Category Archives

In 2000… Kenmore was in every American household (or it seemed to be), and it was available exclusively at Sears. Heck, other appliance makers would create their best products and sell them with the Kenmore name instead of their own – that’s how big this brand was. However, the brand has seen better days, and Kenmore and Sears have been all but forgotten.

Now, Sears wants… someone, anyone, to buy Kenmore because the company needs money. There is one offer – Sears CEO Eddie Lampert will buy Kenmore from his very own company for $400 million. The company is still mulling over that offer, although it seems like a disappointing one given that the brand was valued at over $2 billion just 15 years ago.

Sears is now worth… just $150 million, and interestingly, the Kenmore brand is worth more than twice that. So as poorly as Kenmore is doing, Sears is doing much worse. But if you buy a Kenmore appliance, you should ask yourself – will Sears or Kenmore even be around when this thing breaks?

Read more

I don’t care how much money I make… because I will never stop shopping at Dollar General. However, that is a moot point because I don’t make a lot. But even as the economy strengthens, consumers aren’t going to fancier retailers – they are remaining loyal to DG.

Wall Street THOUGHT… that people would stop going to Dollar General because of low unemployment, increasing paychecks, and the overall confidence in the economy. Consumers were expected to upgrade to Target and Walmart – you know, depending on how “well” they were doing. However, we are finding that the economic “come up” hasn’t been equal for all.

So, not everyone is doing well… and there are plenty of low to middle-income customers for Dollar General to cater to. But don’t give all the credit to the poor people (just kidding), the company has done some good things on their own, such as opening stores where the big box retailers aren’t. The company has also remodeled stores and added ‘queue lines’ to encourage impulse buys – candy, nail clippers, pet food. You name it; it is probably somewhere in the queue line.

Read more

Kicking him while he’s down… is what former CEO John Schnatter is accusing the pizza chain of doing. And who knows better than Papa John himself? Possibly no one, but Schnatter still finds himself on the outside looking in and believes he is being used as a scapegoat for the company’s problems. And if you’re one of the few that don’t know why Schnatter is out, it is because he blurted out the n-word last month during a conference call.

It’s your fault, Steve… for the current rough patch the company has hit, according to Schnatter. Schnatter believes the new CEO, Steve Ritchie, is doing a poor job and uses tactics that are vindictive and controlling. But in the same breathe Schnatter said he believes “Steve’ll make a great executive somewhere else.” You know – the type of place where being vindictive and controlling are positive attributes?

Papa John’s is done with Papa John… but he will not go away. You can remove him from the pizza boxes and commercials, but you can’t remove the man himself (unless Steve Ritchie is feeling particularly vindictive after this, then maybe). And like a distraught ex-lover, Schnatter will not go away or take “no” for an answer…

The Gap Inc beat earnings… but investors still dropped the stock like a hot potato. I’ll bet you are wondering why, so let me explain – CEO Arthur Peck doesn’t know what he is doing. Well, it doesn’t appear that way, but what do I know. However, investors shared the same sentiment as shares of the retailer dropped 10% following the company’s earnings call.

Most companies are closing stores… but Gap Inc. is opening more than they are closing and their CEO is very keen on having plenty of stores. Peck said that “…most apparel is sold in stores and will continue to be sold in stores.” We are not so sure about that statement. At any rate, sales were up slightly this quarter; but the problem is, most retailers are doing much better than “slightly.”

Gap stores are the problem… because sales fell by 5% which was worse than the 1% decline last year. Old Navy and Banana Republic had increased sales which saved Gap Inc. from posting a loss on the quarter. The company plans to open 270 Old Navy and Athleta stores and close 200 Gap and Banana Republic stores over the next three years.

The mattress maker is… Serta, the world’s largest bedding manufacturer that has nearly $3 billion in sales. And now, they just got a little bigger by merging with Tuft & Needle, an online mattress startup. This move is an interesting one because we just saw Casper venture out from behind the computer into the world of brick-and-mortar.

