Implications and Perspectives of Homegoods‘ E-Commerce Launch

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strong Yeah and yeah,
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welcome to the Parker ever groups podcast series Talk retail to me where we offer insights and realistic advice from experts in the retail and consumer brands industries If you're new to parkour avery and this podcast,
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we invite you to visit park bravery dot com,
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this is Tricia Gustin,
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I'm joined by Kathy toll and Heidi census and carry table and we were all discussing about a month or so ago,
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an article in Forbes that talked about HomeGoods launching their long awaited e commerce platform and the four of us were going back and forth about this as consumers and consumers of home goods.
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We're very curious about how this was going to be pulled off because home goods and sister brands like TJ Maxx and Marshalls and other off price retailers really focus on sort of that treasure hunting experience and the shoppers know going in that it is a treasure hunt and that's what one of the driving forces for walking into those stores,
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you never know what you're going to need until you see it at a home goods or T.
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J Maxx but E commerce is a bit different when you're shopping online and so the four of us are kind of batting around,
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how does this work and what's the customer journey?
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And on the retailer side,
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how is this successfully going to launch and be executed?
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Because it's not the traditional buy online pick up in store because of the way the assortment is playing in the way the allocation goes to these stores.
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So we just really wanted to kind of talk about it and I think each of us either went into a home goods store or purchase something and so we're going to explain that and then just talk about some implications too.
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So um ladies,
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thanks for joining me,
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first of all,
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what do you think about this,
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this whole model and a couple of you that did place orders,
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what was your experience?
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And how do you,
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how do you view that going forward?
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Well,
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I can share that,
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this is Carrie and I did a,
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I was actually a very loyal home goods consumer and I would say in general,
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like I love going in there,
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I never really have anything that I'm specifically going in there for.
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And so I do enjoy like the treasure hunt,
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I always find that I need a significant amount of time in the stores though um to kind of wander around and play and things like that,
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but um so I I have been a regular home,
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good striper and many things in my home currently when I went online,
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I was really excited to be able to see that they offer some things online.
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So when they launched their platform I went on and I wouldn't say that I was disappointed but it was a little harder to have that same type of experience because the treasure hunting you know wasn't really able to find you know,
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things that I felt like we were like a really steep deal but I did end up buying a couple of things I think in general you know I found some things that I enjoyed but I was disappointed that there was a free shipping,
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so that was the one piece for me that was like a It was a driver to make my purchase or not but I ended up doing it anyway,
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it's just because I wanted to understand the experience and I think they're free,
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they're free shipping or their model is you have to spend over a threshold which was pretty high in my opinion.
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Yeah it was $1119 I think.
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And you know the bargain hunter and me that's a lot.
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That's a that's a hefty sum in my opinion if you're just bargain hunting.
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I agree with what Kerry said that I also shopped online with him because there's not one very close to my house but it was the day after the article came out and I just wanted to experience what they had and so you see,
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how long did they receive?
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The product was the stuck in stock.
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How was it shipped?
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And I was very excited about the quality of the products for the value for the price of it.
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And I since you know not that this is the only story I shop around but I have placed multiple orders from them.
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But I do think though that there's a couple of operational things that they really need to think about or anybody needs to think about moving from a traditional in store only experience to both online and in store experience because home goods would have been used to shipping their stuff from their warehouses to their stores and pallets.
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And now all of a sudden they have to pick pack and ship in each is or pick pack and ship in multiple beaches from all over the warehouse and be able to manage that and manage the orders for sometimes a single item versus a whole box of things.
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And what impressed me about their shipping in this particular instance was that it came in a single box and I agree $119 for free shipping is a lot of money.
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But if you balance that with other online shopping experiences,
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there's an office supply store that has $0 minimum dollars to get a purchase.
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You could buy a roll of scotch tape for free shipping.
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How much is that causing them to ship you The scotch tape?
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Well in amazon to.
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Yeah.
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And then there's an arts and crafts retailer and frequent where they have $49 minimum.
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I'll order 12 items and they'll come in eight boxes.
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So at least with the single package with $119.
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Free shipping and limit,
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it seems like they could actually not cost themselves money on that.
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And then you also have to think about the return policy which we can get into even later.
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But there's a lot to think about if you're doing just in store shopping to going to both direct to consumer online and it goes beyond retail.
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I could go to consumer packaged goods like Purdue chicken who next its products directly to the customers or Twinings tea,
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how do they manage?
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What is typically a distribution model and going direct to consumer.
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And I found it.
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I live in the city and for me,
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home goods online was quite exciting because we don't have one in the city that's accessible to me and I have friends.
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And I know people that just love the store.
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So when I saw 119 for me knowing I didn't have access to a store,
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it wasn't a deal breaker.
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And I mean this is the way I played it with my,
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in my head is I'm like just look around the site.
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If you find a couple of things,
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throw them in your car and we'll see where we land.
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The first place I went.
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As you all know,
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I have a little puppy that I just adore.
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So I went to dog stuff and I just got lost in dog.
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They have the cutest blankets and all.
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Um and great,
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like when I got it,
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I was really excited with the quality.
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But it is interesting because it's very similar to a Nordstrom rack or when you are on those sites,
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either you got to have one of the few things I will confess I am procrastinating when I am on those sites because I'm like,
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you don't have to exercise or something.
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I need to do that.
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I really don't want to.
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So all of a sudden I start shopping around and I end up with some pretty ridiculous things coming into my home because at that moment I gotta have that.
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But the reason I felt like home goods is really playing their target was for this.
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I feel like they're testing or shipping price to,
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they're going to see what,
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you know what lands,
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but it really,
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um,
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the urban audience,
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they're not reaching,
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its a great solution.
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Yeah,
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yeah.
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You know that when I lived in Chicago Way back,
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I mean this was going to age myself,
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but it was about to 25 years ago.
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I lived in Chicago and I was,
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I used Peapod because I wasn't going to be dragon groceries through downtown Chicago.
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So it was fantastic,
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I'm pretty sure there was a minimum requirement,
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but in the same vein or train of thought Home goods is attracting a whole new audience that they may not have access to before.
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And so that 119 may not be that big of a deal to a lot of people that live downtown in a larger city so that I can totally see,
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I just wonder about how do you get your stuff in one box from home goods?
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But the way they seem to allocate at least from my experience product,
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you know,
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if you have so many at each location,
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but what if you want five of something and there's only for a single location,
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how does,
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where does that come from?
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And how does that work?
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I just wonder about that downstream impact to the store environment.
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Like are you gonna get for them in one box and another one in a totally separate box and that the cost of all that seems to be,
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I would think rather large from the labor component,
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packing,
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component materials,
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shipping,
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all that.
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It depends on how they choose to fulfill it.
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If they are truly omni channel and fulfilling from stores as well as distribution centers,
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then yes,
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you have a different consideration because it's almost like buy online pick up in store,
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where your store associates almost turned into a warehouse folks by doing the impact of the product's packaging it and making sure it's safe and secure and wrapped in whatever it needs to be.
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But if it's all fulfilled from A.
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D.
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C.
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If that's where they're checking their their on hand inventory then they have a better chance of being able to guarantee that you can get it all in a single package.
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But that also goes back to what I was talking about with returns because I bought her Halloween,
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a number of fragile items,
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glass pumpkins.
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And if I wasn't happy with them and I wanted to return it,
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they need to also value what is it going to cost to return a product?
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And is it worth it Because the 1299 pumpkin that I purchase that's glass then I package it and ship it back.
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Is it worth it for them to even take it back or just give me the refund and let me keep something that's not functioning.
