Let me ask you something, how many of you buy stuff from Amazon? How many are jumping on the Prime bandwagon? If Amazon is poised to grab half of online sales in the country, then I'm betting quite a few.
And then you wonder why we are closing stores and cutting hours? Really? Is it that hard to put two and two together?
it’s not like you have to pay a fee just to shop on Amazon. I don’t have Prime and find most of what I need and can get it within 2-4 days tops. eBay mostly s---s, I never find lower prices or faster shipping there, but I see how for used or specialty parts they could be worthwhile. For most things, no thanks, the prices aren’t better and the sellers aren’t reliable.
I really don't care if "Ebay is chasing Amazon". I don'i care who is the biggest. I care about price and service. I don't but enough household items to save enough to cover the $109 membership fee. I do check the Amazon price but almost always find things I want on Ebay cheaper including the free shipping, and I don't need next day delivery. 2-3 days is fine. I will even check the WM price even though I have no intention of going to WM. In fact I WILL pay more if I have to rather than set foot in a WM. Most of what we buy on Ebay is stuff you can't get on Amazon, example race car parts, mostly used or needing repair. Also If we need auto parts, husband does a lot of auto repair, Auto Zone sells a lot of their stuff on Ebay at close to half what you would pay if you went to one of their stores. Also sometimes things I've ordered on Ebay come in an Amazon box, I think they must be drop shipped from Amazon. I'll stick with Ebay and save the $109.
For husband's underwear buying wife:
Great post, you took a nail gun and hit everything right on the head. I worked for wm for several years, and everything you described about the vendors was dead accurate. Wm's binning system was horrid and virtually impossible for dms, sales staff and vendors alike to navigate and keep accurately inventoried when I was there, and that was nearly three years ago.
They consistently have non competitive pricing on dwindling on hand merch, and it's as if they're TRYING to run customers off. Staffing is almost non existent, managers hide in offices scrolling their phones, and customers literally cannot get any help with their needs. I truly, seriously don't understand their motivation.
Because it isn't success.
Only eBay employees flog the “no membership fee” thing re: Amazon. Nice try. eBay is the Walmart of online shopping. Losing relevance and market share and obsessed with chasing/copying Amazon.
I honestly don't understand why anyone shops at WM anymore with the competition in the marketplace and better prices everywhere. I stopped 4 years ago when I couldn't find 5 of 7 items on my list. They might have had the underwear I wanted for my husband but the section was so disheveled I gave up looking. went on Ebay and ordered the style and size I wanted and had it in 2 days. You talk about Amazon, but Ebay has most everything, usually at better prices, free shipping in 2 - 3 days, and no membership fee.
I don't know about other chains nationwide, but sale prices at Kroger are crazy good. This week chicken breast .99/lb. Last week I stocked up on ground beef at $1.57/lb with the sale price and one of the coupons they send me every month. When they have something I use at a low price I stock up and since their sale seem to run in a cycle I know the low price will repeat in a few months. There might be a few necessary items I pay a bit more for but not many. And things I want are IN STOCK.
Even the smaller Brookshires beats WM with their sale pricing
I wish HEB would expand, they would kill WM. We will be visiting friends in Waco this weekend and a stop at the HEB PLUS is on the schedule. A few years ago I watched a WINCO destroy sales on the brand I represented at WMs nearby. Sales of my brand dropped by 50% at WM, but since I also serviced WINCO it was ok with me. People at WINCO are much nicer to work with.
You can even save money at Dollar General. Yes the quality of the stores can vary, but there are so many you can usually find one that stays well stocked and clean. There are 7 within 15 -20 min. frome me and I would call 3 of them excellent for being well stocked. You can get most general household items at a better price than WM, even the name brands. And I usually forget about the groceries because of the Kroger sales, but they have great pricing on most grocery items and a pretty good selection too. .85 for the spaghetti sauce I like that sells for $1 at WM.
As a merchandiser I can tell you WM is a nightmare to service. I fell so sorry for the hourly workers because WM has very poor management. Not only are they nasty but for the most part completely clueless. No merchandising plan. No communication. My company tells me product is coming in for end cap or action alley. I discuss in advance with DM or ASM or CO,and told to see them when it arrives. Pallet of product comes in and nobody knows nothing about no display. No plan. Go to a Kroger or WINCO and there is a printed plan, your product goes here starting X date for X amount of time. Everybody knows and follows the plan.
