Is the fact that we’re under the Walmart umbrella the only thing keeping us afloat. It’s hard for me to imagine that a messed up company like Sam’s could stand on its own. Not trying to provoke anyone with this post, I would just like to get some opinions on this.
5 replies (most recent on top)
Walmart cut Sam's off. Why do you think the changes have/are happening?
It would survive if the new owners cared about customer service and their associates instead of the shareholders and the bottom line.
I believe we are riding on Walmart's coat tails. They are probably "floating" us right now. I have never in my life seen a company run this half assed. The way my Club looks, I am embarrassed to say that I work there.
No it can not. Its only hope aside from walmart would be to be absorbed by the likes of Costco.
The answer is yes it would. The reality is that the company is making moves that align it with the future of brick and mortar retail. What are those things? Convenience and targeting smart saving families. Focusing on fresh is a sound strategy. The company does need to tweak some aspects of it (no company executed perfectly all the time).
At the club I work there is always talk about how the company does this and it does that wrong and that the changes have been bad. Full disclosure - I am new to the company. Now... before everyone jumps on the “You don’t know” train... you have to step back and look at retail (minus Wal-Mart) in general and then apply what is happening across it. Many retailers are going out of business, but there is no retail apocalypse. If you use google you can see that more stores nationwide opened last year than closed. It’s not s-xy so it’s typically not spun that way. But buying habits are changing. Retailers who will win as we move forward are retailers that focus on a couple of things - Value and convenience. How does this company fit into that? Very well. Spinning it off would require more change. Like closing the cafe. Which has to be a money drain on the companies bottom line. Factoring our the companies lead in store count and being tied to Walmart... it’s really playing catch up on the operations side vs everyone else. Most other retailers have already made these changes (like eliminate the audit team).
Online is not destroying retail. So before anyone says it would die as it’s own company because of amazon you have to look at some numbers. Amazon had $144 billion in sales LY. Aldi had $88 billion, is growing rapidly, and sells almost nothing online. But they execute the value aspect of the future better than most.
The company has a foundation to win where retail is going, but more change will be necessary to win. And according to this site... those changes are coming. Change is always a bumpy ride. Just put your seat belt on.