of furniture construction. Hooker Furniture is of enduring quality and priced affordably compared to the same quality lines from the likes of Ethan Allen, etc.
Don't let the name throw you! :)
what happened to your store?
Ikea.
Never tried Hooker furniture, but I loved my Hooker Headers. Great tubes, every time.
diminishing returns zone "on everthing else to blame" is now in rear view mirror. the shit will fly soon after mid-terms.
What do people expect when the president of the United States and his administration have installed or tried to do everything in their power to create an anti-business environment? Obamacare, inflation, tax law, Keystone pipeline, EPA expansions, etc. I really can't think of one pro business piece of legislation. Maybe some of you can.
Everybody all,
All you left out is that a pro-business climate wouldn't make that much difference because almost no one is a wealth creator. We're pretty good at taking, though.
so long as work is taxed and investing gets a break, the majority will never create or maintain wealth. Business climate is a factor but the ponzi must go on.
so long as work is taxed and investing gets a break, the majority will never create or maintain wealth. Business climate is a factor but the ponzi must go on.
reposted sorry.
Factory jobs have for the most part been relegated to off shore. These factories are where wealth is created and we have foolishly given them away to any number of different countries.
I listened today to someone talk about how the technological capability to build or create rocket engine has been lost. They were actually digging up old garbage of rocket engines in order to regain the knowledge lost. This all in large part due to the stupid rationale that we could work with Russia on bringing our astronauts to the space station. That my friend is one of our big problems in a nut shell.
You listened to the wrong guy---parts of rocket motors made by SpaceX are PRINTED in the US (Hawthorne CA)--they fly stuff to the ISS- -they are on deck for a 7 astronaut ship to dock with ISS in 2015--
The US is very high tech and far ahead in most "real" tech---
He gave Solyndra a few million to help them out.
Consumers are cautious? More like consumers are fucking broke...get it right
It's press release jargon--corporate doublespeak.
And war is hell. So open up the pit and jump in you whiny Cock Enveloping Orifices
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU6U-8LP1DY
Chipotle doesn't have any traffic problems
Landfills are busy accepting all the garbage those retailers sold.
It seems like only yesterday China was welcomed into the WTO.
Don't worry, TPTB are going to take care of all of us, right after they build the fence around us.
FEMA camps work both ways, we can probably fit all the Politicians and Bankers in them... :)
who's cutting prices ????
Everyone is saving up for the new GoPro for their little brats
just named three or four brands that no one actually likes. what is true is that after a big tailwind of cash hitting the system some of these marginal players have been overpurchasing and overstaffing and now they are in for the normalization of non-tail wind of cash driven sales which are expanding at matbe 4% annually.
Give me a fucking break. They need perspective.
On the other hand Nike's margins were up and top line and profit increased.
I shit on the retail side as much as anyone but certain blue-chip companies are thriving regardless.
Mind you, I think most of nike's stuff is garbage so I don't buy their shit but I can't deny the worldwide grip they have on sporting goods (and as people dress more and more casual since they have no jobs to get to, more nike gear is being bought as well in place of 'normal clothes').
Adidas and Puma on the other hand are getting destroyed.
No different that the AAPL worshippers. Poster children for 'NO LIFE' and no critical thinking abilities...
Moving up the food chain to Reatoration Hardware / Whole Foods / J Crew /
Very soon the white collar tech and management in the top 20% will be hit once the stock market tanks
The Eve of Destruction
J Crew and GPS are going to get crushed in the next 12 months margin wise - lot of nike catalyst from apparel is people not having to buy as many work/casual clothes form places like this and putting their money towards athletic-casual (many from not having jobs to go to where they have to dress 'office wear').
Hey Fedgov is growing in leaps and bounds, that's all that counts.
Stop whining and go buy some stawks.
Almost two years ago during a television interview on Bloomberg, Harvard economist Steven Roach put a retail sales consultant in her place who was crowing about strong retail growth. Roach pointed out that after discounting for inflation growth in retail sales compared to past years is mostly an illusion.
I wish he had gone to the next step and pointed out that what little growth does exist is built on a foundation of demand from huge government deficit spending. Well not much has changed if anything for many America things have gotten worse. More on this subject in the article below.
http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2014/09/consumers-are-facing-protracted-w...
Everybodaysall: I really can't think of one pro business piece of legislation. Maybe some of you can.
Maybe not "legislation" but...
Drone manufacturers. Bomb Manufacturers. Missile manufacturers. Small Arms Ammo manufacturers. Our Nobel Piece of Shite Prize winner is helping those companies.
Porn?
Ikea, Costco, and Target are the #1 problem for most of the companies in the article.
With the middle class getting wiped and litte upward mobility without an MBA or PhD, it seems most can get by with blue-jeans and a few shirts.
Why spend 2x tor 3x he price when simple durable cotton clothes (that are standards) are available.
Trendy and style are great for the upper class, but everyone else is not dressing up that much...unless you work in retail.
Exactly. Why would I pay $40 for a t-shirt at JCrew when I can get one for $10 at Target?
Target is probably most responsible for the demise of the companies in the article. Restoration Hardware? (Kind of like Pottery Barn or Crate & Barrel for those of you who haven't heard of it.) Get the catalog for free and copy the look with stuff from Target.
Clothes? Target.
Like I said above, Costco and Ikea are responsible for the rest.