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So there's a lot of things to take into consideration beyond.
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Just have a pretty sight to.
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How do I fulfill it?
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How do I return it?
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How do I manage customer service?
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How do I take payments even?
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And then how do I expand that going forward?
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If they want to go to buy online,
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pick up in store,
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buy on line,
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pick up a herb,
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how good is their inventory management system,
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a huge one.
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If you have a treasure hunt inventory you don't care.
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You don't even know if what you have is something that you actually purchased or somebody returned and you just took it back that they didn't know any better.
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So can you guarantee that somebody is going to be able to go and pick it up?
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I think that's the struggle is real for inventory management for off price retailers and,
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and even any retailer recently.
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And I was really disappointed because I don't usually buy online pick up in store because I'm lazy and I like it shipped to me.
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But because we've had such a slowdown with shipments and supply chain issues,
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they had a product in stock in this particular store that I was like,
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great,
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I will go tomorrow and I ordered it and I'll,
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it's fine.
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Um,
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less than a mile from my home and pick it up and then the next day received a notification that they had to cancel the order because they were out of stock on the product.
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And I'm like crisis.
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It was also during,
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you know,
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the whole fiber black,
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black friday cyber monday.
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So it was on sale and I'm like,
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now I missed my chance to get something on sale that typically isn't,
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it was a skincare product and I didn't find out until,
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you know the 11th hour that I'm like,
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and you don't have any stuff.
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It's a matter of you're,
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you're so open to human error in the stores in the distribution centers.
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You know,
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I scan out one item to Heidi on selling something as a diet Pepsi,
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it's really diet coke and now my inventory through it up.
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Yeah,
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yeah,
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it's the technology and then the execution especially at the store level and we've all been there inside as store employees and we've seen what,
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how that can get messed up in that environment,
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in a environment like HomeGoods or T.
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J.
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Maxx or even when stein mart was around that inventory management,
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you have it scattered to begin with and then lack of execution,
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store execution in actually bringing up the correct skew and your e commerce is clobbered.
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There's I mean there's almost,
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there's no way like how do you know how many of these beaches you have across your fleet of stores and then in your DCs,
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if your front line employees not maliciously but are just not executing it because they've got to get the line through the line that's kind of a big deal.
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And Tricia I think you kind of alluded to this too was making the decision to go from the treasure hunt in store to going to online.
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A number of years back,
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you know,
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christmas tree shops used to be online and a number of retailers fully and voluntarily elected to not have e commerce sales anymore.
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They'd offer flyers or you might be able to call the store and pick it up at the curb or something but it seems like in 2020 when your store shut down completely for months and you have zero revenue coming in kudos to those companies who found a backup plan that if it,
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if it ever happens again,
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at least we have a revenue stream,
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even if it's not a significant portion of our revenue at the moment,
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At least we have a way to have some kind of income coming in and not $0 that helps protect employees.
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It helps protect staff,
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It helps protect shareholders.
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So I'm curious to see where these companies end up going in the future and how far they extend their capabilities.
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I don't think that home goods was offering,
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buy online pickup curbside or pick up in store.
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It seems to me it was it was shipped or nothing.
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Is that what you all experience,
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which I think is a dangerous,
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dangerous proposition.
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I'd like to know,
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hey I'm going to be out and about.
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I'm not going to wait till tomorrow to get my order or next week because I want,
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I want to get this thing for my sister or whatever.
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I'm last minute thing and so I want to get it,
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reserve it,
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pick it up this afternoon or tomorrow,
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but they're not,
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they don't seem to be offering it and maybe this is all a test ground for them but for something that they tout at least Forbes touted as long awaited.
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I'm not trying to slam him,
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but I would think some of the stuff you need to think through,
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00:15:16,300 --> 00:15:21,490
especially when you're doing this towards the tail end of what we hope is the tail end of this pandemic.
230
00:15:21,500 --> 00:15:27,050
There are a lot of a lot of learnings that people gather like you alluded to Heidi,
231
00:15:27,440 --> 00:15:29,030
you need these capabilities.
232
00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:32,770
If the next disruption shuts all the stores down dark,
233
00:15:32,780 --> 00:15:33,950
you're right,
234
00:15:33,960 --> 00:15:37,890
HomeGoods doesn't currently offer buy online pick up in store and I think that has,
235
00:15:37,900 --> 00:15:40,680
that could potentially have to do with inventory management.
236
00:15:40,690 --> 00:15:43,350
I bought inventory visibility,
237
00:15:43,350 --> 00:15:44,000
knowledge.
238
00:15:44,010 --> 00:15:44,900
Yeah,
239
00:15:44,910 --> 00:15:46,250
but during the pandemic,
240
00:15:46,250 --> 00:15:48,370
at least when stores were allowed to open back up,
241
00:15:48,370 --> 00:15:50,730
if you were uncomfortable going and shopping in the store,
242
00:15:50,730 --> 00:15:52,700
you could call them and say,
243
00:15:52,710 --> 00:15:58,140
hey do you have these six things and they would bring it up to your car for you at least temporarily.
244
00:15:58,140 --> 00:15:59,580
I don't think they still do that anymore.
245
00:15:59,580 --> 00:16:13,490
But finding a way to pivot in a way to continue to meet your customers needs is what's really important and to be able to meet your customer wherever they're most comfortable by whatever shipping pick up in store shopping experience,
246
00:16:13,490 --> 00:16:17,260
whatever is convenient to them has become really evident over the last two years.
247
00:16:17,340 --> 00:16:26,360
My hope for home goods is I feel like they've got a little bit of a leg up because they've done this with TJ Maxx their online with marshall's.
248
00:16:26,740 --> 00:16:41,670
So I'm sure they've learned some valuable lessons through that test ground that one would hope that they are working collaboratively enough amongst the corporation that they're sharing what worked and what didn't.
249
00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:41,880
Now,
250
00:16:41,880 --> 00:16:46,770
having said that I will shop Nordstrom rap pretty frequently.
251
00:16:46,780 --> 00:16:48,120
I'm not a T J.
252
00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:53,150
Maxx or Marshall's online shopper and it's just sort of,
253
00:16:53,160 --> 00:16:55,160
I don't know why But it's interesting.
254
00:16:55,160 --> 00:17:01,460
I felt like home goods had a little bit of a leg up in being able to understand some of the pitfalls.
255
00:17:01,470 --> 00:17:04,480
I think 2% of their sales are driven from online,
256
00:17:04,490 --> 00:17:06,740
so it's a very small percentage.
257
00:17:06,750 --> 00:17:15,080
So their focus like from a strategic standpoint is more around attracting new customers to the brand.
258
00:17:15,440 --> 00:17:16,890
So I'm just kind of curious,
259
00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:17,410
Kathy,
260
00:17:17,410 --> 00:17:20,070
you haven't spent stores themselves.
261
00:17:20,070 --> 00:17:23,410
So outside of our little dialogue around,
262
00:17:23,420 --> 00:17:23,640
you know,
263
00:17:23,650 --> 00:17:28,760
kind of going back and forth and being excited about playing around with their on my experience.
264
00:17:29,140 --> 00:17:34,230
If you were just to have gone online directly without our conversation,
265
00:17:34,240 --> 00:17:38,370
would you have made that purchase which you have actually made purchases?
266
00:17:38,380 --> 00:17:40,690
Probably because I have,
267
00:17:40,700 --> 00:17:49,660
I have friends that are like so addicted to the store and I have one friend particularly Marcy who was just her entire home and it's gorgeous.
268
00:17:50,040 --> 00:17:52,010
It seems like everything is from home good.
