It's amazing to me that Follett has fallen so far, so fast. They once had choice locations on campuses and could have leveraged that access to students in hundreds of ways...that is to say if they had bothered to look up from their shrinking textbook income statements. That business is gone and not coming back. If any of those HO bottom feeders had an ounce of innovation they just might come up with a new business model. It used to be CW ruled the roost and GM was king but with zero intelligent direction the GM department is two years behind trends...it's pathetic to see that once again the incoming merchandise is just the same old crap from the last ten years.
2 replies (most recent on top)
GM is behind the times because they have also lost the talent that drove success. When you don't have a men's buyer for 8 months (despite that feel good video that the assistants stepped up to the challenge), how can you drive the business. No one looking for new vendors or products, it was enough to just maintain the flow. They are just as short staffed as the rest of the company. Who's in charge now that CP left? No one. They move the buyer from computers to food, and that position has now been vacant for months. GM cannot continue to produce with such a stripped down buying team. Plus, GT and MV only care about filling stores with basics so that it can be replenished via Retalon. Keep it Simple Stupid. Simple = less people.
We do have innovation. We just hired a new VP from Little Caesers. And don't forget we hired the guy from Redbox a few years ago and I am sure he is busy trying to get movie rentals in the stores.