Carol Spieckerman

Can Wal-Mart Survive Generation Y?

Walmart has defined its best customer as "mom," not "boomers" and they are laser-focused on her needs. By osmosis, they are reaching out and satisfying the next generation of Walmart shoppers' needs as well. A few more call-outs:

1. The article completely ignores the pioneering advances that Walmart is making in digital marketing and sustainability; two keys to relevance with Gen Y.

2. Walmart ceased being a "cheap and deep" retailer a while ago; "Save money. Live better." promises value, not necessarily the lowest prices.

3. Walmart's "win," "play," "show" growth strategy and categorization model ensures that they are in the businesses that are on the uptick and not wasting resources on diminishing categories and items.

I could go on; however, I'll leave by saying that I'm not remotely worried about how Walmart will fare with Gen Y for many years to come and regardless of economic swings.

Circuit City Liquidates: Good News for Best Buy

Actually BAD short-term news for Best Buy (more fire sale prices? Yikes!) and tremendous news for Walmart (the more obvious home for former Circuit shoppers).

Macy's Should Monetize Its Former Brands

Who want's a Buffum's T-shirt? How about an Emporium Capwell keychain? Surely there's a market for a Sanger Harris necktie! Marshall Field's, Wanamakers and the other post-Macy'srelated moniker disappearances are no more significant than the list of controversially absorbed or closed retailers that at one time engendered tremendous localized loyalty . . . oh, that is, until everyone just moved on. Nostalgia is a powerful emotion, but in retail, particularly fleeting.

Macy's is doing so many things right . . . and late. Who knew that playing well in the upper middle would be punished so severely in this downturn?

Mervyn's: Death of California's Retail Chain

Great recap of a retail tragedy! Dayton Hudson/Target put Mervyns on a banana peel quite a while back through its benign neglect and Cerberus' subsequent and not-so-benign actions put a nail in the coffin. Had they not, I truly believe that a more focused Mervyns could have thwarted Kohl's growth considerably, stolen some of J.C. Penney's thunder and...perhaps hastened the demise of Dillard's that many believe is now in progress. The new wisdom is that more than two players in a space is overkill(!); however, the "big middle" softlines space that Mervyns occupied had, and still has, quite a bit of room as Walmart dominates the lower end and mid-tier players such as Kohl's and Penney's push upward. Target emerges as the true mid-tier player...Mervyns could have been a contender.