Home Depot's Inventory Control Problem

[frank1492]

Wow! I never thought of that! Thanks!

[Craven Morehead]

Officially...dwarfs. Diplomatically...little people.

[edb]

[Kyle]

Having worked in management for a department store, I can tell you that companies' buying lines rely entirely too much on the computerized sales and restocking figures. They have no clue what customers want, because they have no idea how many customers come into a store looking for something they don't carry.

Example: let's say the big box hardware store (BBHS) carries replacement parts for Char-Broil, Weber and Vermont Castings. That's all they stock, and that's all customers who make purchases at the BBHS buy. Salespeople at the stores know that there are a lot of customers coming in looking for Ducane, but can't buy it so they go elsewhere, and the BBHS loses that business. But the buying line has no idea because they have ZERO contact with the store to know not only what it is customers are buying, but what it is customers would LIKE to buy but can't because they don't carry it.

Having spent three months shopping at Home Depot or Lowe's at least four times a week while renovating a house, and having had both good and bad experiences at both, I can tell you the problem isn't one retailer or the other, it's the entire retail model these days. I wish I had the time to find all the good mom-and-pop stores in my area I need to take care of my house, but the BBHS is so much more convenient...

[spamTHISbrp]

There is no debate and there are no merits. Wallmart is bad for everyone except wallmart.

Dave

[spamTHISbrp]

Even you gotta know that this is going to change once there are no alternatives. They can treat their employees the way they do because they employ people with few alternatives. What do you think is going to happen when the shoppers have no alternative?

Dave

[David Martel]

mm,

Computerized inventory needs to be deigned to include theft and damage. A while back I was at Lowes shopping for a 90 deg stove pipe elbow. There was one mangled elbow on the shelf. There were 3 elbows listed in their computer. The store clerk couldn't find the elbows and left the damaged one on the shelf. A month later I looked again, out of curiosity, and they still had one damaged elbow on the shelf.

Dave M. .

[Doug Miller]

No. "Dwarf" and "midget" mean two different things.

[bigjim]

When walmart no longer offers consumers what they want , walmart will go the way of Bradlees, Steinbachs, Two Guys, Caldor, and every other retail corp that went bankrupt. Someone will take its place. Home Depot grew because they were far better than mom & pop hardware stores with low prices and great selection. The retail environment is not set in stone. Once a business no longer serves a purpose it changes or fails. Look at GM. They thought that Americans would buy American out of loyalty but years of turning out crap has killed them along with the lazy overpaid union workers they employ. Toyota, Subaru etc can pay an extra 50Cents for a switch or part because labor is lower cost w/o unions. Guess what the part lasts longer giving the brand a reputation for quality

[e-mail] wrote:

[trader4]

As dynamic as the US economy is, I'm amazed that people think this is the scenario we face. Most items that are sold at Walmart can be found at Kmart, Home Depot, Lowes, Costco, Sams Club, local super market, etc. History has tought that it's more likely a new business model or competitor will be the undoing of giants like Walmart. Anyone remember what's happened to companies like IBM and GM?

As for their employees, they are free to find jobs elsewhere. With unemployment under 5%, jobs are available for those that want them.

I'm a frequent shopper at Walmart and find that they have good products at favorable prices. All they are doing is competing in today's world economy, that they don't control.

[Percival P. Cassidy]

This may tie in with something I read or heard recently: Many businesses stock only good-turnover items in their bricks-and-mortar stores but have a far larger range of stuff available on line. It's possible that walmart.com would have had what you wanted for less than Gander Mountain (even after taking shipping charges into account).

Perce

[HeyBub]

If the shoppers ultimately have no alternative, that's the best of all possible worlds. That means that no one can offer better prices, better selection, better service, or any of the other reasons people choose to shop where they do.

Wal-Mart does not exist for the convenience of its employees. The employees may have few or no alternatives, but how is that Wal-Mart's fault? And why should Wal-Mart undertake to "solve" a "problem" it did not create?

Fact is, Wal-Mart provides a path of upward mobility that these employees never had before. Some significant percentage of store managers started as backroom or floor employees and advanced within the company.

[Percival P. Cassidy]

When we lived on Long Island, we had four HDs within a reasonable distance, but not all with the same stock or atmosphere. Only at one of them were customers metaphorically frisked as they left. Lowe's came later. Each carried stuff that the others didn't, but I can't say that there was a whole lot to choose between them.

