Will A l i b a b a
Alibaba, the Chinese based global ecommerce marketplace giant, formed a 'collaborative partnership' with Office Depot last month. What is Alibaba's intent given that it has yet to penetrate the US market successfully? Complete
Fastest delivery
"Traditional retailers "Walmart and Target are a step ahead of Amazon in delivery moving to same-day" according to retail equity analyst John Zolidis. Keep up, Amazon have been delivering same day to the world's major cities progressively since 2014.
Will AMZN's CRaP
Amazon's etail growth rate has slowed dramatically over recent quarters. Meanwhile, it's cutting its 'CRaP' defined products; shifting to imported private label; cutting back on small vendors; and splitting deliveries into multiple drops. We discuss the consequences...Updated
Depot deception
Seeking Alpha analyst Value Adventurer headlines 'Office Depot: Oversold on short term executional issues'. Has VA been living under a stone? Since 2007 Depot/Max core sales have plummeted from $25Bn sales to a current $9Bn in 2019. Moreover, all recent moves made by CEO Gerry Smith have failed to lift off, as sales/customer service standards decline...
Death of Indie
Does size matter? The office market over the past 35yrs has been dominated by bigboxes & Amazon #1 in business supplies, points to a continuation. But emerging trends show the big guys in deep decline & Godzilla grinding. The rise of progressive resellers providing 'personalised productivity services' embracing mobile technology, can & will succeed.. Updated
'Industry Week'
The Business Supplies Asctn (BSA) plan to rationalise vendors' heavy schedule of 20+pa shows & create an 'Industry Week' has been quashed. Understandably, leading wholesalers & resellers wouldn't cooperate. Great idea, so what's Plan B? We feel thought be given to a more customer centric 'Business Productivity Show' for the IDC. We spoke w/BSA presBarry Lane... Updated
Nestle's water
“Is Nestle's Poland Spring the same as your sink water? No. It’s worse. One or more of its wells are near present or former human waste dump, landfill, or similar site” writes MntPress' Nick Rehwaldt. Coincidentally, Nestle has mounted a huge TV ad campaign in Prime Time proclaiming "100% Natural Spring Water". Watch this space....
Do Workplace
Company workplace wellness programs — efforts to get workers to lose weight, eat better, stress less and sleep more — are an $8 billion industry in the U.S. Recent research reports heathier behaviour, but not necessarily healthier results? We discuss findings...
User behaviour
Marketing Week's Charlotte Rogers reports that research shows marketers are shifting away from classic demographics to find more accurate ways to segment users based on their behaviour and personal interests...Updated
Sycamore Partnrs:
Vulture capitalist Sycamore Partners owner of Staples & Essendant recently hiked the former's debt load by $1Bn to $5.2Bn, with estimated interest payments of $400m+ pa or c3%/sales. Many analysts ask: Is this a repeat of the ToysR Us bankruptcy situation; and Sycamore's Nine West demise? We discuss... Complete
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