269
00:17:52,020 --> 00:17:56,740
So I think I probably would have outside of the conversation because I was always disappointed.
270
00:17:56,740 --> 00:18:00,660
They do not have a website in 2020 or 20,
271
00:18:01,330 --> 00:18:01,900
and carry,
272
00:18:01,900 --> 00:18:05,090
I would be the opposite that had I not read the article,
273
00:18:05,100 --> 00:18:12,860
I would not have gone to a stork because it's just there's so many other convenient places online to purchase home decor,
274
00:18:13,230 --> 00:18:21,130
there's many places to buy home decor at reasonable prices But back at you for a question with the free shipping threshold,
275
00:18:21,140 --> 00:18:28,620
have any of you ever purchased an additional item and put an additional item in your cart just to meet the threshold?
276
00:18:28,630 --> 00:18:36,770
Think of yourself if I purchase this one more thing for 1299 I save $16 and I'm shipping it's free.
277
00:18:36,940 --> 00:18:37,860
Right?
278
00:18:37,870 --> 00:18:38,380
Yeah,
279
00:18:38,390 --> 00:18:39,060
totally.
280
00:18:39,070 --> 00:18:40,050
Oh hell yeah,
281
00:18:40,140 --> 00:18:41,280
it's a mind game.
282
00:18:41,290 --> 00:18:53,270
Well and especially especially for people that are a remote ra more remote areas of the country like Heidi your you don't have a store right near you and then Kathy you're in Chicago.
283
00:18:53,270 --> 00:18:54,960
So there's not a convenient place,
284
00:18:55,340 --> 00:19:04,550
That convenience is worth $119 because you're always going to find a gift or something else you need that will put you over that threshold.
285
00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:06,130
So that that makes sense.
286
00:19:06,130 --> 00:19:06,910
And maybe that,
287
00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:11,060
did they test that or that was they're still testing that.
288
00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:20,660
I don't know but I totally would fall into that category because the frugal and me will always default to wanting something free.
289
00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:22,510
Yeah,
290
00:19:22,520 --> 00:19:25,190
there's one more dog coat.
291
00:19:25,200 --> 00:19:30,850
Just some Kathy know that because with their,
292
00:19:30,860 --> 00:19:34,870
depending on they got such a broad range of price points,
293
00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:38,550
but with a lot of their typical price points You got to have a,
294
00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:38,770
you know,
295
00:19:38,780 --> 00:19:42,360
you've got a lot in your cart to get 219.
296
00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:45,320
So the blankets were like boom boom boom boom boom,
297
00:19:45,330 --> 00:19:45,790
you know,
298
00:19:45,790 --> 00:19:47,460
it's like smacked out,
299
00:19:47,470 --> 00:19:50,960
got me going towards it and then I'm exactly that I'm like,
300
00:19:50,970 --> 00:19:52,610
well I'm this close,
301
00:19:52,620 --> 00:19:56,620
I guess I better find some other things to buy so I can get the first ship.
302
00:19:56,620 --> 00:20:00,350
It was super when you were doing that because you have to search for other things to buy.
303
00:20:00,360 --> 00:20:01,650
Because one of the things that I,
304
00:20:01,660 --> 00:20:09,030
the reason I ask that is when I think about their home goods experience as you're in the store is all about impulse items,
305
00:20:09,040 --> 00:20:13,380
so even as you are standing in line to check out,
306
00:20:13,390 --> 00:20:14,920
I mean you're filling your bag,
307
00:20:14,930 --> 00:20:15,330
you are,
308
00:20:15,330 --> 00:20:17,170
you're filling your cart over and over.
309
00:20:17,170 --> 00:20:23,510
So I struggled a little bit with the website not feeling like the same brand experience,
310
00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:25,490
I totally agree with that.
311
00:20:25,500 --> 00:20:25,850
Yeah,
312
00:20:25,940 --> 00:20:28,070
and so I feel like there's some opportunity,
313
00:20:28,070 --> 00:20:31,860
especially if they're trying to attract new customers through this venue,
314
00:20:31,860 --> 00:20:41,960
it's like how do they create a better brand experience for those new customers because I don't know Cathy if you've got the experience that we get in store,
315
00:20:42,040 --> 00:20:42,620
it's just,
316
00:20:42,630 --> 00:20:42,870
you know,
317
00:20:42,870 --> 00:20:44,500
it's it's definitely different.
318
00:20:44,510 --> 00:20:47,200
So I I just felt like there's a little bit of a disconnect there,
319
00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:47,870
but you know,
320
00:20:47,870 --> 00:20:48,950
as an impulse item,
321
00:20:48,950 --> 00:20:49,110
you know,
322
00:20:49,110 --> 00:20:55,200
maybe there's a way to do something like that on their website to give you that same experience as you're checking out,
323
00:20:55,210 --> 00:20:55,410
you know,
324
00:20:55,410 --> 00:20:55,670
to be,
325
00:20:55,670 --> 00:20:56,100
uh,
326
00:20:56,110 --> 00:21:08,710
some different things because that's where you get all those add on items and you get to that team tell voters or When you're in a Sephora and winding up to the cash wrap,
327
00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:09,220
I'm like,
328
00:21:09,230 --> 00:21:09,780
that is,
329
00:21:09,780 --> 00:21:19,360
the that you can lose $100 just in collecting a cute little chopstick thing going up to purchase what you've already picked out.
330
00:21:19,740 --> 00:21:20,320
And you,
331
00:21:20,330 --> 00:21:20,890
you do,
332
00:21:20,890 --> 00:21:30,770
you lose batteries in the Sephora yesterday and I had to leave pretty quickly because I could have gone sideways so fast because there's so many things that you see.
333
00:21:31,340 --> 00:21:34,900
So I'm sure I didn't have the same experience.
334
00:21:34,900 --> 00:21:39,580
Like once I kind of rifle through the doggy stuff because the holidays are coming,
335
00:21:39,590 --> 00:21:44,140
then I could go look over in the holiday section and that's what,
336
00:21:44,150 --> 00:21:45,050
what,
337
00:21:45,060 --> 00:21:45,530
you know,
338
00:21:45,540 --> 00:21:46,800
that was another like,
339
00:21:46,810 --> 00:21:47,150
okay,
340
00:21:47,150 --> 00:21:47,950
there's some things that,
341
00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:48,170
you know,
342
00:21:48,170 --> 00:21:55,710
I probably need to refresh for the holidays if I were in and saw cute little makeup tin or makeup container,
343
00:21:55,720 --> 00:21:56,280
I wouldn't,
344
00:21:56,290 --> 00:21:58,120
I wouldn't look for that online.
345
00:21:58,130 --> 00:22:00,280
That would have had to been something I tripped over.
346
00:22:00,290 --> 00:22:00,770
Yeah,
347
00:22:00,780 --> 00:22:03,050
I think that's a great opportunity for them.
348
00:22:03,060 --> 00:22:03,490
In fact,
349
00:22:03,500 --> 00:22:04,350
years ago,
350
00:22:04,350 --> 00:22:09,680
this was another decades ago before online shopping was again,
351
00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:10,630
I'm dating myself,
352
00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:11,770
but I had,
353
00:22:11,780 --> 00:22:12,850
I was ordering something,
354
00:22:12,850 --> 00:22:16,010
I think it was pottery barn and I was on the phone,
355
00:22:16,020 --> 00:22:21,760
this is back when you really ordered stuff on the phone with battery bar and I think it was that great.
