Retail Apocalypse aka The E-Commerce Thread

Xarpolis

Xarpolis

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Eddie Lampert hit a few big failures. K-Mart has all but vanished at this point. The last one that was open on Honolulu closed around 2 years ago. And there are currently zero in Northern Philadelphia Suburbs. This is a store that used to have TONS of traffic. They were displaced by WalMart & Target because they couldn't modernize themselves. Shit sucks, but it happens.
 
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Cybsled

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Frenzied Wombat said:
Ironically, back in the '70's in Canada there was a store called "Consumer's Distributing
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Service Merchandise in the States. They were around in the 80s and early 90s, same business model.

I can't buy shoes online. I am the pickiest bastard when it comes to that and need to wear them.
 
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Chukzombi

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Frenzied Wombat said:
Maybe mass generic clothing stores, but definitely not female centric clothing stores or anything remotely designer.. Women like to try shit on, like going, and seemingly love buyer's remorse and the ability to exchange/return something the next day. I can count the number of clothing items I've returned/exchanged in the course of my life on a single hand, but women exchange/return clothing *constantly*.
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that they do, but they are also buying online more. so they still go into the store and try on clothes and buy up the items online. the big clothing chain around here Mandees/Annie Sez are closing down like crazy. dunno what B&M stores these chicks are still buying/exchanging clothes at, but it aint those stores anymore.
 
Araysar

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Chukzombi said:
that they do, but they are also buying online more. so they still go into the store and try on clothes and buy up the items online. the big clothing chain around here Mandees/Annie Sez are closing down like crazy. dunno what B&M stores these chicks are still buying/exchanging clothes at, but it aint those stores anymore.
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Just stop dude, you are so wrong about clothing, its not even funny. The ability to try on clothing and get the very same item you tried on 5 minutes later, still trumps the online experience.

Brick-and-Mortar Remains Best Fit for Apparel Shoppers - eMarketer

Hardlines are the first to go down in a B&M environment, because with hardlines all you need is a list of features, price and a photo.
 
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Cybsled

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Check out the YouTube series Abandoned by Bright Sun Films. Focuses on failed retailers primarily and what caused their downfall.

 
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Kiroy

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Chukzombi said:
i think clothing stores are going to collapse first, if they havent already. people go into a clothing store, try on the clothes, leave without buying them and then go home and order the same thing they liked in the B%M store online for much less the cost. when the clothing stores are gone, people will be stuck buying items that dont fit them properly. i know some places have return policies where you can send back the item for a better size, but its a pain in the ass. when i order my hats they dont always fit right. i tend to buy larger than usual because if i buy too small i'm screwed. if my hat is too big i can at least bend them down inward for a tighter fit.
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This is not the case. Almost the opposite in fact when it comes to woman's clothing.
 
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Lanx

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Araysar said:
Its not a collapse of retail, its a collapse of poorly run companies. Sears alone has been mismanaged basically for this entire century (almost 20 years) and Toys R Us had lousy management too.

Retail is booming. B&M retail is not as hot as used to be, but retail by itself is the best its ever been.
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They lost the Sears tower, whatever the fuck it's called now.

That's pretty pathetic to lose your corporate home.

I think the first Sears location went belly up too
 
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Araysar

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Lanx said:
They lost the Sears tower, whatever the fuck it's called now.

That's pretty pathetic to lose your corporate home.

I think the first Sears location went belly up too
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They built a campus out in the burbs (Hoffman Estates) and moved the entire operation there in 1994. In 1995 they sold the building. The name was only gone in 2009 when Willis Group moved in and rented a shitton of space and got the naming rights thrown in for free.
 
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Lanx

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I have no idea why anyone WOULDNT just shop on Amazon, I find it retarded when ppl don't have prime, especially if you have a family with the free movies and TV.

Setup Amazon subscriptions and you get toilet paper in the mail. Hell there's a 18box of Kleenex for 25bucks now with a coupon, if you have teenage boys or ppl with allergies, go for it.
 
Chukzombi

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Araysar said:
Just stop dude, you are so wrong about clothing, its not even funny. The ability to try on clothing and get the very same item you tried on 5 minutes later, still trumps the online experience.

Brick-and-Mortar Remains Best Fit for Apparel Shoppers - eMarketer

Hardlines are the first to go down in a B&M environment, because with hardlines all you need is a list of features, price and a photo.
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alright, just going by anectodotal stuff around me. if those clothing stores are kicking ass why would they be closing down like this? i know men dont give a fuck about clothes as much if they can get the same shit online.
 
Lanx

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Chukzombi said:
alright, just going by anectodotal stuff around me. if those clothing stores are kicking ass why would they be closing down like this? i know men dont give a fuck about clothes as much if they can get the same shit online.
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Women have clothing ocd...

Don't even fux with shoe ocd
 
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Araysar

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Depends on the clothing - if you're selling 6 packs of tube socks, you wont do well in B&M - too much competition, doesnt stand out, margins are low. If you're selling lifestyle clothing, or women's high end clothing - you'll do a lot better.

