Looking to unlock wealth from Sears-Kmart merger

If Mr Lambert hires another "me too" character than he'll just be wasting his money getting rid of another failure a few years from now. He needs to start "thinking outside the box" for his people. He needs commando type people who work by no clock, take no comprimises, know what people want and need and above all else he needs people who know how to sell softly. To find these type of people he needs to look elsewhere other than "head hunters" for these merchandizers are few. In many places, they're buried down below in his own companies where they've been held back by middle managers afraid of tomorrow. Commandos and professional managers turn away from each other because managers can't control commandos and can't see the up front benifits of their work while commandos need the freedom to make snap decisions to change the statis quo of organized chaos. Middle managers chief job is to stop change while commandos demand change so the two just butt heads so the only way for a commando to get the job done is to outrank the middle managers. It took an outsider who knew nothing about computers to fix IBM. Top managers have their big pay,benifits and stock options on the line so they don't allow change until it's way too late to "catch up" in the market place. Wal-Mart won the marketing battle because they were the leaders in change and the others feared to follow until it was too late. Change comes in many ways...the right store colors to relax customers...the right clothes for workers to identify who they are....the proper store layouts...with selective items only. Jeans in not just blue but in green, brown, black and kaki and not just in sizes that a thin young person would ware but in sizes the real person actually wares. In other words, stop thinking what can't be down but start thinking when it can be done. The world wants to ware jeans whether you like it or not so supply them in the colors they want by finding those who would do it. Give value added by offering thicker weaves. Realize that the purchasing power of a huge company is far greater than the purchasing power of an individual so use that power to help the individual and they'll help you by buying from you. Start thinking for that individual and offer them value for less and increase profit on volume not high percentage markups. As long as Wal-Mart offers a $10 pair of jeans, nobody should be buying jeans anywhere else unless you're rich and choose to buy elsewhere at a higher price thinking you're getting better value. That's being rich and stupid and fortunately there're not enough of those people to matter. If you sell a "me too" product then Wal-Mart will beat you all the time. To beat them is to offer a different manufacturer at the same price but with better quality. Offer Jeans and a shirt combo at a better price then those items sold individually. Wal-Mart doesn't do that so you'll have them beat in areas that they haven't addressed yet. Use your combined purchasing power to better the customer. Buy 10 clothing items take 20% off the final price. Buy 5 items (2 jeans, 2 shirts and 1 sweater for example) and take 10% off. Buy two items and take 5% off. In other words, accept the fact that Wal-Mart has changed the face of merchandising forever and you better change with it or die a slow but sure death.Thanks for your time

Uh, oh! Target got itself out of the specialty retailing business after shuttering its American
Hero chain of apparel stores and unloading the B.
Dalton Booksellers stores to Barnes & Noble.

SUPERVALU launched the now defunct County Seat
chain of jean and apparel stores in the 1970s.

BAD NEWS FOR THE DUELING RETAILERS/WHOLESALERS BASED IN MINNESOTA! IT'S NOT FAIR, STOOOOOOPID!

Defunct retailer site: http;//www.kinneyshoes.com