356
00:22:21,770 --> 00:22:22,530
Anyway,
357
00:22:22,530 --> 00:22:23,340
they,
358
00:22:23,350 --> 00:22:24,550
while I was checking out,
359
00:22:24,550 --> 00:22:25,250
they said,
360
00:22:25,260 --> 00:22:25,930
oh well this,
361
00:22:25,930 --> 00:22:28,550
this set of plates is on sale for.
362
00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:29,470
It was a big,
363
00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:32,370
I mean it was almost like as I was checking out,
364
00:22:32,370 --> 00:22:33,280
would you like to try this?
365
00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:35,740
Would you like to try this to have three or four items?
366
00:22:35,740 --> 00:22:37,200
And I think I ended up buying them,
367
00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:38,960
but it was almost that impulse buy.
368
00:22:38,970 --> 00:22:39,630
It's so,
369
00:22:39,640 --> 00:22:40,610
it's such a great deal,
370
00:22:40,610 --> 00:22:41,950
you can't pass it up.
371
00:22:42,040 --> 00:22:43,960
And they were doing this on the phone.
372
00:22:44,540 --> 00:22:44,860
There was,
373
00:22:44,870 --> 00:22:46,640
I was physically talking with somebody.
374
00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:54,790
So I think that's a great opportunity to infiltrate a little bit of that treasure hunting,
375
00:22:54,800 --> 00:22:55,330
you know,
376
00:22:55,340 --> 00:22:57,060
too good a deal to pass up.
377
00:22:57,060 --> 00:23:00,290
Did you think about this type of thing and the online experience?
378
00:23:00,290 --> 00:23:10,100
I think that's a fantastic thing and they could obviously with the logic and ai and everything by your browsing history suggests items of,
379
00:23:10,110 --> 00:23:10,600
you know,
380
00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:13,660
and little coupons and things like that towards the end of the,
381
00:23:13,670 --> 00:23:16,780
of the buying journey in the online experience.
382
00:23:16,780 --> 00:23:18,730
I think that's a fantastic opportunity,
383
00:23:18,940 --> 00:23:19,620
amazon.
384
00:23:20,540 --> 00:23:28,050
I mean they've gotten so skilled in it is because I am on amazon a lot and shop with them.
385
00:23:28,840 --> 00:23:29,760
But those,
386
00:23:29,770 --> 00:23:30,600
hey,
387
00:23:30,610 --> 00:23:32,260
other people also bought this,
388
00:23:32,270 --> 00:23:42,570
those things are catching me more and more then they used to so it's clearly I am giving them the cues on what to be putting in front of me.
389
00:23:42,570 --> 00:23:47,370
And I think if HomeGoods did that and started throwing stuff in front of me while you're like this,
390
00:23:47,370 --> 00:23:50,050
you might like that type thing,
391
00:23:50,070 --> 00:23:51,560
that's how you get sucked in.
392
00:23:52,140 --> 00:23:55,630
But it goes back to inventory management,
393
00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:58,870
execution and delivery and shipping and all that kind of stuff.
394
00:23:58,870 --> 00:24:05,670
Like it's fine to say this is easy to do the treasure hunt piece of it towards the end of the transaction of the buyer journey.
395
00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:13,050
It's a whole another thing to execute that and get it shipped within two days or whatever the expected ship date would be.
396
00:24:13,540 --> 00:24:24,060
And I thank you all the ladies inferred the point that when you have a shopping cart in front of you and your weaving through a store to try to get to a certain department,
397
00:24:24,540 --> 00:24:28,650
you're picking up Brandon stuff all along the way that you don't know what,
398
00:24:28,660 --> 00:24:35,360
you don't know what to even throw into your cart and to be able to replicate that.
399
00:24:35,370 --> 00:24:40,750
Like being in a grocery store if I'm heading on my way back to the milk and it happened to go down the cookie aisle.
400
00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:43,660
I'm grabbing cookies even though I didn't intend to buy them,
401
00:24:43,660 --> 00:24:55,220
but it was on my way and you don't get that same experience also on places like Instacart on door dash or any of those online shopping hooks that they do try to have a lot of level of influence,
402
00:24:55,220 --> 00:25:07,390
but they're still catching up to modern times because the online grocery shopping was in its nascent before the pandemic and I'm just lucky I can get groceries where I live in the country with chickens.
403
00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:12,350
Yeah that is a very,
404
00:25:12,360 --> 00:25:35,950
because I'm an Instacart gal and I'm surprised when I go into a grocery store because what I have I found myself you settle into like the same foods and the times when I am in a grocery store um you really can become kind of a tunnel vision and forget about all of the other options available.
405
00:25:36,340 --> 00:25:38,980
Those of you who ordered online through HomeGoods.
406
00:25:38,990 --> 00:25:45,730
I actually got to the end of it and I got distracted and it fell off my radar when I was going through that chopper journey.
407
00:25:45,730 --> 00:25:51,090
But those of you Heidi and Kathy well everybody but me ordered something right.
408
00:25:51,100 --> 00:25:54,100
How quickly how quickly did they fulfill it?
409
00:25:54,110 --> 00:25:58,270
And was there a expedited shipping available?
410
00:25:58,940 --> 00:26:05,240
I don't recall from mine have expedited shipping as well but I did receive mine in about three days.
411
00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:09,410
I think it was my message Around 3-4 days as well.
412
00:26:09,410 --> 00:26:13,120
It was fairly quick and it was 100% complete as an order.
413
00:26:13,130 --> 00:26:15,390
Yeah mine as well.
414
00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:32,210
And to be fair to any anybody shipping right now any retailer because of the delays right now with shipping and our supply chain issues it's people that amazon is missing dates and and that's just unheard of.
415
00:26:32,220 --> 00:26:33,770
So with home goods,
416
00:26:33,770 --> 00:26:37,950
I do remember what came together and it came faster than I thought.
417
00:26:38,340 --> 00:26:54,730
What's interesting also is other sort of twist that I've seen now retailers doing where you can buy conceptually the play is you buy online and it has delivered that day to you.
418
00:26:54,740 --> 00:26:57,260
So I had the,
419
00:26:57,270 --> 00:26:59,360
had the experience and again,
420
00:26:59,370 --> 00:27:01,570
with one of my favorite retailers,
421
00:27:01,570 --> 00:27:04,210
it sells cosmetics and I was like,
422
00:27:04,220 --> 00:27:04,840
wow,
423
00:27:04,840 --> 00:27:08,250
I can buy it online and get it the same day how you know,
424
00:27:08,260 --> 00:27:09,050
sign me up.
425
00:27:09,060 --> 00:27:32,880
So what's interesting though is it was executed so poorly that by the time I got done with the phone calls and trying to track somebody down because what has happened now is they're having like an instant adored dash or Uber eats or what have you pick up your package and then they're done.
426
00:27:32,890 --> 00:27:34,260
The retailer now is saying,
427
00:27:34,270 --> 00:27:36,620
we gave it to send company,
428
00:27:36,630 --> 00:27:39,180
take it up with them and I'm like,
429
00:27:39,190 --> 00:27:40,260
I don't think so.
430
00:27:40,270 --> 00:27:43,560
I think my three lipsticks are driving around Chicago somewhere,
431
00:27:44,140 --> 00:27:54,690
so they absolutely washed their hands of it because they had done their portion of the transaction and that is not going to work when you have loyal customers that are shocked with stores forever.
432
00:27:54,690 --> 00:27:57,740
I would have expected the store manager pulled the product get in the car,
433
00:27:57,740 --> 00:27:58,360
bring it to me,
434
00:27:58,740 --> 00:28:00,560
that's what we would have done years ago.
