How Are Big Retailers Supposed To Protect Their Brands When They're Closing 100s Of Stores?

The retail sector just cannot seem to get its act together, they try to make us all loyal customers and then spam our inboxes to hell. They pretend to care, but give us lousy service while in their stores, that is if we can even find someone to help us. They offer discount coupons but we cannot find it when we go to shop, Free Rain Check, they say, well, that's not good enough. Then when they finally do lower some prices on their cheaply made Chinese imports, we find out it's only because they are closing their doors and selling their "loyal customer data" to a competitor without our permission and the process starts all over again - when will these box retailers learn - maybe when they are all gone?

The USA Today had an interesting and scary article addressing the future of brick and mortar retailing titled; "Macy's cutting 6,200 jobs, identifies 68 stores that will be closing," published on January 4, 2017 which stated;

"Retail icon Macy's says in a release that it's making "changes to the way stores are operated and reducing field infrastructure given the reduced store sales and evolving customer behavior."
The company expects to register charges of about $250 million in the fourth quarter of 2016 that were not previously included in its earnings guidance."

If you will recall Macy's closed 100 stores back in late August/September of 2016.

Maybe it's more of a matter or protecting shareholder's equity and quarterly profits. There was an interesting article in Reuters on January 20, 2017 titled; "U.S. department stores steady profitability boat even as sales slide," written by Nandita Bose and Siddharth Cavale (Chicago Correspondents) which stated: "U.S. department store chains, hit by slowing sales for more than two years, have used layoffs, store closings and cutbacks to maintain one aspect of stability: profit margins."

Sure, I get that, they want to make more money, more profits, hire fewer people and work them part-time to avoid expensive out-of-control ObamaCare mandates. And still, I realize that the Retailing Industry hardly needs another apologetic for their behavior and trampling of their customer base, after all they have their own propaganda and PR teams to alter the minds of their mindless masses with their loyal customer mass data.

If things don't change in the retail sector, then the likes of Amazon is going to eat their lunch and then deliver a replacement via an online sandwich order delivered by drone. And trust me, it's already happening - think on this.

Lance Winslow is an Online Author, his latest Small Business eBooks are about Retail Business. Lance Winslow is semi-retired and Founder of the Online Think Tank http://www.WorldThinkTank.net - You may contact Lance Winslow by email for dialogue, discourse, discussion, or debate on interesting topics.



 By Lance Winslow



Article Source: How Are Big Retailers Supposed To Protect Their Brands When They're Closing 100s Of Stores?