The newly announced deal Amazon made with Whole Foods sent some shivers through Cincinnati. Many of us thought Bezos was simply waiting for a certain stock price in order to buy at the right time. That wasn't true. Several of us have agreed, Amazon was our last best hope.
Ugliness is coming. There is no white knight suitor, only ridiculous ideas.
I agree that the best way to respond is to offer personal service, but it seems that Macy's wants to try the opposite. Whether it is open sell in Women's Shoes or pretending that we are Sephora in Cosmetics, everything that we are doing boils down to reducing head count with an emphasis on the areas where the compensation is the highest. All we hear from customers is that they cannot find what they are looking for nor can they find anyone to help them.
Bezos likely considers traditional retailers dead. If he were to buy Macy's I would expect him to liquidate it. Not build it up. It's a 21 billion dollar company with 308 million shares of stock outstanding. The stock is a $61/share item currently on sale at $23/share. Over 60% off retail price if you pardon the pun.
Macy's is more likely to be taken over by a liquidator, shutdown, and all assets sold off. The only way for us to stay in business is to start competing. What can we give customers that Amazon cannot? Personalized customer service.
Amazon was our last best hope.
So true - cannot agree more