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Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

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Re: Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

#541

Post by sjg007 »

xigency wrote: post #96
wombatpm wrote: post #5

Sears had everything. Global supply chain, check. Top notch distribution operation, check. System and infrastructure to take orders and handling billing, check. Name recognition and established customer base, check. They threw it all away, ending catalog operations in 1993 a year before Amazon.com opened in 1994. They owned part of Prodigy in 1984! Yet somehow thought it was a better move to expand into bigger box re…

I thought this as well until I heard a counter-point [0] which was very convincing. The reason Amazon is successful is not because you can shop online (from a catalog) and receive items in the mail. The reason Amazon is successful is because you can do those things and receive your items within two days. Before Prime existed, Amazon had very quick fulfillment, and after Prime two-day it became even better. The Sears…

And the reason Amazon will die is because "Prime" is no longer 2 day and most "Prime" returns aren't actually free. In fact there is a whole category of "Primes".. If Target or Walmart successfully execute on local delivery + free returns they could really give Amazon a run for its money.

Re: Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

#542

Post by sjg007 »

acdha wrote: post #227
xigency wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought this as well until I heard a counter-point [0] which was very convincing. The reason Amazon is successful is not because you can shop online (from a catalog) and receive items in the mail. The reason Amazon is successful is because you can do those things and receive your items within two days. Before Prime existed, Amazon had very quick fulfillment, and after Prime two-day it became even better. The Sears…

There was a significant gap between Amazon launch and having two-day shipping — it took years of behind the scenes development before orders started arriving notably faster than other retails. Sears' numbers include regular postal delivery in both directions so switching to online ordering would have cut them in half with no other changes (and don't forget the efficiency wins from orders arriving as validated electro…

I think free shipping is the reason Amazon was successful. Nobody wants to pay for it. That and cheaper prices.

Re: Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

#543

Post by 3pt14159 »

konschubert wrote: post #529
3pt14159 wrote: post #472

Ahh, I came to this thread far too late, but hopefully this won't be missed. In 1980 The Yankee Group (a tech consultancy) reached out to my dad to help them understand how Sears could respond to the growing tech phenomenon. For reasons too long to get into, Gates and my pops (a Canadian) knew each other and were even both covered in The Intelligent Machines Journal out of Palo Alto in the same issue during the wanin…

Wait, I’m confused. This agency that’s consulting for sears sets up a meeting for bill gates to sell his computers to sears? How is that in the interest of sears?

Because in the early 80s nobody understood computers or how individuals at home were going to use them and Sears knew they didn't know. For example, some people thought that computers should be waterproof so you could install them next to your sink in the kitchen so you could use them to help you with recipes. Sound crazy? What's an iPhone? A waterproof computer that helps hundreds of millions with recipes.

There were so many good ideas in the early 80s but Gates was such a genius that he understood how to separate which ones were coming first. He thought about things from first principles in a way that Musk does today. The Yankees knew databases and stuff, but they didn't know the future, but they knew that my dad thought in the same way. That he thought about the future. My dad was more of a telephony guy than a computer guy and he saw how much of a genius Gates was, so he roped him in to help out his Yankee friends.

Re: Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

#544

Post by msla »

reaperducer wrote: post #75
zymhan wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point isn't that they were too early, it's that they gave up too quickly. Buying online and picking up from a store really isn't that advanced of a concept.

Buying online and picking up from a store really isn't that advanced of a concept. You're right. Service Merchandise build an empire around it, just by mail or phone instead of computer. Other stores did it, too. JCPenny comes to mind. Even some local and regional chains. Amazon and others think they've invented something. But once again, it's just SV re-inventing something that worked last century.

And Service Merchandise didn't invent it, either.

Once again, it's some 20th Century store re-inventing something which worked the previous century.

