This would make sense because Sears is too far behind to make the right moves now, they kept an outdated way of thinking for too long to recover from their mistakes.
However, Walmart would hopefully learn from the mistakes of Carly Fiorina and HP and their purchase of Compaq and wait to buy them out of foreclosure instead of Bankruptcy ;-)
Compaq sold to the Highest Bidder and retired quite wealthy from HP's desperate attempts to recover losses when they should have admitted defeat.
Walmart is now presented with this question while facing it's toughest opponent...Amazon and it's Amabotical employee forging concept.
Some years back we tempted the thought that Amazon would never be able to compete with the likes of Walmart because we believed Walmart's Retail Experience would trump their E-Commerce only approach.
At the time it made sense, because Walmart was going online and already had both feet planted on the ground and with an E-Line on the way and should have put them over the top, but it hasn't.
The WHY is because Walmart as big as they are, still only sold and still sells cheap plastic crap as does Amazon, but what Amazon has done that Walmart didn't do is provide specialty items.
The rumor mill has said it was because Amazon sells Sex Toys and Walmart doesn't and technically they are right, but that's the perverted approach to justify the lead, the truth of the matter is Amazon sells EVERYTHING!
Amazon has allowed all retailers to sell their products through their E-Line which condensed people's search time to one source for a price better than they can get from a Retailer.
Which is great for the buyer, but the problem is that the retailer now loses a little money from this and their Landlords didn't drop the rent for them, so many retailers are backing out in order to stay above their "minimum" bottom line needs.
There in lies the paradox to Amazon's success...Amazon remember doesn't have the retail experience like a Walmart does and because of this won't have the endurance to open stores and build out to stay online, nor could they afford it.
...or do they...
"Amazon, though, offers no pretense that catering to employees is a priority. Compensation is considered competitive — successful midlevel managers can collect the equivalent of an extra salary from grants of a stock that has increased more than tenfold since 2008. But workers are expected to embrace “frugality”
Frugality, this is a word Jeff Bezos (Amazon Founder and Owner) is quite familiar with because for the longest time he didn't make any money and actually lost money every year, but he stayed in business because people believed in him and continue to believe in him.
"Thanks in part to its ability to extract the most from employees, Amazon is stronger than ever. Its swelling campus is transforming a swath of this city, a 10-million-square-foot bet that tens of thousands of new workers will be able to sell everything to everyone everywhere. Last month, it eclipsed Walmart as the most valuable retailer in the country, with a market valuation of $250 billion, and Forbes deemed Mr. Bezos the fifth-wealthiest person on earth."
'Thanks in part to its ability to extract the most from employees'...WOW, that is the most profound statement we have ever heard and is not a new term, it's just a term Employees are not used to hearing because most companies were family ran and treated each of their employees like family.
...but not anymore...
Jeff Bezos may have survived on Top Ramen every day, but not everybody can do that because just like in the Jungle, there can only be one Alpha while the Omegas listen and follow.
This way all the herd eats, while leaving the biggest portions for the leader and is a way of the wild and will continue to be a way of life regardless of preconceived notions.
Some say that we need Socialism, some say we need Communism, some say Democracy works and some say Anarchy works, but in the end there will always be a leader and the bulk of the portions will always start at their feet and of those portions will be kicked down to those who participated in the hunt and the bits and saliva that's left, will drip down to the rest.
...that's their definition of "EXTRACTION"
Walmart may have also failed to take the lead because they also see the future of business and maybe, just maybe, the memories of Sam Walton and his ethical approach to business has made them think twice about the new business model.
Seattle is leading the way when it comes to extraction by removing the weak, to make room for the strong and it's using the weakest to do it.
That is why they are building homeless encampments next to small businesses and neighborhoods that are in the way of production. This way people will move because of the crime, the smell of homelessness and bankruptcy that this brings, while leaving behind shells of an existence at foreclosure pricing.
The American Dream has created a sense of selfishness in people by accident because the American Dream was just a small family starting a little business that can pay for housing, clothing, business costs, college for the kids and a little retirement, but that is no longer enough.
There are too many restaurants, too many textiles, too many grocery stores, too many too many too many and the competition of each one of these businesses that think they can do it better than the other is becoming too expensive due to supply and demand, so you all lose.
