Thread regarding Follett layoffs

I understand that methodology in terms of inventory control a company needs to plan for future trends and the previous leadership did laid the ground work. Presently in order to meet the needs of our customers, which our students, realistically not futuristic, is to meet their expectations in order to get a sale. They are not going to come in a store to order on-line that may work for a television set that customers are willing to wait not their books when classes are starting in a few days, that's the advantage of coming into the store is walking out with the book in hand otherwise the store will probably not get the sale. That may change in the future it is not the case now.

Seriously, previous management did a good job of moving in this direction. New leadership is bringing the KMart approach.

Turning the store into a fulfillment center. Amazon is rapidly expanding fulfillment centers, and locating them near major metropolitan areas in an effort to locate key high demand products close enough to efficiently serve same-day or next-day delivery. Retailers have more limited warehouse infrastructure for their online businesses, but may have a big advantage in many store locations nationally and even worldwide. In the 1980s and 1990s, many retailers pushed to have all their stock on the sales floor. But now we may see stores remodeled to add direct order fulfillment and stocking in the back-office, limiting the assortments stocked on the floor. This will require system investments and operational changes, but these are critical for competing long-term with the likes of Amazon and other resourceful retailers.

Take the in-store experience to a different level. Many retailers believe that if they stock the shelves, keep the lights on and staff just enough sales people to ring up customers and prevent shoplifters from walking off with merchandise, they have done their jobs. So it’s no wonder that consumers turn to their smartphones to find answers to their questions. Retailers must focus on the experiences in their stores and digitally enable their associates to be at least as knowledgeable as the customer is about the products they sell. Shopping for fun is not dead – customers still enjoy exceptional brick-and-mortar events. When customers come into the store, reward them with a great experience – both in terms of brand and service. Equip salespeople with tablets or mobile technology that enable them to better serve customers. If the shopper wants to order an out-of-stock item from another store, locate complementary accessories or pay for their items while finishing up in the dressing room, develop strategies to deliver on their expectations.

Integrate channels relentlessly, to the point that channel disappears. Retailers must look at their systems landscape, operational approach and performance metrics, and relentlessly erode the notion of channel. This does not mean that measuring the performance of the website or a specific store is not meaningful. But now we need to focus on the broader benefits and understand the full customer engagement across all touch points in order to optimize the experience. A broader approach requires systems that can serve all interactions and nimbly adapt to new ones. This is the role of the commerce platform. This is the role of a customer engagement platform. This is the role of assortment planning and back office tools, all of which must adapt to this new context.

I don't think so. The other companies mentioned have to answer to a board of directors and stock holders. They have to publish a quarterly earnings report and there are also stock holders meeting that people can attain to voice their opinion. They can't hide everything like a privately held company can unless as some companies have done and falsified the information which usually comes out soon or later. With that stated they have to meet a higher standard and are more professional about how they treat their employees.

I wonder if these companies are playing cat and mouse with their employees?

The new regime has no feelings outside of their own comforts and egos. They have proven they will lie or withhold information as to losses when it is advantageous to them. Similar to a gambling addict which is what appears is behavior they responding to. If the steering committee doesn't recognize it then they are falling into the addict behavior they have allowed in their doors as and the results will probably be the same as with others gambling addicts, chaos.

R.I.P FHEG. NEW MANAGEMENT KILLING IT SLOWING. A SLOW PAINFUL DEATH. FINISH IT ALREADY STOP THE SUFFERING.

Not to mitigate anything Follett/FHEG management had done (or hasn't done) in the past 5-10 years, many older/traditional brick and mortar stores are in trouble. They were just too slow to adapt to ecommerce and lacked competitive pricing

Who goes to Radio Shack for anything? I just think of remote control toys and mobile phones.

Staples..well you can buy all that stuff cheaper at Wal-Mart or Amazon.

These stores aren't "victims". It's "adapt or die"..they just never adapted.

This Forbes article explains things pretty well

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremybogaisky/2014/02/12/retail-in-crisis-these-are-the-changes-brick-and-mortar-stores-must-make/

"Take the in-store experience to a different level.

Many retailers believe that if they stock the shelves, keep the lights on and staff just enough sales people to ring up customers and prevent shoplifters from walking off with merchandise, they have done their jobs.."

But it seems with how poorly the past few rushes have gone, mass lay off of in store staff, and textbooks not even being available in store, Follett can't even get this part right.

Homedepot grew 20% last year maybe that's happen to Staples. Stock prices are been vertical but steady for the past few years.