435
00:28:00,940 --> 00:28:02,300
But even to that point,
436
00:28:02,300 --> 00:28:06,810
even if it was The retailer who's responsible for doing the delivery.
437
00:28:06,820 --> 00:28:16,450
If you have 10 people standing in front of you in line to check out and ring out and you get credit for their sales versus an online person where you're fulfilling it.
438
00:28:16,450 --> 00:28:17,030
You have to pick,
439
00:28:17,030 --> 00:28:19,780
pack it and then put it in a car and then send it to somebody.
440
00:28:19,790 --> 00:28:23,060
What are your choices as an in store employee?
441
00:28:23,070 --> 00:28:26,050
Do you deal with the people in front of you or do you do that,
442
00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:38,110
that one order from that random Kathy person who wanted three lipsticks or this person who's buying $100 worth of face cream and how do you train your associates to make that balance?
443
00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:40,600
So there's a lot of change management,
444
00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:42,760
there's a lot of change leadership involved.
445
00:28:42,770 --> 00:28:54,320
There's a lot of prioritization that needs to take place a lot of training and also making sure that you have staff that can prioritize and know how to ask,
446
00:28:54,330 --> 00:28:55,430
what do I do?
447
00:28:55,440 --> 00:28:56,700
Oh yeah,
448
00:28:56,710 --> 00:28:57,580
that's a big deal.
449
00:28:57,580 --> 00:28:59,550
That in store fulfillment.
450
00:28:59,560 --> 00:29:01,120
A lot of the grocers are doing it right.
451
00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:02,660
We've all seen in stick our public,
452
00:29:02,670 --> 00:29:04,420
everybody's doing it these days,
453
00:29:04,430 --> 00:29:05,240
it's fine.
454
00:29:05,250 --> 00:29:05,790
It's good.
455
00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:06,670
It's needed.
456
00:29:07,540 --> 00:29:11,950
But I still don't think a lot of the grocers have that.
457
00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:18,320
The roles and responsibility of those pickers and how they behave for in store shoppers.
458
00:29:18,330 --> 00:29:36,060
I still don't think they have that nailed down to make the customer's experience where it needs to be because they go through those big cards and they are focused on that one task of picking that order and the heck with the rest of the shoppers in the aisle.
459
00:29:36,140 --> 00:29:36,880
I've seen it.
460
00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:42,250
I've almost been run over by these things and I feel like there's a big opportunity there.
461
00:29:42,250 --> 00:29:42,460
I mean,
462
00:29:42,460 --> 00:29:42,700
yes,
463
00:29:42,700 --> 00:29:44,450
you want to get this order fulfilled,
464
00:29:44,740 --> 00:29:49,450
but you can't make your in store shoppers uncomfortable or angry.
465
00:29:50,340 --> 00:29:50,850
Yes,
466
00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:53,670
completely correct on that point,
467
00:29:53,680 --> 00:29:59,520
and I'm a big fan of online grocery shopping because I just don't want to drive right now.
468
00:29:59,530 --> 00:30:11,520
But and I was also an avid online grocery shopper before the pandemic just to save time because I did not want to spend my time walking up and down aisles and seeing the cookies and getting distracted by the potato chips.
469
00:30:11,520 --> 00:30:21,850
But companies who have been doing it longer who at least have some level of respect for the consumers as the brand,
470
00:30:21,860 --> 00:30:23,160
not the retailer,
471
00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:24,490
not the grocer themselves,
472
00:30:24,490 --> 00:30:29,050
they at least tried to do their best to fulfill their customers needs one of my local grocery store,
473
00:30:29,050 --> 00:30:32,240
stride have started to do it direct where they're like,
474
00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:34,950
I'm going to bypass those fancy Instacart doordash.
475
00:30:34,950 --> 00:30:36,170
We're gonna just do it ourselves.
476
00:30:36,740 --> 00:30:44,890
And what would happen is I replaced the order and I could not make changes to it after Maybe 12 hours before they pick it,
477
00:30:44,890 --> 00:30:45,970
they would pick it overnight.
478
00:30:45,980 --> 00:30:47,670
And if they couldn't fulfill an item,
479
00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:50,280
they didn't ask me if I wanted a substitution.
480
00:30:50,290 --> 00:30:52,570
So there are many times when I would get my order,
481
00:30:52,580 --> 00:30:55,750
let's say I wanted to make beef over the weekend,
482
00:30:55,760 --> 00:30:56,850
I wouldn't get the roast.
483
00:30:56,860 --> 00:30:59,260
So what good is everything else around it?
484
00:30:59,270 --> 00:31:00,520
If I don't have the beet root,
485
00:31:00,530 --> 00:31:01,360
the beef roast.
486
00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:09,500
So otherwise insta cart you can make changes up to within an hour of them actually shopping for your order and if they don't have the beef roast,
487
00:31:09,500 --> 00:31:10,760
they say do you want something else?
488
00:31:10,770 --> 00:31:12,180
Like no,
489
00:31:12,190 --> 00:31:17,000
and then I don't need the potatoes and don't get me the celery and don't give me the carrots and don't get me everything else.
490
00:31:17,010 --> 00:31:20,710
So the important thing is the consumer comes first.
491
00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:29,770
What is the way to fulfill their needs and their desires and their preferences as efficiently as possible without sacrificing who you are as a brand?
492
00:31:29,780 --> 00:31:32,150
Uh huh.
493
00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:34,090
It's a really,
494
00:31:34,100 --> 00:31:40,120
it's an excellent point from how you're hiring people um in store,
495
00:31:40,130 --> 00:31:49,740
how your onboarding them because these are very different roles if I'm picking and packing in order versus customer facing,
496
00:31:49,750 --> 00:31:53,070
that same person might have to be doing both of those.
497
00:31:53,070 --> 00:31:54,090
Absolutely.
498
00:31:54,100 --> 00:31:55,970
Oh and by the way,
499
00:31:55,970 --> 00:32:15,030
I have to pull these couple of lipsticks for Mr Huberman to come pick up or Uber lady to come pick up and that I think retailers are struggling where Heidi the model you described was you have people just dedicated to like the picking and packing and and then the customer is invisible to them.
500
00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:16,770
And that doesn't feel good,
501
00:32:17,140 --> 00:32:19,360
then you have other people that you know,
502
00:32:19,360 --> 00:32:22,540
the associates are expected to do it all and you know,
503
00:32:22,540 --> 00:32:24,250
something is going to fall between the cracks.
504
00:32:24,250 --> 00:32:38,670
You just know it because the person is going to end up serving people that are in front of them as opposed to grind a computer or pulling whatever they need to pull to keep up with the other things going on around them.
505
00:32:39,240 --> 00:32:40,990
I think there's an opportunity to,
506
00:32:40,990 --> 00:32:49,160
it's not even just the associates working for the organization or for that particular company because there are so many now that are working with third party.
507
00:32:49,170 --> 00:32:55,370
So I actually got some furniture and patio furniture and I was really excited about this great deal,
508
00:32:55,370 --> 00:32:56,980
really high quality furniture.
509
00:32:56,980 --> 00:33:03,170
It arrived and there was a hole in one of the cushions and they just gave me the run around and said I had to go to the vendor.
510
00:33:03,340 --> 00:33:03,990
Yeah,
511
00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:04,180
well,
512
00:33:04,180 --> 00:33:04,660
it was,
513
00:33:04,670 --> 00:33:06,730
it was like a really terrible experience.
514
00:33:06,730 --> 00:33:07,580
Now on the other hand,
515
00:33:07,580 --> 00:33:11,730
I bought some furniture from Wayfair in a little different situation,
516
00:33:11,730 --> 00:33:15,770
but it didn't show up and the customer service was amazing.
