Amazon Department Stores

Predicting the demise of Sears & Kmart since 2017!
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Re: Amazon Department Stores

Post by Romr123 »

I'm starting to enjoy taunting Amazon a bit...I'm not on Prime, so will occasionally make a $25 order. Recently made one order (still waiting on part of it, LOL) which had a 99 cent single can of Ro-Tel tomatoes sent to me from...Phoenix, AZ. In a box, with packing materials. Geeze.
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Re: Amazon Department Stores

Post by pseudo3d »

ClownLoach wrote: August 31st, 2021, 1:13 pm
arizonaguy wrote: August 21st, 2021, 9:11 am Interesting take on the Amazon department stores:

https://gizmodo.com/amazon-s-expansion- ... 1847516632
I still think that as long as Wall Street pushes this omnichannel agenda - and as long as Amazon continues to think that they need to dominate the grocery business - the likely outcome is going to be a Amazon-Target merger.

Apparently Amazon is aggressively targeting (pardon the pun) management teams from neighboring Target stores when they are opening these new grocery stores. They offer them big incentives to jump ship to Amazon-hurting the competition and helping to steal the institutional knowledge of Target. No surprise that they've probably gained enough insight into Target operations to make little clones of them.

Target meanwhile seems to continue to be satisfied building the little 30K-40K stores, now with even less rhyme or reason to location. I can tell you there are far more of these small boxes under construction than Target lists on their website and they are moving fast to complete and open them - something far different from the Target of old that would announce a new store years before groundbreaking. (Maybe they learned from their Canadian disaster?). Right now Huntington Beach and Newport Beach have new small format Target stores well underway that have yet to be announced. Amazon has an unannounced store almost completed in Huntington Beach just a few blocks away.

Now Amazon wants to build the same kind of small discount store Target keeps putting up.

There just isn't enough room for Target, Amazon and Walmart to all be doing the same things. Consolidation is inevitable unless someone goes and convinces Wall Street that these retailers can't do everything they want them to AND maintain the same or less labor.
With a TLC and investment they never got, post-2003 Kmart could've competed with Walmart and Target in many markets. Kmart could've easily competed (and did compete) before the chain got pillaged by Lampert.
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Re: Anazon Department Stores

Post by retailfanmitchell019 »

storewanderer wrote: August 19th, 2021, 5:26 pm I guess they got tired of terrorizing the grocery industry so why not go back to beating up on the long beaten up department store industry. So Amazon is going to open 30k square foot department stores. Typical department stores are six times that size.

Is it even legitimate to call something that is only 30k square feet a department store?

I guess by that measure you could practically call a Dollar General a "department store."
By that measure you could also call larger CVS and Rite Aid stores out west (from Longs, Sav-on, Thrifty, PayLess) department stores.
Romr123 wrote: September 1st, 2021, 5:55 am I'm starting to enjoy taunting Amazon a bit...I'm not on Prime, so will occasionally make a $25 order. Recently made one order (still waiting on part of it, LOL) which had a 99 cent single can of Ro-Tel tomatoes sent to me from...Phoenix, AZ. In a box, with packing materials. Geeze.
I'd say Bezos is definitely a 21st century robber baron. Why would I buy my groceries from a company that also owns unrelated businesses Twitch and WaPo?
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Re: Amazon Department Stores

Post by babs »

ClownLoach wrote: August 31st, 2021, 1:13 pm
arizonaguy wrote: August 21st, 2021, 9:11 am Interesting take on the Amazon department stores:

https://gizmodo.com/amazon-s-expansion- ... 1847516632
I still think that as long as Wall Street pushes this omnichannel agenda - and as long as Amazon continues to think that they need to dominate the grocery business - the likely outcome is going to be a Amazon-Target merger.

Apparently Amazon is aggressively targeting (pardon the pun) management teams from neighboring Target stores when they are opening these new grocery stores. They offer them big incentives to jump ship to Amazon-hurting the competition and helping to steal the institutional knowledge of Target. No surprise that they've probably gained enough insight into Target operations to make little clones of them.

