Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats • Hacker News Board

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#241

Post by kortilla » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 5:27 AM UTC

JMTQp8lwXL wrote: post #239

paxys wrote: post #107

Walmart gets a lot of flak for being old school and allowing Amazon's rise, but they are one of the very few retailers who have actually been able to respond to competitive threats over the last decade or two. Walmart Labs has some great tech and hires top software talent in the industry. They aren't shy about making large acquisitions when needed (like Jet). They have built out their own delivery and logistics netwo…

They could have been Sears, but they haven't made it far enough. They're doing enough to survive, but they're acting reactively, not proactively, to a changing environment. They will never come close to exceeding Amazon's level of innovation, for better or for worse. I think pointing to Jet detracts from their progress, given the Jet acquisition was a complete flop. They're fighting with everything they've got. But n…

> They will never come close to exceeding Amazon's level of innovation, for better or for worse

Amazon stopped innovating as a store 5-10 years ago. Nothing has meaningfully changed for the better and things have gotten worse on the front of fake reviews and counterfeit products.

Amazon spent its innovation on AWS, which is not even the same industry Walmart is operating in.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#242

Post by kube-system » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 5:30 AM UTC

dylan604 wrote: post #229

turtlebits wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Walmart in-store pickup/returns experience is horrible. Long lines, employees are slow and unorganized. Several times I've gone to pick up an order and waited an addition 10+ minutes to have someone bring the item to the front of the store. I would say the only thing that makes them competitive is their price.

>I would say the only thing that makes them competitive is their price That's the entire story of Walmart. Pretty much the only person that smiles is the greeter, and they aren't always very friendly.

I personally haven’t seen a Walmart greeter smile since they had smiley stickers.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#243

Post by kortilla » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 5:31 AM UTC

andreilys wrote: post #150

paxys wrote: post #107

Walmart gets a lot of flak for being old school and allowing Amazon's rise, but they are one of the very few retailers who have actually been able to respond to competitive threats over the last decade or two. Walmart Labs has some great tech and hires top software talent in the industry. They aren't shy about making large acquisitions when needed (like Jet). They have built out their own delivery and logistics netwo…

In the last 20 years they’re stock has only gone up 150%.... Yes that’s better than bankruptcy but Walmart is a far cry from a successful old incumbent being able to address new upstarts. Also what makes you say Walmart Labs has great tech and hires top software talent? A quick look on Glassdoor shows the salary is quite low (esp. as it’s based in San Bruno). I know plenty of new grads that are earning much more, eve…

Glassdoor grossly underreports the range of tech salaries to the point of being useless.

Something tells me only people who feel insecure about their pay report it to Glassdoor...

Point being, Glassdoor data is so incomplete that I don’t think you can meaningfully compare even two companies on it. Especially if they have different comp structures.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#244

Post by bencollier49 » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 5:36 AM UTC

rubicon33 wrote: post #97

cptskippy wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think Wal*Mart has an image problem. If you know their history then you understand how they got where they are. Walmart grew in the 80s and 90s by planting itself just outside the city limits of small towns across America. They attracted the towns people with low prices and jobs. Their presence eventually shutdown every competing small business in those towns and the former purveyors of those businesses often wou…

It sucks that while there are enumerable benefits to free market capitalism, there's also serious drawbacks. You tend to see the formation of mega corporations that can use economy of scale to secure and hold huge economic advantage. Short of some breakup, or government intervention, what can be done? The system is designed to reward those who find the best market fit. The problem is, there's no brake pedal on their…

This is interesting. Normally people say "innumerable" in a sentence like this, meaning "too many to count", but in this case there's a malapropism which literally reverses the meaning whilst keeping the sense of the original almost intact.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#245

Post by smegger001 » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 5:41 AM UTC

Auracle wrote: post #234

raverbashing wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Self-checkout? Best invention of the 2000's

It’s great when you want to buy a few things. It’s terrible if you have a cart full of things.

it depends for me it is almost universally better unless something has a security device on it. on the other hand i worked as a cashier and latter lead cashier (i trained all the new cashiers on how to use the register) for years while in collage. So I can get through my cart much faster than most whoever is working the check out just because i know whats coming and what should be bagged together optimally. and then also the lack of forced social interaction makes me far happier.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#246

Post by throwawayboise » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 5:43 AM UTC

olivermarks wrote: post #236

dimmke wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is really the problem with everything Walmart has done wrt eCommerce/online pickup IMO - It's like all the pieces are there, but they can't bring them all together. I've hit their website from Google looking for an item, and the lead time to ship is 2+ weeks and it's highlighted that it's sourced from a partner. Putting aside the obvious - it's just a worse deal. For most items, they're competing with 1-2 days,…

'Amazon nails in person pickup or Walmart nails online shopping.' Amazon has nailed free shipping with prime. In person pickup costs money in time, fuel, available vehicle. Feels like checkmate in 2021 but this may change

> Amazon has nailed free shipping with prime.