517
00:33:15,780 --> 00:33:17,930
I was so impressed immediately.
518
00:33:17,930 --> 00:33:18,260
They said,
519
00:33:18,270 --> 00:33:18,810
we've got,
520
00:33:18,820 --> 00:33:19,100
you know,
521
00:33:19,110 --> 00:33:20,260
taking care of this.
522
00:33:20,260 --> 00:33:30,750
We're sending you out duplicates of the furniture you ordered and followed up with me to make sure that I was going to my experience and that it arrived on time.
523
00:33:30,750 --> 00:33:34,350
I mean it was like above and beyond which definitely wasn't expecting.
524
00:33:34,840 --> 00:33:40,970
So I think there's like this big opportunity to understand like who are you working with and how did they represent your brand?
525
00:33:40,980 --> 00:33:43,640
Because even getting groceries delivered,
526
00:33:43,650 --> 00:33:53,020
I did some shopping at Target two and I had the groceries delivered and the individual who was delivering complained about,
527
00:33:53,030 --> 00:33:53,530
oh my gosh,
528
00:33:53,530 --> 00:33:54,300
they were out of this,
529
00:33:54,310 --> 00:33:55,010
they were out of that.
530
00:33:55,010 --> 00:33:56,830
They're always out of this and you know,
531
00:33:56,830 --> 00:33:59,720
it's not representing Target very well.
532
00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:04,800
So there's just there's consequences for brands being able to,
533
00:34:04,810 --> 00:34:07,850
we will offer a lot of these services,
534
00:34:07,860 --> 00:34:08,330
you know,
535
00:34:08,330 --> 00:34:09,940
to their overall reputation.
536
00:34:09,940 --> 00:34:11,460
I would say carries.
537
00:34:11,640 --> 00:34:21,020
You mentioned that because I ordered patio furniture from Wayfair as well this past summer and it was supposed to be a two piece seating set.
538
00:34:21,030 --> 00:34:26,650
So to outdoor seats and only one was delivered and I called him and I said we're supposed to be two.
539
00:34:26,650 --> 00:34:27,680
We only got one.
540
00:34:27,690 --> 00:34:28,770
They said well you know,
541
00:34:28,770 --> 00:34:29,530
just keep the one,
542
00:34:29,530 --> 00:34:30,590
it's not worth returning it,
543
00:34:30,590 --> 00:34:32,670
but we'll refund you the full amount for the two.
544
00:34:33,040 --> 00:34:33,490
I was like,
545
00:34:33,500 --> 00:34:36,060
well okay customer for life.
546
00:34:36,440 --> 00:34:45,760
But Daryl doesn't have a place to sit now.
547
00:34:46,140 --> 00:34:52,860
Have you guys ever ordered anything online with the local delivery where you didn't get what you ordered.
548
00:34:53,240 --> 00:34:55,680
Not that it wasn't not that it was completely missing,
549
00:34:55,680 --> 00:35:10,560
but you got and it's unexpected um delivery and my example is I had placed an order from Dunkin donuts and the delivery driver multiple orders for different delivery services.
550
00:35:10,560 --> 00:35:13,640
So he was doing Uber eats and doordash and you name it,
551
00:35:13,650 --> 00:35:23,700
they were just all kinds of things on their phone and doing lift at the same time and instead of my bagel I got dog food because they messed up.
552
00:35:23,710 --> 00:35:28,350
They didn't read the delivery address and so they had shopped at petsmart as well,
553
00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:34,180
got darker and now my dogs love the dog food but I really wanted to be able,
554
00:35:34,190 --> 00:35:36,370
so have you guys ever had an experience like that?
555
00:35:36,370 --> 00:35:39,270
We really had something messed that messed up.
556
00:35:39,280 --> 00:35:39,810
Yes.
557
00:35:39,820 --> 00:35:42,710
And particularly in a food delivery situation,
558
00:35:42,720 --> 00:35:43,760
I'm angry.
559
00:35:43,770 --> 00:35:44,250
Okay,
560
00:35:44,260 --> 00:35:46,880
at this point I am like,
561
00:35:46,890 --> 00:35:52,100
I want my food and I want it now and there was a situation,
562
00:35:52,110 --> 00:35:58,090
it was the oddest substitution to where I think I ordered something that was very heart healthy,
563
00:35:58,090 --> 00:36:03,130
like paleo keto something and I got a chicken tamale and I'm like,
564
00:36:03,140 --> 00:36:08,060
how do you get that out of this on my order?
565
00:36:08,070 --> 00:36:17,030
And I was just so done because I'd already waited through the order and track them down and it's just interesting when you're like,
566
00:36:17,040 --> 00:36:18,540
no,
567
00:36:18,550 --> 00:36:19,440
I can try.
568
00:36:19,440 --> 00:36:30,380
But I really wish you would have caught And in that situation because when I got the dog food instead of the bagel that when I called the delivery service they said do you want him to just turn around and bring it to you.
569
00:36:30,390 --> 00:36:31,050
I was like,
570
00:36:31,060 --> 00:36:31,700
no,
571
00:36:31,710 --> 00:36:33,580
that was 30 minutes ago by now.
572
00:36:33,580 --> 00:36:36,550
The bagels cold and stale coffee is cold and stale.
573
00:36:36,930 --> 00:36:38,140
No.
574
00:36:38,150 --> 00:36:44,400
And I don't even want a replacement at this point because I never send back food in a restaurant just out of a matter of policy.
575
00:36:44,400 --> 00:36:51,740
But um how do you reconcile if you end up with something that's completely unexpected?
576
00:36:52,430 --> 00:36:54,890
I've had experiences like Wayfair,
577
00:36:54,900 --> 00:36:57,850
whether like fam fine refund,
578
00:36:57,860 --> 00:36:58,900
what can we get you and you,
579
00:36:58,910 --> 00:37:02,370
would you um amazon scrape where it says it was delivered?
580
00:37:02,380 --> 00:37:05,000
I've had had it happened a handful of times.
581
00:37:05,010 --> 00:37:07,450
It wasn't like fine credit or ship,
582
00:37:07,460 --> 00:37:08,840
do you want another one?
583
00:37:09,530 --> 00:37:12,760
And then when any time and I think you're,
584
00:37:12,760 --> 00:37:26,460
you're onto something with the third party piece is the negotiation you are having with whatever that company is is you you need to onboard their employees because in the eyes of the consumer,
585
00:37:26,830 --> 00:37:28,580
they are representing Sephora,
586
00:37:28,590 --> 00:37:30,510
they are representing Target.
587
00:37:30,520 --> 00:37:33,350
And I'm not making the connection that it's like,
588
00:37:33,360 --> 00:37:33,650
oh,
589
00:37:33,650 --> 00:37:35,540
you're not target.
590
00:37:35,550 --> 00:37:35,980
I'm like,
591
00:37:35,980 --> 00:37:36,290
no,
592
00:37:36,290 --> 00:37:39,390
you're part of my whole experience and I'm not happy right now.
593
00:37:39,400 --> 00:37:42,850
So it's not that I'm unhappy with you said delivery person.
594
00:37:42,860 --> 00:37:44,410
I'm unhappy with target,
595
00:37:44,420 --> 00:37:44,850
right?
596
00:37:45,230 --> 00:37:51,760
And that's without thinking that value or that handoff chain rue.
