Amazon vs Trader Joe's: Today's WSJournal

[rotuts]

fascinating article in todays WSJounal :

 

https://www.wsj.com/business/retail/amazon-the-everything-war-dana-mattioli-4966915d

 

for review purposes :

 

'''  Inside Amazon’s Push to Crack Trader Joe’s—and Dominate Everything : A secret war room and other tactics fueled the retail giant’s rise ''

 

'''   When 

Amazon AMZN -1.54%decrease; red down pointing triangle

 was working on a new private-label food brand called Wickedly Prime, members of the team pitched management this vision for the brand: to replicate the top 200 items sold at Trader Joe’s, the grocery-store chain with a rabid fan following. '''

 

'''  To help in its quest, the team recruited a senior manager from Trader Joe’s snack-foods business. The recruit wasn’t told specifically what she’d be working on when Amazon conducted her interview in 2015. '''

 

''''  But during her first week she walked into a conference room at headquarters with brown paper covering the windows and door to ensure privacy, and she started piecing things together. The mysterious conference room was filled with boxes of Trader Joe’s snack foods piled high on shelves, which Amazon had bought up to study for its own brand. This alarmed the employee, who was eventually told she was hired to help create the product assortment for Wickedly Prime.  ''

 

''  The problem was that Trader Joe’s secrets were well guarded. The grocer doesn’t offer online shopping, so there is less known about the company’s top sellers than about products sold by retailers that sell online, which have customer reviews. Much of what Trader Joe’s sells, it makes itself—interesting concoctions that fly off shelves, like cinnamon bun spread and rosemary croissant croutons. Amazon wasn’t sure exactly which 200 items to copy, but a manager on the team was determined that their new employee would help them figure that out. ''

 

'''  A part of Amazon’s success is a cutthroat culture where employees are incentivized to win to an unusual degree. Amazon uses stack ranking, grading employees against each other and cutting the bottom 6% of performers each year. New employees get the majority of their restricted stock units paid in their third and fourth year at the company, which can mean they never receive them, since there is notoriously high employee turnover at Amazon.  '''

 

etc  etc etc .  check your medication schedule , should y0u have one , and consider being up to date .  a reasonable Personal Beverage supply might come in handy , while you read.

 

again  this article might be behind a paywall .  and it's possible you can access the full WSJournal from your public library 

 

assuming there is one for you to  access , depending on where you live .

 

Bon appetite !

 

[gfweb]

I'm surprised that AMZN cares about TJs.

 

Might be a tough win as part of the cachet of TJ is that its TJ.  They ring a bell and all that.

 

On the other hand, TJ seems to have trouble keeping favorites on the shelves.  The might be beaten here.

[rotuts]

@gfweb

 

good points.

 

when the entire article is digested 

 

Amazon , w its more or less infinite budget

 

might care about destroying anybody 

 

small retailers , TJ;'s  etc

 

for Profit .

 

Bezos didn't buy that 700 Million boat , and the 200 BMillion ' tender ' 

 

for his pal's helicopter 

 

by missing getting every dime he can find

 

one way or another .

 

thus , The Amazon Way .

 

Much Dinero

 

however , many ventures ' for profit 'have failed 

 

Amazon Digital ?  Alexia , ' snooping  ?'

 

and Whole Foods ?

 

re WSJournal , not maybe today 

 

but , in an independent accounting 

 

a finacial must , for the shareholders ?

 

not for anybody in  Corner Office , it seems ?

Edited April 13 by rotuts (log)

[blue_dolphin]

1 hour ago, gfweb said:

I'm surprised that AMZN cares about TJs.

 

Might be a tough win as part of the cachet of TJ is that its TJ.  They ring a bell and all that.

 

On the other hand, TJ seems to have trouble keeping favorites on the shelves.  The might be beaten here.

 

Yeah, grocery margins are notoriously low, which Amazon must know from Whole Foods, it's hard to figure they could make a killing going head to head on top selling TJ's products.  Especially since so many are refrigerated or frozen items.

Now, I could give them a list of discontinued TJ's products that I'd be happy to order if Amazon decided to resurrect them!

They certainly do sound pretty ruthless!

[lemniscate]

  I've ordered some of the Wickedly Prime snacks, toffee coconut cashews and cinnamon sugar almonds.  The cashews are standout, I've reordered several times.   But that's about it for Wickedly Prime.   I remember amz having lots more WP snacks a couple years ago, now there's barely handful of offerings under that brand.

 

I never saw any of those WP offerings as a TJ's substitute.   It just didn't equate in my mind that there was a plan to compete. I shop TJ's at least a couple times a month for many things.

 

I don't think amz can compete with TJ's in cachet, shopper experience and flexibility.  

11 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

Now, I could give them a list of discontinued TJ's products that I'd be happy to order if Amazon decided to resurrect them!

 

I do mourn many departed items myself. 

 

Edited April 13 by lemniscate
needed a t (log)

[rotuts]

@blue_dolphin

 

the only killing Amazon wants 

 

is to ,possibly . cripple any potential rival , that they thay might take over.

 

those cost done matter , because 

 

due to their corporate structure 

 

w corporate voting power , not in the hands of ordinary share holders 

 

but at its inception , the origins gang   10 x votes to the original founders

 

same a Google , and notorious w FaceBook

 

once you have many billions ,  corporate costs do not mstter to those people.

 

' Amzon , every day , for all people '

 

w/o the prime cash they get 

 

it would be a very different company.

[Maison Rustique]

Does this mean that my Prime delivery drivers are going to start wearing Hawaiian shirts?

[gfweb]

40 minutes ago, Maison Rustique said:

Does this mean that my Prime delivery drivers are going to start wearing Hawaiian shirts?

 

and ringing your bell

[JoNorvelleWalker]

In my life I've never been inside a Trader Joe's but at least two thirds of my internet time while at home is spent on Amazon.  And that after I boycotted Amazon for several years.

 

Still, at least from the WSJ article, Amazon's methods with regards to Trader Joe's snacks struck me as unethical.

 

[weinoo]

Isn't the whole point of Trader Joe's is that there is a cohort of people who still enjoy shopping in person, finding the unexpected, escaping with a bargain (like those less than bargain priced bananas), discovering a new product, fondling the products, tasting samples (they're baaaack), etc. etc.?

[gfweb]

13 minutes ago, weinoo said:

Isn't the whole point of Trader Joe's is that there is a cohort of people who still enjoy shopping in person, finding the unexpected, escaping with a bargain (like those less than bargain priced bananas), discovering a new product, fondling the products, tasting samples (they're baaaack), etc. etc.?

 

Exactly

And the bell.

[rotuts]

the issue w Amazon , is that they will use their massive scale , and attack any xompetetor

 

what so ever , by avory or unsavory means 

 

a la Standard Oil , back when.

 

Amazon provokes fear in competitors 

 

when A bought Amazon , stock prices of big supermarkets dropped 20 +++ %

 

yet WH really has not been particularly profitable.

 

the Amazon Prime subscription fees provide them w their financial buffer 

 

to operat as they do.

Edited April 15 by rotuts (log)