Retail stores are a dying breed

Before you know it, "stores" will be nothing more than pick up centers for online orders

Just like Walmart got rid of layaway in favor of their pick up counter... That's the only way I can see it playing out

It's frustrating as hell!... I hate ordering things.... First off you have to wait, when I pay for something I want it now!... Then if you get the wrong thing, you have the headache of packaging it back up and sending it back... And of course there's shipping cost, which is double if you have to return an item

And to make matters worse, retail stores everywhere are cutting inventory.. So selection has gone to hell.. It's all seasonal now.... Wanna buy a leaf blower in March?.. Go online... Need anything except Christmas decorations after October?... Go online

Retailers have been forced to shoot themselves in the foot, clearing shelves to push online sales.... Even the associates are pushing now..... "Do you have any more toilet paper in the back"... "No, but if you go to Walmart . com, we can have it shipped here in 4-5 business days".... O_O

 

Why is SHLD (sears) so over priced right now? Am I missing something, or am I good to short tomorrow morning?

Side note I believe retail is a shrinking market, but I don't think it's going to be as bad as everyone thinks for clothing. People still like trying things on. Every woman I know still loves going to macys, bloomingdales, ... and burning a few hours (and $$$)

 

I am a minority, I still like to go to the retail stores especially for things like clothes and shoes Like @Jrich said, it is a headache to me if I have to package something back for return for the online orders. My experience with Amazon was mostly good but had some really bad experience with eBay

 

Interestingly, Sears brick and mortar stores evolved from an Amazon model, as did those of JC Penney and Montgomery Wards. My grandparents likely loved it when they could shop at brick & mortar department stores instead of waiting on the mailman. My mother, who just turned 80, reminisces about taking the train to the downtown city when she was young to make a day of shopping. When I was young, downtown retail was on its way out being replaced by malls in the suburbs. The cities attempted to compete by re-vitalizing the downtowns with urban renewal programs which were utter failures. Then came the big-box stores. Now there is a naturally occurring gentrification and re-migration taking place in the downtown areas. Big boxes companies, like Lowes and Home Depot, are actually strategizing on how to build smaller so as not miss out on this long-term trend.

In my experience mom and pop restaurants are way better than chain restaurants and my shoes fit better when shoe stores were family owned. Is retail dying? Don't know, but my hope would be that corporate owned retail would die.

 

So here's a thought. Large corporate retail is getting squeezed out by online but even though diminishing walk in customers for large retail could very well create the need for "Mom and Pop" to return. I can envision a return to the small business for local retail customer that does not want to buy everything online.

 

I shop both ways.
If I need it now brick and mortar.
If not I go online. Specially if it's a heavy item.. let them bring it here. Lol

 

So I work in Retail, and live in the land of Amazon. It's a hell of a juxtaposition to talk to Big Box store clients during the day, then order on Amazon at night, so moreover, it's *very* interesting reading all of your comments. I hope it continues.

I think first of all, there are many different pieces to the Retail story. Clothing, Grocery, Specialty, Home Improvement/too big to ship, and yes, mom-and-pop shops. Some of these are doing fine (HD and LOW have seen no problems recently), some are...not (shld). Brick & Mortar retail is certainly changing but I am extremely confident that it won't die out. I think that we will just buy certain things online, and certain things in-store.

Big Box stores, and Specialty stores (read: malls) are the ones that are dying, and that's simply because they failed to keep up with a changing market. They failed to get into ecomm and interact with their customers with an omnichannel presence. This was easy pickings for Amazon. I hope for my company's sake that big box stores stay around, but they are certainly going to change in the next few years.

As @stock1234 said, trying clothes on first to make sure they fit is a huge advantage that mail-to-orders frankly failed at. One service I used is JackThreads, who only charged you once you returned some things (effectively trying them on at home, and not even "fronting" the cost of all of them). Too bad their quality couldn't keep up. Other subscription models work for some products (DSC) but not "curated" products. Amazon has been trying the last few years to break into clothing, but the inability to try things on fails it. I think they will go for a brick-and-mortar idea here in the future.

I think the real battle right now which you all might not be aware of is in Grocery. I'm not sure how many cities AmazonFresh is in yet, but I see a truck probably 2-3 times a day in Seattle. I don't subscribe myself because its $300/yr on top of my $99/yr Prime membership. However, despite having a QFC literally two blocks away from me, I ordered all of my groceries via PrimeNow this weekend. It was actually *cheaper* than QFC (1.49 for 8 bananas, 2.50 for 1lb Strawberries), no delivery fee, and I didn't have to get out of my humiliating lazy-sunday sweat pants. Grocers know this, and have pioneered the idea of BOPIS (Buy Online, Pickup In Store, by Meijer). It must be a good idea, because the new AmazonPickup store just opened a week or two ago. Still in Beta, lets hope it goes better than Go.

If you're interested, I read FierceRetail daily. It's a great resource for what's happening in this industry. From the inside, the 3 things I think retailers MUST figure out (or die like SHLD) is

1. Listen to your customers (not their words, their phones/data). Build better recommendation algorithms to provide them what they want
2. Give your customers a digital shopping experience. Don't make shopping a chore. Phones are fun!
3. For the love of god, know where your products are (I'm not kidding). This will help you identify loss, and pass the savings to the consumer. The only way to beat AMZN in the long run is by undercutting them, and that's how you do it.

Sorry for the novel, I hope it helps you guys understand the climate a little bit, and help your DD.

 

i shop online and in stores, although buying online is more convenient. but i do not buy clothes online.

 

I only shop online if 1. I know for sure I can't get what I need at a store and 2. If the online price is significantly cheaper to make up for the wait.

 

What if the price was the same, but the wait was also the same? For example, It takes me time to go drive to Target or Walmart, find my product, wait in line, drive home. If amazon did this in a 2 hour window for you, where you could be doing other things at the same time, wouldn't that solve the problem? I'm interested in your thoughts.

 

I guess I forgot to insert a 3rd criteria where if it's a product I need to see up close and touch. But let's say it's a PS4 for example, it would be a coin-flip choice to be honest. I live in a rural area where shopping lines aren't ridiculous and traffic isn't heavy so going to a store isn't much of a chore. If I lived in a large city, I would go with amazon to avoid the traffic unless I desperately need something i.e. office supplies.