amazing competitive wage.. after taxes the average part time employee makes a competitive $77 per week. The full timers bring home $230 a week. How can you resist a payday like this?
25 replies (most recent on top)
@8sil, straight to the point!
Also, there is no guarantee customer won’t return that $8 item.
Customers attention to merchandise is a very short term thing and there is no patience either unless their mind set on certain brands they absolutely sure what to expect about size and fit. They will shop online for those brands, yes. Until they will discover something new they like in physical stores of competitors. BECAUSE PEOPLE LIKE TO GO SHOPPING! Also they will check it online every day and wait when price drops. If they happened to see an item they like in-store there is much higher possibility they will get it right now, not worrying about saving $5-10. Somebody mentioned how much cheaper to run it without bills from building bills, logistics, stuff, but where are you planning to keep the merchandise? You still need warehouse, right? And you need to hire people to pick, don’t you? And people to process returns and damage a lot of merchandise, because people love to return things in non-sellable condition. Also, even if you that greedy and don’t care about those people well-being, you still will need to control temperature to prevent smell and fu---s growing in the building or you may have some hit/freeze sensitive merchandise like cosmetics or candles. And how about cost of shipping? Consider carefully before you expect profit. Besides you count on existing customers. New ones will come accidentally and you might will never see their money again. I agree on paper signs - yes, it’s time to wrap that nonsense up and make discounts in form of electronic coupons, somebody smart can figure out that concept perfectly and bring it into practice. But there can not be successful retail store business online only, not on existing market competing with Amazon. Keep stores fully stuffed and nicely merchandised, only in best profitable locations. As a base for online business.
I can actually almost understand the dilemma they face as to focus on e-comm or not reading these posts.
I still see enormous hurdles with it, tho, and they aren’t fixable without a huge overhaul.
1) once a year inventory is not enough. Between theft and little to no recovery, there is no real-time accounting of inventory. A quick band-aid would be to not send an order to a store unless “inventory” shows multiple items in a particular size (ESPECIALLY CLEARANCE). Which brings me to
2) What sort of profitably is there when paying 1-2 employees (gotta love second reviews!) to spend an inordinate amount of time searching for, and likely not finding, a random $8 clearance item?
3) You CANNOT focus on e-comm and, at the same time, continue to remove nationally recognized brands. Nobody in Oregon is going to be searching high and low for a pair of Kim Rogers pants. They absolutely cannot compete in a global (e-comm) market carrying brands that are only regionally recognized.
Hiring a batch of newbies who will likely be improperly trained to recover, merchandise, and locate will only exacerbate these problems.
My 2 cents, as one of those long-term $10/hr employees, that is apparently not worth a living wage.
@8hfg I think you are so right about belk not focusing on ecomm soon enough. Yes there is an older generation that spends on their grand kids but even the ones with the elite cards are looking for a $8 dollar item and on top of it they use lots of belk rewards. But I do think that belks problems are self inflicted because of corporate greed. They don't care about anything but that. I agree belk is on it's way out as soon as they can give the investors another huge payment.
Im asking you because you're very quick to shut down everyone else. You call it as you see it? Your view is myopic. Meh.
@5run You are so right. That's exactly what I said. But some people don't see what's really going on around them.
Meh. I just call it as I see it. Why don’t you ask your high salaried executive leadership team the plan. That’s what they’re paid to do- keep the shareholders happy right?
Belk doesn't have to exclusively cater to the older generation but dont push them out entirely either. You're great at critiquing others' comments. What's your grand plan?
Sounds like a great business plan- keep catering to your older demographic who have no knowledge of tech. I’m sure they will live forever and keep the company afloat. Way to stay relevant
@5rb Belk has already been cutting hours. Everything is just a hot mess with this company, which is a shame. Belk still has a lot of potential but Sycamore is doing all it can to speed up its demise.
@5yvg. You are so right. Thankfully there are people left that see the reality of things. In my store one of our managers and a bunch of others don't want the minimum wage to go up for the workers because they are afraid belk will cut hours. Brainwashed much.