Bad news for Mattress Firm… because Serta supplies companies like them with mattresses. However, with the coming merger, it seems that Serta is looking to get away from that. Instead, Serta is trying to become digital and develop a more significant presence online. The mattress company also hopes to sell more direct-to-consumer, rather than going through a middle-man like Mattress Firm.

It’s Casper’s fault… because selling mattresses in a box over the internet is the way to go. Consumers are going to Casper for the speed, cost-savings, and convenience that you don’t get at a mattress store. These benefits could mark the end for many brick-and-mortar mattress stores – but Serta and Tuft & Needle aim to stay competitive by leaving before this $#!& hits the fan.

Coke or Pepsi… which do you prefer? Well, now there is a less senseless debate you can participate in – Gatorade or BodyArmor? The clear choice [to me] is Gatorade. However, Pepsi is joined with Gatorade, and Coca-Cola just became the second-largest shareholder in BodyArmor. The third largest shareholder is Kobe Bryant. Good enough for Kobe? Now I am listening…

With their list of shareholders… it is possible that BodyArmor is going to become a player in the sports drink industry. The US market has been dominated by Gatorade forever, and they hold about 75% of the $8 billion market. It is possible we are all ready for a change.

Coca-Cola is already friends with… Mike Repole, BodyArmor’s largest shareholder. Repole co-founded Smartwater and Vitamin Water which were both purchased by Coke. We don’t know what Coke paid for this, but it was probably a lot. However, we do know that BodyArmor will remain its own brand and utilize Coca-Cola’s bottling facilities. It’s about time Gatorade saw some competition.

Okay, okay… they’re still trading for $2 per share, but that is pretty frickin’ crappy for a company that was once at the top of the retail game. However, the company hit a new all-time low after releasing earnings on Thursday, as the stock dropped 25% – below $2 per share. Stores are closing, sales are dropping, and the CEO is missing-in-action (actually they don’t have one). Getting a CEO is tops on JCPenney’s to-do list because companies need one of those.

See what Amazon is doing… JCPenney should do more of that. Oh wait, it actually may be too late to jump on that bandwagon. Companies like Walmart and Best Buy have poured money into digital operations, and their investments are paying dividends.

Here’s what they will do… the company will also be focusing on women’s and children’s apparel which were the company’s top-selling categories in the second quarter. JCPenney will follow the money and purchase inventory as-needed to follow sales trends. However, the situation is dire – look at the earnings of other retailers. If JCPenney can’t make money when the economy is set to ‘easy mode’ for retailers, what will it take?

Here is how Chipotle will fix… poisoning their customers in hoards. CEO Brian Niccol announced that the company will be retraining every Chipotle employee on food safety. If you are wondering how many people will be receiving this training, it is in the ballpark of 70,000.

Food safety will be on the final exam… because Chipotle will also be testing employees to make sure they know what they need to know. This is good news because in 2016 the company quietly shut down all stores for a few hours to talk about food safety. In 2018, rather than a short discussion, employees will be trained not to poison you.

A zero-tolerance policy… is what Niccol is instituting and that may be the company’s only option at this point. The policy means employees that do not follow food safety standards will be terminated immediately. And if you are a real risk-taker, consider visiting Chipotle once again – we hear that the company has added bacon and nachos to the menu. Also, please let us know how you are feeling

Since everyone gets compared to Amazon… here is another Seattle-based company that can move merch online. That company is Nordstrom, and their second-quarter results beat Wall Street expectation by a long shot. Online sales led the surge and accounted for one-third of the company’s overall sales. Overall, digital sales were up 23%.

Everything is going great… because online sales are booming and brick-and-mortar sales are also doing well on their own. Overall revenue for the retailer jumped more than 7%. These results are worth bragging about, and the company must be happy that they decided against going private last March. After the earnings release, shares of Nordstrom were up 10% in after-hours trading.

Here’s how everyone else is doing… including Macy’s which had lackluster sales growth and brought Nordstrom down with them after the announcement. However, similar to Nordstrom, Walmart reported strong digital growth. Is it possible that digital sales and brick-and-mortar presence are the paths to the promise land?