597
00:37:51,760 --> 00:37:54,080
And really having committed partners,
598
00:37:54,090 --> 00:37:54,850
you need,
599
00:37:55,230 --> 00:37:56,240
I'm thinking about it,
600
00:37:56,240 --> 00:37:59,340
you need strategic alliances that are going to represent your brand.
601
00:37:59,930 --> 00:38:00,400
Yeah,
602
00:38:00,410 --> 00:38:02,150
totally agree with that.
603
00:38:02,620 --> 00:38:04,640
That partnership because it's,
604
00:38:04,640 --> 00:38:10,070
it's everyone talks about up and down the supply chain supply chain collaboration but they're,
605
00:38:10,080 --> 00:38:13,920
if you're all representing the brand,
606
00:38:13,930 --> 00:38:15,370
that's what the consumer sees,
607
00:38:15,370 --> 00:38:18,920
they don't care that it's a vendor that's not Home Depot,
608
00:38:18,930 --> 00:38:19,490
their,
609
00:38:19,490 --> 00:38:21,090
their experiences with Home depot.
610
00:38:21,090 --> 00:38:24,540
So if you don't have those partnerships then lock step with you,
611
00:38:24,620 --> 00:38:28,250
you are clobbering your customer experience in your customer loyalty,
612
00:38:28,420 --> 00:38:32,870
going back to hi to your question about getting a wrong delivery.
613
00:38:32,880 --> 00:38:36,180
I do not get groceries delivered.
614
00:38:36,190 --> 00:38:42,910
Well I take that back actually my husband does the grocery shopping so to some extent he does the grocery delivery,
615
00:38:42,920 --> 00:38:46,500
but we have a neighborhood page,
616
00:38:46,510 --> 00:38:51,950
social media page where people constantly will say and I see this lot,
617
00:38:52,320 --> 00:39:02,520
Hey I ordered 10 potatoes from Publix or wherever online grocery And they sent me 10 bags of potatoes like once,
618
00:39:02,520 --> 00:39:03,470
at least once a week.
619
00:39:03,470 --> 00:39:07,570
I see this happening and the store doesn't take them back.
620
00:39:07,570 --> 00:39:15,140
So they say just say just keep them because it's not worth the story to returning back with razor thin margins in grocery,
621
00:39:15,150 --> 00:39:19,040
especially now with shelves being not stock and everything.
622
00:39:19,220 --> 00:39:20,030
How do they,
623
00:39:20,040 --> 00:39:22,130
how do I reconcile that from a cost perspective,
624
00:39:22,140 --> 00:39:24,040
I just that again,
625
00:39:24,040 --> 00:39:28,890
it goes back to the execution and the people that are fulfilling the orders or picking the orders,
626
00:39:28,900 --> 00:39:32,180
making sure that that is absolutely yeah,
627
00:39:32,190 --> 00:39:34,150
spot on because they are,
628
00:39:34,160 --> 00:39:35,650
they must be bleeding money.
629
00:39:36,220 --> 00:39:36,910
Yeah,
630
00:39:36,920 --> 00:39:39,350
it's interesting when you're talking about that story,
631
00:39:39,350 --> 00:39:43,870
Tricia I had it happened recently where I didn't order online.
632
00:39:43,880 --> 00:39:45,140
I live by myself.
633
00:39:45,140 --> 00:39:50,250
I'm not typically a Costco shopper because it's just too much stuff all at once.
634
00:39:50,720 --> 00:39:57,220
So the few things that I did order in addition I got 1000 crackers,
635
00:39:57,230 --> 00:40:03,250
like literally two boxes of five sleeves of 100 crackers.
636
00:40:03,250 --> 00:40:07,430
I'm like what do with these?
637
00:40:08,210 --> 00:40:10,170
So people are coming over to visit,
638
00:40:10,170 --> 00:40:11,860
I'm like and have a parting gift.
639
00:40:11,870 --> 00:40:13,030
These are doctors.
640
00:40:13,410 --> 00:40:16,250
You want to play sitting in the park being the birds?
641
00:40:16,260 --> 00:40:17,130
Yeah,
642
00:40:17,140 --> 00:40:23,040
but that's a really good point because that happens enough that you're like okay,
643
00:40:23,050 --> 00:40:24,110
it's not mine.
644
00:40:24,120 --> 00:40:25,810
Was that supposed to be another customers?
645
00:40:25,810 --> 00:40:28,100
And they're always like just hang on to it.
646
00:40:28,110 --> 00:40:28,410
You know,
647
00:40:28,410 --> 00:40:30,400
we're not gonna come back and get it.
648
00:40:30,410 --> 00:40:39,410
And do you think that that ends up being I suppose you would end up counting against their inventory of strength or or waste that they don't,
649
00:40:39,420 --> 00:40:40,920
if they do a physical inventory,
650
00:40:40,930 --> 00:40:43,740
how do they account for that loss of product?
651
00:40:44,110 --> 00:40:52,430
And do they just increase their shrink percent as a forecast and then they end up buying more and their margins are thin to begin with,
652
00:40:52,440 --> 00:41:08,480
it's a tricky balance of just trying to make money and then you're over inventory if you do buy more and or you're just going to Over inventory by more and over inventory because these mistakes are getting made continuously get made.
653
00:41:08,490 --> 00:41:11,640
I mean this is not all of us have seen this on this little phone call,
654
00:41:11,650 --> 00:41:13,510
all of us have seen this multiple times.
655
00:41:13,520 --> 00:41:14,310
So you know,
656
00:41:14,310 --> 00:41:16,330
we talk about with price optimization software,
657
00:41:16,340 --> 00:41:24,030
one increase in retail price of a grocery item can increase the bottom line profit dramatically.
658
00:41:24,410 --> 00:41:29,240
But if you're clobbering that with your online fulfillment mistakes,
659
00:41:29,250 --> 00:41:31,940
it doesn't make any sense.
660
00:41:32,310 --> 00:41:34,760
It's a wash a wash or worse.
661
00:41:34,770 --> 00:41:49,590
Yeah or worse or worse because you're losing customers a lot of times you guys see the opportunity for ghost grocery stores as well as the ghost restaurant industry where the grocers are do nothing but fulfill online orders.
662
00:41:49,590 --> 00:41:57,510
They don't allow shoppers in the store isn't that like the misfit markets and those places are kind of that model.
663
00:41:57,520 --> 00:42:01,720
So and like hell to some extent like hello fresh and blue apron,
664
00:42:01,730 --> 00:42:03,430
there's not a storefront for those,
665
00:42:03,430 --> 00:42:04,090
those things,
666
00:42:04,090 --> 00:42:08,920
but they do deliver the investment markets example,
667
00:42:08,930 --> 00:42:12,980
it's the produce that may not be so pretty,
668
00:42:12,990 --> 00:42:25,500
at least that's the plug and so they don't have store fronts but you're supposedly get these boxes of produce that you wouldn't normally get and maybe a little bit dinged or whatever,
669
00:42:25,500 --> 00:42:27,480
but they can sell it to you.
670
00:42:27,490 --> 00:42:30,310
So I've seen that,
671
00:42:30,320 --> 00:42:32,390
I don't know how much that's taken off.
672
00:42:32,390 --> 00:42:41,930
I know people use it though and I guess it's kind of like a boxed concept but more localized based on regional demands.
673
00:42:42,500 --> 00:42:45,520
So in my area people buy sauerkraut with druggies.
674
00:42:46,000 --> 00:42:51,310
Um there's not a huge market necessarily for other ethnicities for foods.
675
00:42:51,700 --> 00:42:58,120
So you know shopping on box doesn't provide me with kielbasa.
676
00:42:58,500 --> 00:43:04,260
So at least what do people shop for in your town and just do delivery?
