ETD: 970 Wal-Mart pledges to help small retailers; Martha
migrating to Macy's; Amazon Prepares to Take Mechanical Turk Service
Live
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post at gapent.com
Tue Apr 11 10:45:03 GMT 2006
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0970 April 11, 2006
George Matyjewicz, Moderator mailto:georgem at gapent.com
Published by: GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.etailersdigest.com
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CONTENTS
[1] Greetings
[2] Wal-Mart pledges to help small retailers
[3] Martha migrating to Macy's
[4] Amazon Prepares to Take Mechanical Turk Service Live
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
We will not be publishing E-Tailers Digest for the next two issues.
We have more discussion on the Wal Mart
announcement about helping small
businesses. What do you think? Is it a boom or bust for small businesses?
Martha Stewart is moving to Macy's. In addition
to her line at K-Mart, she will now have another
line at Macy's. He products do seem to have
value, i.e., you get a lot for your money. We shall see.
Amazon has taken their Mechanical Turk Service
live, for those who have services to offer. It's
going to be interesting to see if it succeeds, as
there are a couple of similar services now
available. Then again, they are Amazon.
Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.
Sincerely
George Matyjewicz, PhD
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, LLC
mailto:georgem at gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com
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[2] Wal-Mart pledges to help small retailers
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In regards to Wal Mart "helping" small business:
please ... give me a break! How naive do you think we are?
This is nothing but contrived spin by a company
getting tons of justified negative publicity
heaped on them. This is a wolf in sheep's clothing.
The statement that George and others make "to
change or die" (to paraphrase) is true but not so simple.
There comes a point when there is only so much a
business can do in regards to competing for market share in many communities.
In fast-growing or highly populated areas - which
the downside is usually retail sprawl and of
course, lots and lots of people - market share is
larger with a better chance for survival.
In most smaller rural areas where Wal Mart likes
to go, there is only so much market share to go
around and it is clearly Wal Mart's philosophy to
get it all. Just take a look at the statistical
facts of the impact on small businesses.
We know, we've been there. We changed our
hardware store operation dramatically to roll
with the changes and are doing well. But one must
never dismiss the impact of mitigating a sales
drop and the pain it creates for any small business.
Regards,
Christopher F.
+++ [Moderator's Comments] +++
Interesting to note that the two reference
companies I mentioned are both in rural/suburban
areas. One is in rural Alabama, Arkansas and
Mississippi. The other in CT. The first won't
go into big cities. Rather they open a new store
down the block from Wal Mart, and there business is thriving.
Sure, it's easy to roll over and die. Instead
why not find a niche that complements Wal Mart?
Small businesses should look at Helen GA as a
prime example. A highway came through and
threatened to destroy that small town. Did they
cry foul or turn to the government for
help? Nope. Instead they took matters in their
own hands, brainstormed and decided to turn six
businesses into a Bavarian-looking town. Soon
the tourists came and now it is a full-fledged
Bavarian town. When I went their on a
fact-finding mission, I learned they had less
than 500 people living in the town, and that
prior year, they had 2.5 million visitors!
So, the choices are simple - die or do something
positive to take advantage of the situation.
George
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[3] Martha migrating to Macy's
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The staff at Gifts & Dec online report that
Macy's will expand its gift shelf space next year
to introduce The Martha Stewart Collection, which
includes casual dinnerware, flatware and
glassware, holiday decorating and trim-a-tree items.
The news was announced this morning by both
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and Federated Departments Stores.
The Martha Stewart Collection is one of the
several new labels headed for distribution into
the approximately 800-plus department stores
operated by Federated over the next 18 months.
The Martha Stewart Collection will encompass a
broad range of home goods — including bed and
bath textiles, housewares, casual dinnerware,
flatware and glassware, cookware, holiday
decorating and trim-a-tree items. Macy's also
expects to sell other Martha Stewart-branded
products, potentially including home furnishings,
holiday celebration concepts, bridal registry
items and an assortment of "how-to" books and
cookbooks, as well as merchandise in categories
new to Macy's, such as outdoor entertainment and
holiday-specific food preparation.
Martha Stewart Everyday will continue to be sold
at Kmart. But news of the Macy’s deal appears to
confirm reports from the industry that attempts
to create a separate Martha label for Kmart
parent Sears have hit a wall. The alleged sticking point: price.
Federated is looking to shake up the Macy’s
assortment, particularly now that hundreds of
converted May Co. stores extend its reach into
more disparate markets. Some Bloomingdale’s
programs will roll into Macy’s “A” doors later this year and early next year.
In addition, the Marshall Field’s buying team,
which was to have been disbanded mid-year 2006,
will remain in place until fall 2007. Field’s
home department has been out-performing Macy’s,
and it is expected that Macy’s may tap into some of Field’s programs.
The Staff of
Gifts & Dec Direct
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[4] Amazon Prepares to Take Mechanical Turk Service Live
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Amazon expects to take its Mechanical Turk
service out of beta within the next two months,
the company said during a presentation at
LinuxWorld. A test version of the service was
first launched in November 2005. The Mechanical
Turk is a service that matches individuals
with enterprises that need to have simple tasks performed for a small fee.
See the Full Story:
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/49821.html
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