Here's a little secret: Most upper class people are frugal. That's how you get to be upper class (in terms of net worth, I mean). These high-end retail stores were living off the credit bubble of the lower and middle class, not the upper class.
They don't teach you that in Class Warfare 101. :)
Campbell's Soups blames everything but themselves. It is not demographics; it's the fact that the public is finally wiseing up to the health problems with most processed foods. Campbell's adds MSG to every soup they make (except tomato soup). They contributed money to fight enforced GMO labeling. They continue to have BPA in their can liners. Did they really think that thumbing their nose at their customers would improve their sales?
Del Monte also contributed towards fighting GMO labelling.
Boycotts are hard to organize, but word is getting out slowly.
No shit, we just cut MSG out of our food purchases, and I almost stroked out when we had to stop buying canned soup. Our homemade is better, but the canned was covenient. Oh yeah, had to give up Doritos too. Why the fuck Campells has to add a neurologically active additive flavor enhancer is retarded.
Maverick
Because it's addictive?!
I think that some Doritos have msg, and some don't: http://www.fritolay.com/your-health/us-products-not-containing-msg.html (you still need to look for the naturally occurring glutamate, per the site). I remember when Frito Lay removed the msg from many of their products, so I ate them again a few times, and realized that the msg. really did make them taste better. Sigh. Now I just skip that stuff.
The real bummer is how much msg is in dried onion soup mix. No wonder it made the world's tastiest dip. Haven't had that in years, either.
There's a vegan cookbook that was put out by American monks; all of the recipes called for tons of msg. It was written maybe 20 years ago, when it wasn't so clear that msg was bad. All of the monks were really fat; not easy for a vegan to get fat. It turns out that msg can make you gain more weight than you would on the same number of calories w/o msg. Oh, the recipes were really lousy made w/o msg., but I bet they tasted fabulous w/msg added.
Village-idiot,
I respectfully disagree. The public is fatter and unhealthier than ever. They don't give a second thought to MSG or BPA or GMO. People just don't care about that.
It really IS about demographics. Campbell's soup's claim to fame was that they invented the casserole. Housewives could stretch a dollar by making things with ground beef and different soups. Now, people eat out more often, and those that don't aren't going to buy a $2 can of soup that only has about 100 calories in it.
Campbell's main problem is that people don't know how to cook anymore. They go for the prepared meal in the frozen section or just eat out.
Just in case someone downvotes you, it wasn't me. But people (especially here on ZH!!!) need to start analyzing things based on reality and common sense. Things are WAY more easy to analyze than you guys think. :)
Mmmm, mmmm, can of chemicals.
Same with anything by Con Agra. They make dozens of household name brands. Two years ago, I called their corporate office to find out if a particular product had any GMO content.
Their official corporate position is: "We are not going to tell you. Maybe it does and maybe it doesn't."
My official position is: "Fuck you in the ass, you're fired." I bought 8 or 10 Con Agra products a week, and have for several decades. Have not bought one since.
In the past year, I have seen many companys put "NON-GMO" labels on their products. The tide has definitely turned on this.
most of the retail sector is getting fucked.
sell CALLz
You can't build a 1 million dollar Office Depot building and employee 10 people and expect to sale enough paper to pay for the 1 million dollar building, the people, the taxes, the electricity, the insurance etc etc in a few years. Multiply that times each location. They are only propped up by the 401k investment money placed into their stocks. Otherwise they would not exist now. When they fold the 401k money will be gone. 401k money is their gasoline.
Come to papa.
Stagnation is the elite's goal .
We are in the end-game .
See http://andreswhy.blogspot.com/2014/09/drowning-in-gold.html
And tax revenues to the Fed gov't are at record HIGHS-that's where the "disposable income" is going.
now that the war on women is over and they have equal rights to credit cards the economy should do great
These are all nice stories but less get real. Am I supposed to believe a bunch of exaggerated stories here that can't be true because there is a headline on Drudge that says the ecomony grew by 4.6% Everything is FINE. If the Gov. says the ecomony is growing by that much, then everything said here must be a lie.
I work in retail it has been absolutly brutal we lost 85% of our revenue how we survived we honestly don't know but a couple of yrs ago I did some pretty fucking hard demographic research and went 100% niche marketing. This year so far revenues on track to 100% YOY sales . I go to the big boxes I never buy anything I just observe what their doing and think of what their not doing. The other factor is having INSANELY exceptional customer service and custom orders something the boxes don't do.
When new customer come into the store they kind of freak out because they see us with a bunch customers standing around the sales counter talking and shooting the shit we are all on a first name basis I watch them because it's something you don't see in a retail enviroment. I will repair or in some cases replace merchandise thats out of warrenty for no charge for my customers it pays off like no ones business or I will go to their house to show them new stuff on the weekends or on our days
off last weekend I kept the store open an extra 2 hrs for some new customers they came back the next day and dropped 20 G on some new furniture. P.S. Hooker Furniture used to be good now it's crap stopped selling 10 yrs ago.
anyways gotta bounce.
The government lies. The delusion must be maintained.
I hate shopping and buying stuff - but that's me.
My favorite fishing shirt - the kind with special vents and other stuff - ripped after many years of hard use. I wanted a replacement - could not find one.
My wife found an identical one on Ebay - yes, I bought a used shirt.
I can afford a new shirt - but, after all, the fish are not impressed by my shirt or other fishing apparel.