The important thing is what types of clothing: hats, belts, socks, underwear, ties, etc. you can buy all that shit online. Sizing for that is fairly universal and if its slightly off then its no big deal.

Shirts, pants, tops, etc. - need to be tried on even if you know your size. I cant tell you how many times I bought a medium t-shirt from one company to find out it fits me perfectly, and then buy medium from another company to find out its too small. And returning that shit online is a colossal pain in the ass.

One thing that IS doing extremely well online these days (and this an exception to my argument) is men's suits. Dudes will just buy suits online because its cheaper and then take it to their tailor to get them fitted, because they'd have to do that regardless. Companies that have their own brand, story and product sourcing, are selling nice suits with high quality wool for under $200 out the door.
 
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Cybsled

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Also depends on the line. Clothing tends to be very fashion of the month dependent. If you are considered passe, then you start to do worse. Case and point: Abercrombie and Fitch.
 
Kiroy

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Chukzombi said:
alright, just going by anectodotal stuff around me. if those clothing stores are kicking ass why would they be closing down like this? i know men dont give a fuck about clothes as much if they can get the same shit online.
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We're focused more on the smaller clothing outfits, which are booming both BM and online. Yes, places like khols, jc pennys and the like aren't doing so hot for previously stated reasons.
 
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ZyyzYzzy

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Araysar said:
Depends on the clothing - if you're selling 6 packs of tube socks, you wont do well in B&M - too much competition, doesnt stand out, margins are low. If you're selling lifestyle clothing, or women's high end clothing - you'll do a lot better.

The important thing is what types of clothing: hats, belts, socks, underwear, ties, etc. you can buy all that shit online. Sizing for that is fairly universal and if its slightly off then its no big deal.

Shirts, pants, tops, etc. - need to be tried on even if you know your size. I cant tell you how many times I bought a medium t-shirt from one company to find out it fits me perfectly, and then buy medium from another company to find out its too small. And returning that shit online is a colossal pain in the ass.

One thing that IS doing extremely well online these days (and this an exception to my argument) is men's suits. Dudes will just buy suits online because its cheaper and then take it to their tailor to get them fitted, because they'd have to do that regardless. Companies that have their own brand, story and product sourcing, are selling nice suits with high quality wool for under $200 out the door.
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Even work shirts with neck and length measurements vary so goddamn much between brands.
 
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Kiroy

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Chukzombi said:
isnt "retro" clothes a thing still? i imagine thrift stores are booming as well.
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I don't know about true thrift (used cloths and shit) but I mentioned modcloth earlier. They got rich and acquired by walmart selling vintage style clothing. People want retro but people don't want shit worn by other people. There is a whole industry around 'new retro'.

And ya, cheap 'new thrift' sold at your ross and tj max is killing it too. That shit hasn't been worn though.
 
ZyyzYzzy

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Kiroy said:
I don't know about true thrift but I mentioned modcloth earlier. They got rich and acquired by walmart selling vintage style clothing. People want retro but people don't want shit worn by other people. There is a whole industry around 'new retro'.
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Fucking hipsters....
 
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Araysar

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ZyyzYzzy said:
Even work shirts with neck and length measurements vary so goddamn much between brands.
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For sure. I wear 16.5 34/35 dress shirts and its a crapshoot each time even if you know your size perfectly. Some shirts are baggier than a parachute, especially in the waist, some shirts are too tight, and some go to your knees almost
 
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Araysar

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Cutlery said:
It's also because every fucking retailer you go to now has a rewards program and every single fucking person out there feels they need to sign up for every one of them, but can't remember which phone number they used to sign up for it, so every transaction ends up taking 3 minutes longer while they look up pointless shit.

Do you remember when we used to be able to exchange cash for goods and services? I fucking swear that was a thing. If I come up to your register with one item and cash in hand, I do not have your shitty perks program, and I do not want to sign up for your shitty perks program. Nor do I want to fill out a fucking survey or donate to charity or anything else. I want to BUY THIS PRODUCT NOW.

If I wanted this product tomorrow or 2 days from now, I would order it online. But I don't, I want it now. Streamline your fucking service to give it to me now. How hard is that?

The other problem is the credit card chip. Do you remember how long a swipe took? Absolutely nothing, no time at all. Transaction approved. Now it's insert the chip, wait around for a cashier to press a button, wait around for another 30 seconds for the transaction to process, then sign on a pad where your signature is never even close to legible, then wait for the cashier to push a button to accept it, then get a mile of fucking receipt tape printed.

There's nothing inherently wrong with retail, they've just made it completely fucking aggravating to purchase anything. Make it so I can get what I want in a reasonable amount of time and I'd be happy to shop there.
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Honestly its this that turned me off so much to B&M shopping. I still have to deal with this at supermarkets but its gotten to the point where I just loathe to go food shopping. You'll have a line of 3 people at Vons that takes 15 minutes to get through.

The chip shit is especially infuriating, since the chip seems to break more often than the mag stripe used to, and when it does - you have to run the card through the chip reader 3 consecutive times and THEN it will finally let you use the mag stripe.
 
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