It’s a slippery slope......eliminate associates = save wages.....sales are not meeting expectation = eliminate more associates.....inventory is too high = decrease orders....This is a vicious cycle. How about this....staff the stores to take care of customers, stock the stores (too many outs lately just take a look) to take care of the customers.
Dot com is great as a compliment to the business but it should not be our entire focus.....sure we want to win @ dot com but we shouldn’t give up the core business.
Set high expectations, provide the necessary tools, pay your people for performance, fix the problem vs. selling it (i.e. International) and let true merchants run the company. One of the qualifications to run the business (any part of the business) should be store experience....not one or two weeks working 8 to 5 Monday to Friday.....but real world experience... inventory, Christmas, over nights....real get your hands dirty, meet/greet the customer experience after all....they are the ones paying our salaries!