Stores that offer convenience and deals are winning, shares today’s WSJ. Sales at Walmart, Target, and T.J. Maxx are up while they’re murky at Macy’s, J.C. Penny, and Nordstrom. Just offering deals isn’t enough, nor is just offering next-day delivery. A store is going to have to accept smaller margins via deals and convenience offerings. The alternative is: join Macy’s with its 50% stock drop.
Nordstrom’s sales are down 5% and profit fell about $20m.
Kohl’s, which has a partnership with Amazon, saw lower sales, too. Its stock is down 41% year to date.
So what is going on in retail? It’s a split in the river. Some retailers are doing well and others aren’t. WSJ’s Justin Lahart reminds us that consumer confidence is high and wages are up 3% over the last year.
A sales rep for home goods has argued with me that indie stores are not able to accept smaller margins. These same small stores often don’t offer free or expedited shipping. As we can see by today’s news, if they don’t offer these benefits they may be on the river to oblivion.
Bridge helps indie stores compete online and accomplish some aspects of what the successful retailers do (the ones on the right ‘river’). Specifically, we enable mom-and-pop stores to offer more convenience by helping them show thousands of products online with little or no work. For example, an indie store using Bridge’s Smart Products service to show Waterford’s complete line of 1k products. That’s very convenient for its shoppers because they can browse all of these items on the Bridge retailer's website and shop. In fact, using Bridge’s service it’s easier for an indie store with no staff than for Macy’s to accomplish this. (Macy’s isn’t a Bridge customer.) Authorized stores can sync with up to 60k products from Waterford and 120 Smart Brand partners.
Bridge also helps share real-time stock from 30 Smart Brands with indie stores so that stores can more quickly ship items.
Bridge doesn’t control whether a stores offers free next-day shipping, or whether a store offers discounts.
Last week I wrote about Macy’s and its missteps in investing for the future. You’re invited to read that article here: