Walmart Lives but is it Making Money?
Walmart lives is the message the latest financial numbers scream at us. For instance, Walmart (NYSE: WMT) reports a gross
Read more
Walmart (NYSE: WMT)
Will Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) Die this Holiday Season?
The situation is not that bleak for Abercrombie & Fitch because of the clothing market’s decentralized nature. To clarify, there is more than enough market share for Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) to survive.
Notably, Amazon Prime had 95 million subscribers in June 2018 up from 85 million in June 2017, Statista calculates. Thus, Amazon Prime is the fastest growing and most important retail outlet in America.
Read more
Is Amazon Pay coming to Brick and Mortar Stores?
QR code has other advantages including the ability to work with almost any phone with a camera. Moreover, Walmart (NYSE: WMT) accepts QR code apps but not NFC. Hence, Walmart could accept Amazon Pay but not Apple Pay or Google Pay.
Additionally, Walmart offers its own QR code wallet called Walmart Pay. Markedly The Journal did not say if they will integrate Walmart Pay with Amazon Pay.
Bernie Sanders wants a $15-an Hour Wage at Walmart
The $15 an hour minimum wage could have killed 20,000 temporary jobs at Amazon.
To clarify, Quartz estimates Amazon will hire 100,000 temps for holiday season 2018. In contrast Amazon hired 120,000 temporary workers for holiday seasons in 2016 and 2018.
Amazon no longer needs the 20,000 temps because of its deployment of Kiva robots in fulfillment centers, Citi analyst Mark May theorizes. In particular, Kiva robots eliminate workers who pull merchandise from the shelves.
Instead, the robots literally bring the shelves to the workers who pull and pack and the goods for shipment. Quartz claims, Amazon cut the time needed to pull and pack an order from an hour to 15 minutes with robots.
To be fair to Bernie, Amazon would have deployed the robots with or without the $15 wage. In fact, the robots could have made the $15 wage possible by reducing the size of the labor force. Amazon is paying workers more because it has fewer of them thanks to robots.
Read more
Amazon (AMZN) owns Retail, can Anybody Compete?
It should scare brick and mortar retailers because Amazon Go could generate profits similar to Amazon itself.
For instance, Amazon Go could generate up $2,700 a square foot in annual sales per square foot, Brick meets Click, claims. In contrast, Costar estimated Walmart’s annual sales-per-square foot was $325 in 2018.
Thus Amazon Go’s sales per square foot could be seven times those of Walmart’s. However, the Apple Store’s sales per square foot were nearly twice Amazon Go’s at $5,546 in 2017.
Read more
Will Microsoft (MSFT) Make Money from GitHub?
In addition, Microsoft can offer next generation solutions such as Linux, the blockchain, cryptocurrencies, Ethereum, the internet of things (IoT), sidechains, and memached servers through GitHub. Another lucrative use of GitHub is joint ventures.
For example, Microsoft and Walmart (NYSE: WMT) are entering into a five-year strategic cloud partnership called 4.co. In 4.co engineers from both companies will develop internal apps utilizing Microsoft Azure and migrate Walmart operations the cloud, VentureBeat reports.
The 4.co team can leverage GitHub by using it to hire developers and make money by selling apps through GitHub. Moreover, the 4.co could greatly increase its brainpower and expertise with GitHub developers.
Planned 4.co projects that could leverage GitHub include internal chatbots, food-spoilage tracking, sensors, and improvements to Microsoft’s register-less ordering. The 4.co team will operate out of an office in Austin, Texas.
Thus GitHub is worth the risks for Microsoft. In particular, GitHub greatly increases Microsoft’s R&D capabilities without massive investments in new facilities or people
Read more
Walmart approaches $500 Billion in Revenue
Obviously, Walmart and not Amazon is the world’s largest and richest retailer. More importantly, Amazon will not approach Walmart’s revenues soon.
Therefore, Walmart can sink money into its online operations; automated stores, and new technology. As a result Walmart will probably be able to keep up with Amazon; and possibly block its entry into some markets.
The moral of the store is do not count Walmart out. The world’s largest retailer has the resources to maintain its dominance for decades to come despite Amazon’s explosive growth.
Read more
PayPal use growing faster than Apple and Google Pay, Microsoft Plans Automated Store
Mobile payment apps are still a tough sell to America’s consumers and merchants, Kount’s data indicates. The company that can change that paradigm will make a fortune.
That means more two thirds of American retailers or 71% still refuse to accept mobile wallets. Once again it sounds as if Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is losing the payment wars, and Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) is not doing very well.
Read more
Is Ocado the Future of Groceries and does it Make Money?
Ocado claims to process 260,000 orders a week with an order accuracy rate of 99% and an on-time delivery rate of 95%. The company claims to reduce costs with a 0.7% rate of product waste, which sounds hard to believe.
What’s truly interesting is that Ocado might be ahead of Amazon in its use of robots to move groceries. Ocado claims to have 1,100 robots at work in its newest Customer Fulfillment Center (CFC3) in Andover, Hampshire. Pictures online show Ocado robots working in refrigerated warehouses and giant freezers.
Those robots can supposedly pick and pack an order of 50 items in just five minutes. That is amazing because the CFC3 is stocked with 50,000 items, and the center itself is the size of three football fields.
Is Target Really Profiting from Digital
Teaming up with high-end grocers like Lidl and Trader Joe’s for Shipt delivery is a smart move for Target. Other logical moves will to add brands like CVS, Walgreens, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Rite Aid, Albertsons, Nordstrom, Aldi, Trader Joes, Safeway, Publix, and Best Buy to the Shipt ecosystem.
More importantly, Target is well positioned to cash in on today’s retail environment and the transition from brick and mortar to delivery. If you want to profit from the growth of grocery delivery, Target is one of your best bets.
Read more