Re: Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

#545

Post by justin66 »

dba7dba wrote: post #484
filmgirlcw wrote: post #422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup -- I remember in college (in the early 2000s) how slow it could be for a bookstore to get a book in that a professor required for class (there was a book of poetry I literally could not find in the state of Georgia and my professor let me photocopy the work she had assigned until I could get my copy from Amazon b/c she recognized that I had literally called every single major and minor bookseller in Atlanta and t…

That reminds me of the time I worked in the stock room of student book store in a major university on the west coast of US in mid 1990s. The stock room was in the basement of the school student bookstore. Before and beginning of each semester, we'd get crates of books, books that only college student taking a class would be required to buy. The crazy thing was, once the semester was nearing the end, we'd pack up all…

> In 1998, 17 inch CRT sold for nearly a thousand dollars.

Huh?

Re: Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

#546

Post by Apocryphon »

glenneroo wrote: post #537
Apocryphon wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps all of these too big to be good utility services- Amazon, Google, Facebook, even Apple should just offer “classic” slimmed down versions of their previous offerings, for a paid subscription in the case of the online services.

How would this help eliminate any of the current issues? Why would giving them money and/or building a slimmed-down version reduce fake reviews, fake articles, ads as search results, et al?

Use the subscription fees to cover up the lack of search result ads, to pay for better policing of fake reviews, moderating, etc.

Re: Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

#547

Post by tjr »

steelframe wrote: post #384
tjr wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few years ago, the ancient (circa 1998) microwave in my house failed. I merrily trundled off to the local appliance store and bought a new one, and had them install it. Seemed to work, but eventually I realized it must be drawing too much electricity. Like something out of Green Acres , I had to limit what lights and other appliances were on in the kitchen if I wanted to use the microwave. I had an electrician come…

> I finally sold the house, but couldn't pass this problem off to the next owner. As someone who's had his share of problems passed on to him when buying a house, I'd like to know (1) how the next owner found out about the problem and (2) how they managed to strong-arm you into fixing it.

I told my selling realtor about the problem before they house was ever shown to anyone, and agreed to fix it before moving out. It would have been wrong of me to have just left a problem like that.

Re: Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

#548

Post by smileysteve »

stronglikedan wrote: post #371
mikestew wrote: post #36

Lampert might have "saved" AutoZone, which AFAICT was the feather in his cap to make him "the next Warren Buffert", but if you asked me I'd be hard-pressed to tell you how the shopping experience changed. I speak from ignorance, and the laziness that prevents me from researching deeper, but I assume he did some accounting tricks, sold a few inefficient assets, etc. But as the owner of some old vehicles and a frequent…

Ah, good ole' NAPA, where you pay twice as much for half the quality (in their house brand anyway). At least, that's why I avoided them like the plague a quarter century ago when I was building muscle cars. Also, they always seemed to prioritize their garage delivery service over their walk-in customers. Although,that was a long time ago, and perhaps they've gotten better over time.

> where you pay twice as much for half the quality (in their house brand anyway)

Their oil filters are similar if not the same as Wix.

Re: Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

#549

Post by spurcell93 »

rrdharan wrote: post #491
lscharen wrote: post #483

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Re: Trust; I always found it a bit ironic back in the late 90’s/early 00’s that people would not trust ordering things over the Internet, but happily call a mail-order number and give a complete stranger (and anyone within earshot) their name, address and credit card number.

Were they wrong though? I'd wager far more credit cards have been stolen via the internet than by eavesdropping?

Absolute numbers don't mean much in this context.

Re: Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

#550

Post by smileysteve »

hgq wrote: post #34
daveFNbuck wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paying employees more is supposed to work because it results in employees who do their job better. It seems Sears just increased the pay without increasing the expectations. I avoid Sears because when I go, despite there being no customers, the place is a mess and I can't find anyone to help me.

>Paying employees more is supposed to work because it results in employees who do their job better. I'm sure above certain threshold, which is probably low, raising wages doesn't make employees do their job any better. In other words, unless you pay your workers literally peanuts, they will do the same job more or less.

> I'm sure above certain threshold, which is probably low, raising wages doesn't make employees do their job any better.

This is a known study

> In other words, unless you pay your workers literally peanuts, they will do the same job more or less.

Welp, nope, this deviates from the study; The "drive" study suggests that wages need to satisfy their needs, give them cushion, be at or above their peers.

For the most part, "happiness" in the U.S.A. starts at 50% more than the average salary ($50k).

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