Interesting article in Forbes, and it confirms once more what I’ve been preaching for several years now. The Big Box era has run it’s course and is dying a slow death.

“The new conventional wisdom says that big box retailers like Best Buy are going the way of the dinosaur. Online giants, notably Amazon, are the future. Online retailers are more efficient, because they lack physical locations, and so can offer better prices. Shopping online is also more convenient. On the web, consumers can shop anywhere they are, day or night.”

Link to article.

I’ve known for years that Wal Mart has lowered the quality of not only their products, but EVERYTHING we buy, as competitors engage in a race to the bottom to try and compete with them.. I’m proud of the fact that as of the date of this post I have not been in a Wal Mart store in almost eight years. Problem is, the “Wal Mart junk” mentality has spread to almost every other consumer product, but it’s still possible with a little effort to buy durable, quality products….and when shopping for quality, it’s often the US manufacturer that comes out on top.

If the federal government wants to create private sector jobs, they need to come up with a system whereby some independent agency (ie. Consumer Reports) rates products and assigns a “durability rating” giving the useful life expectancy of a given product in years (or months). That number would be required to be prominently displayed on all packaging, then the customer could make an intelligent choice between buying the underwear that cost $3 per pair and last 1 year, or the $6 pair that last 5 years…doesn’t take a math degree to figure out the most economical choice.

Link to article.

Printable .pdf version

Yes, I do despise WalMart for what it has done to America in it’s zeal for “lower prices”…oh well, at least the Chinese have prospered. Anyway, CBS Sunday Morning recently aired a piece about Alice Walton and the Crystal Bridges Art Museum she is funding in Arkansas. She seems like a very genuine and plain-spoken woman and I have respect for what she is doing with at least a portion of her fortune. Too bad the company her father started has become such a monster…

More confirmation of my theory…Big Box Retailing is a dead duck.

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“…Americans are expected to do more online comparison shopping and spend less time in stores….”

Whew…I’m sure glad I’m not tied to a high rent lease in a shopping center or mall.

Read the full article.

I’d bet that these execs read the writing on the wall…big box retail is a dead duck and Google and Amazon.com will eat Walmart alive in the online realm. A couple of key phrases in this article: “…shoppers are making more purchases over the internet.” and “…more shoppers migrate to the Web and same-store sales at U.S. stores decline.”

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) is losing the two executives in charge of its online business as the world’s largest retailer works to win shoppers that are making more purchases over the Internet.

Eduardo Castro-Wright, a Wal-Mart vice chairman who ran global sourcing operations along with the online business, will retire in July, Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart said today in a statement. Wan Ling Martello, Wal-Mart’s executive vice president of e-commerce, will replace Jim Singh as chief financial officer of Nestle SA (NESN), the food company said in a statement.

“It’s a serious loss of leadership in the e-commerce business,” Colin McGranahan, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, said in an interview. “Eduardo had the internal firepower to make things happen.”

Chief Executive Officer Mike Duke has focused on improving the company’s Internet unit as more shoppers migrate to the Web and same-store sales at U.S. stores decline. Wal-Mart bought Silicon Valley e-commerce startup Kosmix and created @WalmartLabs to speed up innovation. The company also is testing home delivery of fresh groceries ordered online.

Read the full article.