RSSThe Walmart Paradox
Seth Godin talks about the WalMart effect for retailers. I worked for a company that sold to Walmart, heck they were about 35% of the business. The only problem for the manufacturer is that WM is tough as heck on them. If they come out with something new and innovative, WalMart will insist it be included in the planogram, or else.
With Walmart it is always, or else.
Getting what we deserve?
The New York Times > Business > More Gloom on the Island of Lost Toy Makers points out that the toy business is crumbling. The reason: all the stores that love to sell toys are disappearing, defeated by WalMart.
Walmart wants to sell classics and heavily advertised hits. And they want to do it at close to cost. This appears to be good for consumers–get a Barbie for $12 or whatever.
The problem is that NEW toys aren’t classics and it’s hard to make the bet that new toys should be heavily advertised.
The second problem is that once you reach the level of success of a classic, selling at cost is no fun at all.
The end result is that the toy guys don’t have the guts to launch the new and the remarkable. They are boxed in, encouraged by Wall Street and management to play the Walmart game, which leads to short-term revenue and long term destitution.
These toy companies have always needed the profit from their hits to fund their next generation.
So what’s the answer?
The answer is to tell Walmart to go away. Toy companies are beginning to discover that they can’t win this game. The answer is to find a new and better and more consistently profitable way to launch the remarkable stuff.
And that’s happening. It’s happening when they sell online, or through local stores, or directly to people who care. No, this isn’t mass. This isn’t a fraction of what an endcap at Toys R Us was worth. It’s still the best deal in town. Over time, consumers will be trained that the toys they need are only available in places that aren’t Walmart.
Obviously, I think this same mantra applies to plenty of products in a similar situation. And I expect that the realists among you will tell me to get a clue, that Walmart is the market and you need to play or be irrelevant. I’m saying that playing is making you irrelevant.
Poor Jeff Jarvis
He professes to be a liberal. However, the liberals do not want him anymore. The far left have declared war on him, and they are showing no mercy.
This is the death knell (spelling corrected) for the Democrats. The Kos wing has taken over the party and they will turn the Jarvis’s, the thinking Democrats into Republican voters. There is only room in the inn for the fire breathing, hate anything Bush, democrats in the party. It is a shame.
I am a Republican. I was overjoyed that GWB won, but I am very scared. The nature of politics is that sometime the party in power will screw up. Then the other party, no matter how wacky, gets it turn (see Jimmy Carter).
Do we want the modern incarnation of the Democratic Party of Hatred to have the power? Please, Please Moderate Democrats fight for your party. Otherwise, when power does shift, we are going to have one heck of a mess on our hands.
And Jeff, I am a huge fan of yours , and appreciate all that you do. A year ago, I offered a place in the republican party to you. I rescind (spelling corrected) that offer. Please get your party back in order. Help them to see that they are needed to be logical. Not oppressive.
One for the Good Guys
Marine accused of murder in Fallujah was not charged due to a lack of evidence. This is a good sign that the politically correct in the military do not hold sway.
Hat Tip to Kate at Outside the Beltway via Wizbang
How I learned to fear the Bomb
Arlen Spector is up to his old tricks, lied to the people and lied to his party. All to achieve his goal to be Judiciary Chair.
Very scary man , Very scary position. Wish the Republicans had the nerve to use the Nuclear Option on him. Senator Frist, realize you made an error, and correct it.
Must Read: Ankle Biting Pundits take on the Spector situation tonight.
Hat Tip via Polipundit
Voice recognition and change
If you are not reading Seth Godin, you are missing out big time. This is one of my favorite posts of his, as it relates so much to the issues that we run into with our 8 year old.
I heard on the radio yesterday that “scientists” are predicting the next big computer breakthrough will be voice recognition. Chips are getting fast enough that computers will soon be able to understand what we say. Which will make airports very noisy places, but that’s a different story.
The other day, I took a four hour flight sitting next to a very aggressive hunt and peck typist. He must have written three thousand words on the flight… nailing each key as hard and as fast as he could.
Then I got home to discover that they’re teaching my third grader how to write in cursive.
Something’s wrong here.
Cursive is a fundamentally useless skill in this century, and if we were inventing the curriculum from scratch, it wouldn’t even show up in the top 1,000 things you need to know. Typing, on the other hand, is way up there, at least until the scientists come up with voice recognition.
All organizations are slow to change. Organizations that don’t measure their results are even slower.