Can't wait for WM to bite the dust Their reign is over. Going the way of KMart. RIP (soon I hope)
I became a Prime customer after Walmart promoted me to customer. I now select shop from other grocery options & made my last walmart.com purchase back in March. And I'm good with all the choices available. It's a new day that's for certain
Are you freaking kiding me. Of course we shop at amazon and Walmart can only blame itself. You sell the worse produce and meat that can be bought. Meat cutters try to unionize so what does your wonderful Walmart do. No more meat cutters in the store. It comes prepacked and wrapped. Maybe jsut maybe if they treated there workers right they wouldnt have to worry about them trying to unionize. To this day you dont know if you will get your hours or be sent home because sales are down. You cannot depend on Walmart for anything. The people running this company are running it and now we have people from the Walmart side sticking there nose in on the Sams side and screwing it up just like they did Walmart. You could always see how bad Walmart workers hated there jobs by the sad look on there faces and Sams workers were queit happy and enjoyed there jobs then all of a sudden we have the people from the Walmart side venturing over to the Sams side and now its basically the same thing. People hating there jobs.
Walmart just needs to focus on being the best that WE can be. They need to stop trying to be Target or Aldi or Lidl or Amazon. They simply aren’t. If they’d just focus on being the best WALMART, half their problems would resolve themselves.
OP, WM is cutting jobs, hours, departments, stores, clubs, DC’s, the whole lot. For one reason.
They (we) didn’t stay competitive! We lost focus chasing New York GQ fashion, Target, Dollar Stores, and the like.
Then they (HO) bring in constants that tell them you’re aiming at the wrong target all together. Focusing should be on the omni-channel experiences and web retail.
So what do they (ignorant leaders) do? They try to buy themselves out of a hole they’ve dug for us all over the last 10 - 15 years. And how do they pay for that? Refer to the first paragraph.
All said, all told; we (loyal Associates) are the impacted. Due to bad leadership, bad ideas, and just a badly ran company.
Amazon didn’t pop up overnight. And if shoppers go there, well it’s due to all the above and the points others have been saying here- and for a long time.
Bottom line: Amazon’s full blown online success is they’re better at this market channel. And if there is one (multiple) throats to choke, it’s those ignorant leaders that sit in the office Sam Walton once occupied.
MIC DROP
Amazon is the new Walmart, Home Office should get over it!
Walmart caused this.
They held down wages and eroded the middle class who was their most important shopper.
They stood by while Aldi and the dollar stores took over.
Now people are either too poor or work too long of hours to shop their stores.
And in the final stroke of sheer idiocy, they’ve run inventory so thin, you can’t do a one stop shop there any longer. And if it’s not that, they’re on a mission to delete tons of skus again.
So let me see.
Walmart doesn’t have the best prices.
They’re not in stock when I try to shop them.
They’ve deleted my favorite skus.
The stores are a mess.
There are no cashiers.
Oh and they have a reputation for treating their employees like crap.
Wow. I wonder why even their own employees shop the competitor. It’s so difficult to figure out.
But you want to know the ultimate irony? What the OP just said about shopping Amazon is exactly what mom and pop businesses said about shopping Walmart when Sam Walton was at the helm leading things.
Funny how it all comes around...
OP, you are clearly in some form of upper management. So let me ask you a question:
Are you really blaming your formerly loyal customer base that Walmart betrayed for the company's demise? Here's another question: Isn't that l,ike blaming the teacher for your own bad grades?
I finally broke the syndrome ! I used to be that loyal shopoer. It finally got so bad when I was leaving with 1/3 of the items on my list missing. Then I decided to go to the Walmart 1 mile down the rode because I have 7 Walmart’s within a 15 mile radious of my home. I have tried most of them including the NH ones. They all are the same some a little ruder some dirtier some better In stock most of all still not getting what I need and waiting in line because no cashiers. Saving money at Kroger, HEB, and Amazon now.
bdf nailed it. Every time I shop at WM, they are out of 1/3 to 1/2 of what I need. That means I have to make another trip to another store that is NOT WM. Every time this happens I vow to not go back. But I do. It's battered spouse syndrome. One day I will take that vow and NEVER go back.
You would have to pay me to shop at Walmart, what a nightmare!
They should also learn how to treat their people and give a competitive wage.
Maybe you need to staff the stores correctly, provide enough cashiers instead of self checkouts. Maybe you need to focus on having correct instock vs. cutting orders because you don't have the sales you want.
Maybe you should lead by example and show your associates how to take care of their customers instead of cutting their hours and telling them they are not doing a good job.
You need to take a look at your business and remember what brought you to the table (EDLP, engaged associates and accountability to be the best).
You are driving the customers to AMAZON - All this focus on the internet is driving customers to shop there vs. shopping in a Brick and Mortar store.
Walmart invented Comparison shopping....maybe they are comparing to Amazon and liking it better? Something to think about.....