Now in W. Michigan, we have Lowe's just around the corner and a few HD stores much farther away. We also have small Menards (Wisconsin-based chain), True Value, Ace, and Do-It-Best stores. Now HD is due to open within the next month or two and a much bigger Menards within the next year. (This all in spite of a plummeting job market and a more-or-less static housing market.) It will be interesting to see how everything works out.

When we first moved here, Lowe's had a "decruited" electronics engineer working in the electrical dept., but he is now working in the garden dept. watering plants.

Perce

[HeyBub]

40 million shoppers say you're wrong. They voted with their feet and their dollars.

The average Wal-Mart shopper spends $2300 annually at Wal-Mart. Assuming this is 10% lower than they would have spent without Wal-Mart, times the number of shoppers, you'll find that Wal-Mart provides, each year, a greater dollar benefit to society than all the government's welfare programs combined.

And the company pays taxes while they do it.

[Percival P. Cassidy]

Silly me! Here was I thinking that retail stores were supposed to be staffed by qualified, well-motivated people who know what the store sells, where to find it, and whether that is what truly meets the customer's needs.

If retailers are going to employ unmotivated people who know nothing about the products (which is not the same as saying that they are idiots), then maybe retailers will simply disappear as more and more people buy from amazon.com or buy.com.

Perce

[Percival P. Cassidy]

Yes, Wal-Mart pays corporate taxes at the same time they are getting massive tax breaks from towns and cities where they open stores.

But whether it's Wal-Mart, HD, Lowe's, or Joe's Building Supplies, I think it's a disgrace that the wages for a 40-hour week (or perhaps even a 50- or 60-hour week) are not enough to put a roof over the worker's head, put food on his/her table, meet the costs of transportation at least to and from work, and cover health-care costs --at least not in any place reasonably fit for human habitation.

Perce

[jtees4]

Nothing against your sister in law, but really. Not all, but a good percentage of Walmart workers (at least in my 3-4 local stores) really don't look like they would be able to handle working anywhere else. As far as your sister in law, when the supervisor said he should write her up...she should have demanded that he did so. Then she should have taken a copy of the write up to the local tv satation, newspaper, etc. Walmart does not like that kind of publicity. The only thing that bothers me about the Walmart bashing crowd is that they say Walmart is helpng the Chinese blah blah blah....then they go to KMart, Sears, Home depot, etc etc etc. and buy Chinese made stuff. I don't see much difference really...except it's cheaper at Walmart. I just bought some nice guitar cables at Walmert, made in MO...so I was glad to see that they still have some USA stuff.

[jtees4]

...just like every other company in America and probably the world.

[jtees4]

I've had a similar experience. I have about 5 HD's nearby. Finally a few years back we got a Lowes. I was happy. went there a few times, the store was empty and I could not get any help. I was redoing a kitchen at the time, looking at cabinets. The people in the kitchen design area would not talk to me, I had to make an appointment. There was NO ONE there!! They had no customers. Since Lowes opened, the workers at the local HD have really stepped up...it's even funny how many of them say hello, can I help you? as you walk through the store. They are doing a great job. I appreciate HD more since Lowes came to town. This is LI NY by the way.

[dpb]

...

Well, "yes but..." :)

While true in theory, reality is that there is the overall profitability that is what is attempting to be maximized and that includes delivery costs, manufacturing and delivery costs/timing, inventory costs and turnover amongst other variables. Simply looking at the number of widgets in a bin and sending out more in a purely automatic response might keep inventory on the shelves but wouldn't necessarily bring in more net revenue (and probably wouldn't for most items)...

...

I don't recall the date, but the shift from "Buy America" to "Buy Cheap" came following his death and that is what precipitated the mass stampede to Chinese and other third-world manufacturers. Of course, Wally-World isn't the only one, just the leader--essentially everyone has had to follow suit in order to compete. Simply try to find common consumer products of the type W-M stocks and see if you can actually find a non-third-world supplier for any of them---usually it can't be done except in really large metro areas with very specialized shops, and even then not necessarily.

When (and if) consumers decide to flock away to somewhere other than W-M, they will either change or (as in Germany) withdraw. I personally avoid them as much as possible because a) they're _not_ convenient--it's too big, takes too much wandering around to try to find an item or two; b) typically it's crowded so it takes longer to get in/out; c) there really isn't that much difference in cost for most items to make it worth the hassle; d) unless it really is just "consumer junk", there really isn't anything there I want, anyway.

PS. Being in what most would consider a small town, there are the occasional instances that there actually isn't much if any alternative any longer as the influence of the BORG-syndrome is most observable on the independent businesses in smaller communities which don't have the population base to support the smaller merchants as well.