Most retailers made major mistakes of putting their distribution centers at greater distances from each other when energy prices came down and stayed stable in the 80s and 90s . Retailers are long-hauling freight anywhere from 300 to 700 miles. With 50 cents a mile for a 20-ton diesel freight truck, it adds up. |
New York will take the entire country down about 1 [percent] to 1½ percent. |
No matter what the stores do, they still seem to not be able to stimulate spending. |
Now, rather than former outsiders having a big voice in the company, it will become more of a meritocracy. |
Retail planning has a very long lead time and it's tightly controlled, |
Retailers are really getting squeezed especially in the largest retail sector, which is the supermarket sector. In the discount sector, Sears and Kmart would be at significant risk. |
Shoppers are outsmarting the stores even more this year and waiting until the last minute to get the best deals, |
Starting with the recession in the mid-70's, the worse the economy got the better Wal-Mart sales would be. Now, like everybody else, Wal-Mart is using every excuse in the book to disguise company-specific problems. |
The biggest implication of Wal-Mart bringing payment processing in-house is the potential for it to save an unprecedented amount of money in yearly fees. |
The company is in so much of a free fall. It looks like it's going to get worse before it gets better. |
The good news is that a lot of shoppers are postponing purchases and going out the last week of the year. So there will be a real sales surge next week, which will help retailers. |
Wal-Mart and Target have both been criticized for their eminent domain use. |
When it comes to their eating habits, consumers will continue to choose the proverbial sin over salvation -- or fat and sugar -- over the lack of it. |