Target meanwhile seems to continue to be satisfied building the little 30K-40K stores, now with even less rhyme or reason to location. I can tell you there are far more of these small boxes under construction than Target lists on their website and they are moving fast to complete and open them - something far different from the Target of old that would announce a new store years before groundbreaking. (Maybe they learned from their Canadian disaster?). Right now Huntington Beach and Newport Beach have new small format Target stores well underway that have yet to be announced. Amazon has an unannounced store almost completed in Huntington Beach just a few blocks away.

Now Amazon wants to build the same kind of small discount store Target keeps putting up.

There just isn't enough room for Target, Amazon and Walmart to all be doing the same things. Consolidation is inevitable unless someone goes and convinces Wall Street that these retailers can't do everything they want them to AND maintain the same or less labor.
I don't see the FTC signing off on a Target Amazon merger. But you are right, Im thinking the new Amazon stores are probably going to look a lot like the mini Target. Not really a department store.
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Re: Amazon Department Stores

Post by storewanderer »

babs wrote: September 1st, 2021, 5:56 pm I don't see the FTC signing off on a Target Amazon merger. But you are right, Im thinking the new Amazon stores are probably going to look a lot like the mini Target. Not really a department store.
I agree with you I can't see FTC signing off on it, they will just infight and not put up any kind of fight before the drop dead date and it will go like the Speedway-7-Eleven transaction went where they didn't even end up rendering an opinion and the Speedway and 7-Eleven got together and did their own divesting and nothing more came of it.

I think a Target and Amazon merger would be interesting. It might be a good combination.
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Re: Amazon Department Stores

Post by HCal »

storewanderer wrote: September 1st, 2021, 11:01 pm
I agree with you I can't see FTC signing off on it, they will just infight and not put up any kind of fight before the drop dead date and it will go like the Speedway-7-Eleven transaction went where they didn't even end up rendering an opinion and the Speedway and 7-Eleven got together and did their own divesting and nothing more came of it.
Either that or they will convince some federal judge that the FTC acted arbitrarily and to overturn them and authorize the merger.

I personally think that allowing 2 of the top 10 largest retailers in the country to merge would be completely ridiculous, but the government hasn't shown much interest in enforcing antitrust laws these days.

My theory is that Amazon is opening retail stores for media attention and marketing purposes only. They now have Amazon Books, Amazon Go, Amazon 4-star, Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods, and soon some department stores. Except for Whole Foods, these are all insignificant to their total revenue. I just don't see the point in opening a bunch of small chains with locations scattered around the country, other than to put Amazon's brand in front of people.
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Re: Anazon Department Stores

Post by veteran+ »

"I'd say Bezos is definitely a 21st century robber baron. Why would I buy my groceries from a company that also owns unrelated businesses Twitch and WaPo?"

I agree regarding Bezos!

But many folks rationalize shopping at Walmart despite its well documented severe malfeasance in the USA and around the world.

;) :shock: 8-) :)
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Re: Amazon Department Stores

Post by storewanderer »

The thing that I notice is whenever Amazon says they are opening some new concept you start to see media articles published with a lot of speculation and grand claims of hundreds or thousands of new stores within a few years, and predictions of doom for the competitors in whatever industry it is, from some analyst or other expert. These aren't even claims from Amazon, just analysts or experts the news writer interviews.

But Wall Street takes that speculation and runs with it and starts pressuring the management of the other retailers as to how they will respond to this threat.

If other retailers were just focused on running a quality operation in the first place, they wouldn't have much to worry about. I doubt best in class grocers like Hy-Vee or Wegman's are worrying much about Amazon. Publix should probably worry.
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Re: Amazon Department Stores

Post by TW-Upstate NY »

storewanderer wrote: September 3rd, 2021, 12:58 am If other retailers were just focused on running a quality operation in the first place, they wouldn't have much to worry about.
EXACTLY! Block out all the "noise" and just run good stores. And focus on what the CONSUMER wants not what Wall Street thinks they want.
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