In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. Friedrich Nietzsche
The danger here is that Kroger’s operating margins are very thin. The company reported a free cash flow of just $24 million; on revenues of $112.41 billion on July 31, 2016. That made for a profit margin of just 1.44%. To make matters worse Kroger has very little float it; had just $319 million in the bank on July 31, 2016, even though it reported generating $5.11 billion in cash from operations.
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Gift cards will help Uber reach working class Americans, many of whom do not go online and don’t use credit cards. Many working class people still prefer to use cash for most transactions which presents a real problem for Uber.
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It might be a coincidence but Jet’s revenue claims seem to match the drop in revenues at Target. In February 70% of Jet sales were from first time buyers. Particularly to worrisome to Target should be the fact that 81% of shoppers were unaware of Jet’s existence. That means it has a lot of room to grow and Walmart is now behind it.
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Americans have become far more selective about their spending; and old-fashioned 1980s style conspicuous consumption and shopping for shopping’s sake is out. Americans are shopping less and spending only on the things they really need or care about.
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Naturally investors will wonder if anybody could compete with Amazon. Interestingly enough there is one potential threat to Amazon – the combination of Walmart and Jet.com.
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Another possibility is that Walgreen will dismember Rite Aid in order to comply with the FTC’s wishes. The larger drug store operator might sell off a large percentage of Rite Aid’s stores, and keep just the ones it wants.
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The glacial speed at which retailers are added to Apple Pay does not seem to be improving, despite the vast
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Target’s revenue actually fell during the fourth quarter of 2015, a period that includes the critical holiday shopping rush. Target reported a TTM revenue of $73.91 billion for the third quarter on Oct. 31, 2015 and a revenue of $73.78 billion on Jan. 31, 2015.
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The framework of a national single-payer system in the United States already exists. Big government and big business are working to build it right under our noses. My prediction is that it will not be long before Medicare and Medicaid will be expanded to cover all Americans and perhaps combined. The political support for such a move is strong even if politicians do not recognize it.
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