677
00:43:04,270 --> 00:43:06,080
There is a website that has,
678
00:43:06,090 --> 00:43:12,590
it's all really reasonably priced green foods and I think that's right,
679
00:43:12,590 --> 00:43:15,460
I think is right and that doesn't happen.
680
00:43:15,470 --> 00:43:35,560
That doesn't have storefronts to my knowledge and it's there but that you have to be ready to set up your own brand and have all the different pieces of it or you need to go out and act like you are a vendor and you're sourcing from other retailers so that you can build up your inventory.
681
00:43:35,570 --> 00:43:39,940
But you also have to consider the supply chain on that because if you're like a mystic market,
682
00:43:39,950 --> 00:43:56,410
you need to be able to ship produce and get it to your consumers because the spoilage factor is so you're selling meat for goodness say the packaging alone Is going to be crazy sauce as opposed to having some,
683
00:43:56,420 --> 00:44:00,020
do drag 20 minutes from a location to bring it to my house.
684
00:44:00,030 --> 00:44:00,830
Exactly.
685
00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:03,530
But in an insulated bag in the trunk of his car,
686
00:44:03,530 --> 00:44:04,810
it will be fine when he gets here.
687
00:44:05,390 --> 00:44:06,610
That's where I've seen,
688
00:44:06,610 --> 00:44:19,760
I've been reading a lot of struggle with the food delivery services that you order and they send you like factor or some of those that you order ahead of time and then their prepackaged meals.
689
00:44:19,770 --> 00:44:28,000
So if you get your perishables that are held up or got rescheduled for like a week later,
690
00:44:28,090 --> 00:44:29,440
it is disgusting.
691
00:44:29,450 --> 00:44:31,290
I've opened one of those and you're like,
692
00:44:31,290 --> 00:44:32,710
that is not cool,
693
00:44:32,790 --> 00:44:45,500
that's really hitting that particular niche industry hard right now is the fact that we are having so many other additional problems moving goods around the country and around the world,
694
00:44:45,510 --> 00:44:52,810
my subscription for my food delivery because of that reason it was taking like It was 11 days,
695
00:44:52,820 --> 00:44:53,810
I don't know,
696
00:44:53,890 --> 00:44:58,570
a one time thing the next month or three weeks later,
697
00:44:58,570 --> 00:45:00,490
whatever it was again,
698
00:45:00,490 --> 00:45:01,210
was,
699
00:45:01,590 --> 00:45:04,540
I think seven days and by the time I got everything,
700
00:45:04,550 --> 00:45:07,020
even if it was still sort of cool,
701
00:45:07,030 --> 00:45:07,570
I was like,
702
00:45:07,570 --> 00:45:10,980
I'm not eating this role of the,
703
00:45:10,990 --> 00:45:11,250
you know,
704
00:45:11,260 --> 00:45:12,190
the time it took.
705
00:45:12,190 --> 00:45:12,920
So yeah,
706
00:45:12,920 --> 00:45:15,020
I think there's a lot of opportunity there as well.
707
00:45:15,030 --> 00:45:15,600
Yeah,
708
00:45:15,610 --> 00:45:20,460
really hard for brands to be able to manage those types of things,
709
00:45:20,460 --> 00:45:22,830
There's so many things out of their control right now,
710
00:45:22,840 --> 00:45:28,410
hopefully this all settled down and people will be able to learn from,
711
00:45:28,420 --> 00:45:28,760
again,
712
00:45:28,760 --> 00:45:29,930
this constant disruption,
713
00:45:29,940 --> 00:45:30,820
it's gas prices,
714
00:45:30,820 --> 00:45:31,370
supply chain,
715
00:45:31,380 --> 00:45:49,730
all that kind of stuff and it goes back to being able to have your company be agile and resilient to these types of things and so that's an excellent one of our customers is looking to move their foundational systems off of their exit,
716
00:45:49,740 --> 00:45:52,360
a mainframe,
717
00:45:52,370 --> 00:45:55,620
if they're still working on a mainframe,
718
00:45:55,630 --> 00:46:04,950
there's no nimbleness in there and unraveling unraveling it because when voters not to code and instead of buying new software,
719
00:46:04,950 --> 00:46:15,900
you just bolt something onto the main for me at all sort of stuff and now all of a sudden it's a lot of prevention system and it's also a replenishment and you turn it into something and trying to fix that.
720
00:46:15,910 --> 00:46:16,630
I think,
721
00:46:16,640 --> 00:46:17,000
you know,
722
00:46:17,000 --> 00:46:22,200
we talk about home goods and we talk about the companies who are shifting and pivoting to meet the consumer needs.
723
00:46:22,580 --> 00:46:33,060
But the last 20 months or so since March of 2020 have really force all retailers to really take a hard look at the technology roadmap.
724
00:46:33,070 --> 00:46:34,550
Yeah,
725
00:46:34,560 --> 00:46:37,520
the companies who did do a really quick shift to say,
726
00:46:37,530 --> 00:46:37,970
oh hey,
727
00:46:37,970 --> 00:46:38,990
I don't have focus.
728
00:46:39,000 --> 00:46:42,410
Um uh we got it up and running in six weeks.
729
00:46:42,420 --> 00:46:52,750
Do you really have good focus in six weeks or do you have a band aid that you need to fix the priorities of companies where they used to say,
730
00:46:52,760 --> 00:46:53,150
oh,
731
00:46:53,150 --> 00:46:55,280
you know what replenishment?
732
00:46:55,290 --> 00:46:55,710
Well,
733
00:46:55,710 --> 00:46:57,850
we could live with that for another three years.
734
00:46:57,860 --> 00:46:58,440
No,
735
00:46:58,450 --> 00:47:00,000
you need to be able to do that.
736
00:47:00,000 --> 00:47:02,540
Get stuck to the stores quickly to be able to have good inventory,
737
00:47:02,540 --> 00:47:04,720
to be able to meet your consumers needs,
738
00:47:04,720 --> 00:47:05,560
where they shop.
739
00:47:05,570 --> 00:47:13,410
So I do think a lot has changed in the last 20 months about prioritization among technology within business.
740
00:47:13,580 --> 00:47:24,010
And it also leads to very strong strategic decisions about how companies want to position themselves to their consumers and what they want to offer them and how do you interact with them?
741
00:47:24,020 --> 00:47:28,180
When where and how they want to interact with you?
742
00:47:28,190 --> 00:47:32,000
Well Heidi I think that is a perfect way to end.
743
00:47:32,180 --> 00:47:42,090
The four of us could talk for hours and I know we frequently will want to but we are at the end of our time so we have to we have to end our time together.
744
00:47:42,100 --> 00:47:52,700
Thank you for joining me and as always I love talking with you guys and it's so much fun to talk shopping and then and also dig into as consultants.
745
00:47:52,700 --> 00:47:54,900
We're gonna dig into why did this happen?
746
00:47:54,900 --> 00:47:56,190
And and that's always fun,
747
00:47:56,190 --> 00:47:59,950
so thank you very much and we'll talk to you again soon.
748
00:48:01,420 --> 00:48:02,590
Bye.
749
00:48:04,280 --> 00:48:06,080
So that wraps up today's episode.
750
00:48:06,090 --> 00:48:09,460
We hope you found value in the content and in the discussion.
751
00:48:09,470 --> 00:48:12,100
If you have any questions and would like to reach out,
752
00:48:12,680 --> 00:48:17,380
please feel free to visit our website at Parker avery dot com.
753
00:48:17,390 --> 00:48:20,780
We also invite you to join our conversation on linkedin.