@5yvg, exactly.. also, think about who shops at Belk. I can't speak for every store but where I worked it was a lot of elderly people, long time Belk customers, retirees with disposable income and high credit lines on their cards. These are people who still come into the store with a paper check to pay their bill. They don't want to navigate a website. They want to come in and get what they need. They want to be helped. They want an associate to spend twenty minutes explaining the difference in memory foam pillows or thread counts in sheets. They want someone to take time with them, listen to their stories, etc. I know the company just can't cater to an aging generation, but don't discount them either. They're the ones who will come in and blow many hundreds of dollars on gifts for their grandkids, and are loyal to brands like Kim Rogers, Alfred Dunner and Ruby Rd.
The expenditure to keep the stores up and running vs a thriving ecomm business is night and day. Lease, maintenance, payroll, insurance, utility, logistics is all overhead. Take a few pics, put them online.. and if you have a sale/promo- then add it to the sight in minutes. Designing, printing, shipping signs and praying the associates merch them correctly is expensive, archaic, and a giant time suck.
@4sao, you only see one side. Yes, bopis and STH are huge part of retail business now, but only part. By the way, much less profitable than in-stores sales. Customers are still shopping in stores, sure they aren’t happy because they can’t find what they looking for in big areas without help available, merchandising doesn’t make sense because nobody doing it, or whoever doing something in very few hours are low paid/ in process looking for better paid job unmotivated people, and good luck to find anyone to give money to without a line. The less company invests, the worst it gets. So customers FORCED to shop in comfort of their home, not necessarily want to do it that way. And it’s not like there’s no money to pay decent wages, all cream goes to ridiculous multimillion compensations to whoever high up. So it’s not new reality, it’s self inflicted problem, based on corporate greed.
I disagree. If people didn't care about the shopping experience it wouldnt be one of the main complaints. They wouldnt complain about the messy store or closed fitting rooms or not having anyone to help them in a department where the register has been closed for over a year. You're out of touch.
Sorry no one cares about the “shopping experience” anymore. The only experience they want is staring at the phone, ordering online, pick it up at the doorstep. You’re old generation thinking is going bye bye fast just like Belk and countless other lame retailers who were too slow and didn’t want to spend money on their ecomm business in the beginning to make them relevant in retail. They thought BOPIS would be the saving grace during covid. Lol. Lock up the doors and turn off the lights Belk.
The point is $9.25 hasn't been enough in years. You say, "you work retail. Youre not looking to get rich." But retail workers are necessary. People like to shop. They like the whole experience of going to the store, trying on the clothes. It's what kept the economy going. Associates build relationships with their customers. And they have to put up with all the bs that comes with it. I dont understand why so many think jobs like this arent worth getting paid decently for. And no one is a fool for working somewhere for 20 yrs making 16$ an hr. Its more than money that keeps people in the jobs they have. Its the camaraderie with your fellow employees, the pride in doing a job well. The time for a decent minimum wage is not YEARS from now. Its today. Employers have used excuses like keeping prices down to not pay people what they're worth. Enough of that.
If it took you 20 Yrs to reach $16, you are a fool. That company screwed you with no lube.
20 YRS. It took for me to get 16.00 an hour. What a bunch of cr-p.
ummm.... to name a few....
Wal Mart
Target
Dillards
TJ Maxx (full time)
Whole Foods
Best Buy
Harris Teeter
Kroger (full time)
Lowe's
Haverty's
McDonald's (not retail, but I gotta include it)
Publix
Walgreens (full time starts at $15)
Rooms to Go
Lenscrafters
Nordstrom
Where? Where is $15 a starting salary in retail?? Troll
So why u lookin for 15 bucks
They pay $9.25 in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Texas it's not just Alabama. Give me a friggin' break.
It’s Alabama
$15 is standard entry level now, NOBODY worth two craps will work for $9.25
So what’s your point? Everyone is expecting $15/hr because that’s what the min wage will be. In a few YEARS… not now. You work retail- your not looking to get rich.