Not sure where this information is coming from but I work in staples retail and the forecast is strong. Lots of investing going on. Big things to come in for Retail. New Brand Defining Stores. New POS system. Replacing all IT hardware in all stores. Network upgrades. There is a ton of positivity for Retail at the home office
Is this true or is somebody trolling? Can anybody confirm?
Dot.com presence was shuttered years ago when Staples made a good business decision to shut it down as an inside sales division and focus on Staples Advantage, which made big profits and the buyout proposal of Depot po$$bible. Sycamore saw how successful this was and was there when the FTC, who also understood this isn't a retail business (a loss leader for branding) and determined it would be a monopoly - nothing to do with dying retail.
If they thought it a great business decision to simply trim inside staff, they wouldn't be on Indeed every week trying to hire. They didn't eliminate positions, they just fired people making money off accounts they grew. This group, like all private equity firms, don't see people, only money. Advantage continues to drive their bottom line - in small to mid market, one rep handles a book of 5 to 10 mil, consortium MUCH larger. One rep. What does your store do?
It wasn't the fledgling retail sector, but the profitable b2b unit. Too many people doing too well in Sycamore's eyes (that's who you work for) despite growing the business tremendously (enough to give Staples the equity for the failed takeover of Depot). I suppose there will always be a little room for retail, but that is NOT where the money is. If it were, they wouldn't have tried to skimp and save by firing professionals who had grown accounts considerably. Making retail wages, even in management, you likely don't understand.
when considering expenses remember you are only upgrading stores that are open not the 500 or so stores that will be shuttered by early 2020
there is a lot of positive energy coming. There are a lot of changes coming as well. like the other poster said. Retail is still profitable. good BTS performance. What caused the miss was no dotcom presence which will be fixed for next year. My store is comping while traffic is down. Changes to scorecards coming so less unethical manipulation of metrics. I see them cutting to 500-750 stores and SP will keep investing as long as they are making money.
Couple things to consider... SP will spend money to make money. Retail is still profitable, just can't seem to turn the corner and increase business. Cutting cost is one measure to break the gap until business does increase.
Consider...
New POS Software - Likely 1mil easily to develop (I'm not an expert on this, could be very wrong)
New POS Device and computers - Figuring 12 per store @ a LOW BALL of 750 - 10mil
Increase network speed, new handhelds, wi-fi upgrades etc etc... Another cool million or three.
15 million capital investment for a 4+ billion company that is still 'profitable' is realistic.
Is there lots of new work for US Retail? Yes. New POS and Brand Defining stores are top 2 initiatives for Retail IT. What does it mean for the future? Who knows.