Some people like to sit on the sofa and eat Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. I roll my eyes at this because I’m very different: I like to read the Wall St. Journal’s Christopher Mims …while eating an entire pint of Ben & Jerry’s on the sofa. This past weekend, Mr. Mims suggested companies may be reassessing where they source products, some even considering more domestic production. The motivation for this started a few years ago with the U.S.-China trade war, ...
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Jim Collins, in his book BE 2.0, explains how purpose and mission are important to companies. To help explain this, he uses the metaphor of crossing a mountain range and seeing a star on the horizon. Your purpose is to reach the spot on the horizon below the star. The current mission is climbing up the mountain you’re on. The next mission is climbing up the next mountain and so forth in order to get closer to the spot on the horizon. You will have many missions, and may never ...
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These days, ugly Amazon warehouses are beating up pretty retail stores. Many stores in 2020 had record online sales that made up 40% or more of revenue, but they are struggling because they had to bear the burden of retail stores. Retail stores cost more per square foot to rent, furnish, and maintain. They also cost more to staff. A warehouse person need not be a people person and a snazzy dresser; they can exhibit anger management issues and ...
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When we watch or read the news, we can see how important what we do is. We can see big and small retailers struggling to pivot to multi-channel Many stores had online sales that made up 40% or more of revenue, but they also had to bear the burden of retail stores. Retail stores cost more per square foot to rent, furnish, and maintain. They also cost more to staff: a warehouse person need not be a people person and a snazzy dresser; they can exhibit anger management issues and ...
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Today's NY Times shares that many businesses are decreasing their office space footprint as they let employees work from home.
We are entering a new and unusual time post-COVID. More and more people will be working from home, further encouraging companies to decrease their amount of office space. I think this is a good thing for the most part, as it will open up jobs for people who don't necessarily live near a company's office. It also allows people to work from the comfort of their own home...
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Three quarters of 2017 high-school seniors said they expected to get married—almost the same as in 1976, but just 50% of these Americans will likely be married, shares today’s WSJ. In marriage’s place, cohabitating is growing.
A corollary to marriage is employment, and research shows that closing manufacturing plants shrinks marriage rates, whereas jobs with standard schedules and fringe benefits increase marriage.
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February 28, 2020
February 28, 2020
Grocery stores are increasingly turning to robots—some with cute paste on eyes—to replace humans. While the eyes are cute, what does this mean for employment for the low skilled?
One way that Amazon keeps prices low is not hiring low-skilled workers when it can replace them with robots.
E-commerce is hammering stores, shares a study appearing in RetailDive. Each e-commerce job kills four traditional jobs, and it may help close 30k stores in the next 5 years.
RetailDive excerpts:
E-commerce has been a net negative — an agent of "destructive destruction" — for the retail industry writ large, according to a new study from credit insurance company Euler Hermes. The study found that 56,000 stores, or 10.7% of the
The retail store floor is being transformed in to an ‘app store,’ shares todays Times. Employees armed with mobile phones are helping customers using specialized apps.
The Times article also shares that retail clothing jobs in NYC shrunk 9% between 2013 to 2018.
Market buildings are looking down the barrel of a gun. To find out why, check out my article in this month's Tableware Today.
THE LAST WORD
CHART YOUR FUTURE BEFORE BIG TECH DOES
by JASON SOLAREK
Market buildings are starting to take digital seriously. Why, finally? Because Amazon is nipping at retailers’ heels? No. Because Zola is stealing indie stores’ registry business? No. Sadly, the main thing that’s brought markets up to speed has to do with their own dollars and ...
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November 17, 2019
November 17, 2019
Amazon is increasingly using robots to deliver goods and services. One could say that Alexa is a robot minus the body. As Amazon grows, we're facing a glut of empty Main Street shops and layoffs. This reminds me of the Terminator movie series in which robots wreck destruction on human civilization.
We just need Arnold Schwarzenegger to star in an Amazon delivery commercial. "I'll be back," he says, "to pick up your return."
PS - Curious about claims on robot-killing jobs? Check out Presidential...
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November 16, 2019
November 16, 2019
When we make products overseas, are we long-term weakening our businesses and our communities, and in fact strengthening the product’s country of origin? Today’s WSJ makes the point that foreign countries that produce the goods are the ones gaining high-tech jobs and therefore the high-flying lifestyles. As you may have heard, every day a new person becomes a millionaire in China. Can we say the same in America? Historically, businesses and economists approved the strategy of “innovate here, ...
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November 12, 2019
November 12, 2019
Amazon has opened an instant portal between our kids and Chinese goods that fail U.S. safety and environmental standards. Today's Wall St. Journal shares that Amazon is helping Chinese sellers upload a new item every 1/50th of a second—resulting in a tsunami of questionable products flooding our homes.
Excessive lead in your kid’s dinner plate? A motorcycle helmet for your son that cracks easily? Get it on Amazon.
One may ask: how could a Chinese-speaking person be expected to know U.S. laws? ...
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September 8, 2019
September 8, 2019
In a region known for its grapes, Susan and Brian Friguliette, bravely decided to give us beans, coffee beans that is. Their love story blossomed into living their dream and their passion for coffee. We have been selling Keuka Lake Coffee for 13 years. Over this time it’s become our top coffee brand. Customers love that they are they a local roaster but, the diverse selection of roasts and flavors has kept Keuka Lake Coffee fans coming back for refills. We asked Susan and Brian to share how ...
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August 29, 2019
August 29, 2019
Amazon and Chinese companies have teamed up to bypass Main Street and ship goods directly to doorsteps. This is hurting American manufacturing as well as local city governments. To accomplish this, they're misleading Americans by putting out press releases that cherry-pick statistics.
Follow these 3 steps to see the issue at hand:
1. In an Amazon press release last week, Amazon claimed:
"Independent third-party sellers – primarily small and medium-sized businesses – ...
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August 19, 2019
August 19, 2019
Maker Scarlett Markham is actually a former Parkleigh employee! She developed her line, Flour Pail Kids while working here. We thought our customers would be as amused by it as we are by Scarlett. Her quirky sense of humor mixes nostalgic icons with the edge of today to inspire her work. What could be more full of Rochester spirit than a tiny Genny Beer pin? Her Rochester icon t-shirts are also a stand out among others around town. When Scarlett isn’t designing or doing one of her jack-of-all-...
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June 16, 2019
June 16, 2019
Business lunch: how retail is changing :)
Old retail is 80% analog. This consists of: the physical store, staff, customer service training, etc. What you’d expect walking into a Saks or Macy's. And it's about 20% tech: computers, cash registers (POS systems), mobile shopping, Google ranking, apps, hiring social influencers, Instagram, etc.
Today, the retailers that are well positioned, growing, and 'hot' carry the opposite equation: they're 20% analog and 80% tech.