It’s Monday morning and an old editor’s thoughts turn to some assorted meanderings about the wonderful world of retail. None of these are particularly related to each other and they are just news developments that suggest interesting and perhaps provocative activities…or not.
QVC Rebrands…as QVC: All right, the former company name was Qurate, but let’s face it, nobody ever used that name. This is the company that owns QVC and HSN and some other assorted direct-to-consumer brands. Yes, QVC has been the largest unit but I just have to think there’s another shoe or two to drop. Maybe sister TV shopping platform HSN goes away, perhaps some of those catalogs and DTC brand are sold off…or shut down. Just looks like there’s more to come from this announcement. Whatever it is, it’s still hard to believe the TV brands haven’t done more with livestreaming, they should have been the de facto leaders in this sector right from the start. Stay tuned…literally and figuratively.
Wonder Boy: It’s Marc Lore, the man running this food delivery/ghost kitchen business that is now buying Grubhub, an also-ran in the home delivery sector. Lore is never short of big ideas…or the financial backing to make them happen. Where he seems to fall down sometimes is in being successful with the actual business. Sure, his original online diaper business that he sold to Amazon worked nicely but Jet.com was a bad idea and a bad financial model. That didn’t stop Walmart from paying big Bentonville bucks to buy it and bring Lore along to run its e-commerce business. Maybe he taught them a thing or two but his strategy for the sector was terrible and it was only after he left that Walmart figured out how to be an online player. Wonder started with mobile kitchens that would cook your meal as it was being delivered and that sure didn’t work. He’s reinvented it a time or two, this latest being the Grubhub deal. No doubt he will find somebody to buy this unwieldly conglomeration and come away with another payday. If nothing else, he’s really good at that part of the equation, I’m thinking.
Advance Auto Parts’ Non Advance: The retail chain announced it would close 700 of its 4,700 stores as its business continues to be dismal. We get that vehicle owners who work on their own cars are buying online but how does Advance not focus on its repair and maintenance business, services that can’t be bought online and are increasingly more important as we all tend to hang on to our rides longer than ever. Plus they are really complicated to work on unless you’re a Formula One pit crew so this is clearly where their attention should be. The parts business will come along with that quite nicely, by the way. Another retailer that just isn’t paying attention…at least from my viewpoint.
Amazon Takes On Shein & Temu: The e-commerce elephant has rolled out a new sub-brand called Haul to fight the low-ball Chinese-based online sellers. First off, what took them so long? These competitors have been around for at least two years, I always thought Amazon was fast on its feet. And then there’s the issue of Bezos-and-company’s dismal track record with start-ups – both hardware and software – that were launched in response to market conditions. Most of them have been just rotten performers and are now just distant memories. Listen, Shein and Temu have already peaked and are receding as growth players in the low-end online marketplace. They’ll stick around but if Amazon is really being innovative another me-too roll-out is not the answer. They’ll be hauling this one away too eventually.
That’s my Monday morning thoughts…I need more coffee.
WarrensReport 