Amazon needs companies to make their online work, because that is what they sell, other people's stuff, Amazon doesn't create, they're a reseller, an HP if you will and we all know what happened to HP.
"Pando, also known as The Trembling Giant, is a clonal colony of a single male quaking aspen determined to be a single living organism by identical genetic markers and assumed to have one massive underground root system."
In order for massive businesses to not only survive, but thrive is exactly this type of thinking and is why places like McDonalds, Burger Kings make it because they are of one root and they all think the same and they all move in the same direction.
That is what Amazon is creating, a way of thinking that everyone can connect to using their advertising, their shipping procedures, their connections and keeping it all familiar for everyone to feel comfortable, safe and at an affordable price...hence; the dollar menu ;-)
However, like the Books that Amazon sold, this too will be a thing of the past because business is already failing all around the nation and people are bowing out of Amazon because they aren't making enough money with them so this is just another process to get closer to something else.
Life is a Façade that they have created to keep you believing in the system they have created...
We have an analogy:
"One day a boy comes home with his father after graduation and on the table is a present that the father got for his boy for graduation.
He opens it and inside is a shiny nickel plated 357 magnum in a cherry wood case with the little holes cut out for the 6 shells that the gun holds.
At first the boy is surprised and happy and hugs his father and thanks him for the gift and says it's the greatest, Thanks Dad :-)
So the days go by and the Father is happy because his son is happy and then one day his son walks in with a New Watch.
His father says, where did you get the watch...
Oh, I traded the gun for it, I hope you're not mad...
No Son, I'm not mad, but sit down for a second and let me tell you what you have done wrong.
See, pretty soon you're going to go to college, then you're gonna get a new job and a new home and life is going to be looking pretty good. Then one day you're going to meet the love of your life and you'll marry and you'll live together and life will be great. You'll be going to work then coming home, going to work coming home, going to work and coming home just as happy as you can be, then one day you're gonna come home and find your wife in bed with another man, and you know what you're gonna tell that man...it's time for you to go."
This is the façade that companies are creating now, because time is running out as is the water and it takes money to go to space and is why Elon Musk is becoming so interested in space exploration.
He's created a device that makes him money (Tesla) and the device that he knows you'll buy because that is what we are told we need.
He's marketed it as "No Emissions" which is attractive to people, but only saves you 25.00, but reducing the Carbon Footprint is the big sell and that is what sells them.
The Tesla is like buying a Home in Seattle now, you'll never see return on your investment and resell value will be Sh*t.
Example: A 250,000 thousand dollar home is being sold for 5-700.00 thousand dollars, a Tesla is being sold for 100,000 thousand dollars and the batteries cost 50,000 thousand dollars to replace.
This is why people go to college, to be sold on an idea that what they do will make a difference and that you are appreciated, when all they want is your money.
College doesn't make you smarter or richer, it's a tool to find the people businesses need and when they find them it will give the directionless, direction.
Bill Gates didn't need direction so he dropped out of College created a startup and is now the Richest person in the World.
However like we said, the technology bubble is bursting and come to find out it's being beat by the most unlikely of candidates...cannabis :-D, yep cannabis has lapped the technology market and continues to climb, but have no worry, the drone market will be HUGE, but anyone can make those, thank you YouTube :-D
Anyway, will Walmart buy Sears...Well that depends on whether or not Sears goes into foreclosure, but even then will it be enough to save them?
At this point Walmart would have to buy all the Retailers out there in order to compete, but even then, it won't be enough.
Example: Brunswick has basically bought up everyone and sold off half of their manufacturing plants and with all that only yielded them a 7% return and a flat stock, so learn by example.
Amazon has found the model that works, so buying out everyone isn't the idea, and remember there are only two ways to make money, either by having the most money working for you or having the most people working for your money.
J. Paul Getty believed in this and also is quoted saying, he would rather have 1% of 100 people's efforts rather than 100% of his own and that is what Amazon has done.
So Walmart you might be thinking about buying Sears and you may not, but one thing's for sure, if you don't do something soon, it'll be time for you to go...and that's a fact!
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