Not everywhere. I didn't renew my prime subscription a few years ago, because they rarely met their delivery times and I was starting to get broken, counterfeit, and obviously returned/resold items.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#247

Post by russdpale » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 5:47 AM UTC

paxys wrote: post #107

Walmart gets a lot of flak for being old school and allowing Amazon's rise, but they are one of the very few retailers who have actually been able to respond to competitive threats over the last decade or two. Walmart Labs has some great tech and hires top software talent in the industry. They aren't shy about making large acquisitions when needed (like Jet). They have built out their own delivery and logistics netwo…

Yeh they also totally fuck over farmers, employees, and even tried to pay Mexican employees in Walmart dollars while housing them in the back of the store.

It should have gone the way of sears. Its an abusive business that is bad for everyone.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#248

Post by vegetablepotpie » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 5:50 AM UTC

handrous wrote: post #12

mc32 wrote: post #2

I think Wal*Mart has an image problem. I’ve gone into their stores. Their stock assortment isn’t bad compared to the competition. In fact, aside from Whole Foods on the organic/bio side of things, they measure up very well and better compared to their competition. They are more of a hypermart where you can do one stop shopping ala Carrefour. The issues I see are: very drab color palette. Working class shoppers. Sure,…

Observations about the nearest Wal-Mart: 1) All the employees look sad, all he time. 2) They've obviously carefully tuned their check out staffing so that the lines are always long. This is such a constant that it has to be intentional, and they're doing a good job of it. 3) Sometimes they attempt to check receipts at exit. I don't get that at any other non-membership store. 4) All the shoppers look sad. 5) It's the…

> They've obviously carefully tuned their check out staffing so that the lines are always long.

I’ve noticed this at Walmart. However, I’ve noticed it’s worse at Target, (an arguably higher end store) where I’ve observed the queue reaching from one end of the store to the next. Interestingly, I’ve also noticed this effect on grocery chains in my area. Fry’s (Kroger) seems to have many queues open, which go quickly, whereas the higher end Safeway will have 1-2 queues open and zero open after hours.

All stores are bad with lines, until you get to really high end (like Whole Foods or Natural Grocers), but Paradoxically the more expensive stores (mid range, like Target and Safeway) are the worst offenders out of everyone. I don’t know why this is. Maybe they don’t have enough customers and not enough profit to justify more staff, or maybe they found that if the lines are long, customers will make another trip around the store and buy more stuff.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#249

Post by Asymmetryk » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 5:53 AM UTC

maxtheman wrote: post #177

kevinventullo wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the last 20 years they’re stock has only gone up 150%.... To be fair, they’ve been paying ~ 2% dividend yield that whole time. Still, if your comp is mostly in stock, those dividend payments hurt versus something like a buyback.

Dividends don't always "hurt". They let one automatically claim profits on a trade, without the hassle of divesting shares.

you enjoy your annual ex/cum-divi volatility and applying income tax and potentially overseas withholding taxes and exemptions and treaties rules?

the administration and process involved in setting dividends isn't very trivial either

and too often maintenance of dividend payments are placebos for lackadaisical areas of more important management responsibility

and it's too common for factions in the boardroom to be trying to serve and attract entirely different types of investors who would be better served with tracking stocks or demergers and so on

for some people any dividend unsupported by a very clear rationale is a red light but of course if you are doing in depth company analysis you may have all of this covered in your models and settlement and actions systems.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#250

Post by kube-system » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 5:54 AM UTC

syedkarim wrote: post #115

handrous wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Observations about the nearest Wal-Mart: 1) All the employees look sad, all he time. 2) They've obviously carefully tuned their check out staffing so that the lines are always long. This is such a constant that it has to be intentional, and they're doing a good job of it. 3) Sometimes they attempt to check receipts at exit. I don't get that at any other non-membership store. 4) All the shoppers look sad. 5) It's the…

Are the prices at Walmart really that much lower than Target? On the limited amount of stuff I buy, it’s not been the case.

For an equivalent item, Target is usually not much more expensive, if any. But, Walmart carries cheaper alternatives and a wider selection than Target.