WHS - Warehouse Group

[ratkin]

I will tell you all now how the warehouse should proceed , it is in my opinion the only way they can make this work.

They need to sell everything on a buy now pay later basis , they need to ruthlessly exploit the less well off sections of society , sell them stuff on the never, never at exhorbitant interest rates. These are the people who cannot buy online because they dont have the money to buy the products outright.
They should also move into the rent to own sector like thorn group . From there they can start to move into the lucrative short term loan market "payday loans"
Will they do it ? who knows , but if i was running the company i would be taking advantage of my greatest asset , the multitudes of poor and financially challenged masses that walk into my shops every day

[Stranger_Danger]

I will tell you all now how the warehouse should proceed , it is in my opinion the only way they can make this work.

They need to sell everything on a buy now pay later basis , they need to ruthlessly exploit the less well off sections of society , sell them stuff on the never, never at exhorbitant interest rates. These are the people who cannot buy online because they dont have the money to buy the products outright.
They should also move into the rent to own sector like thorn group . From there they can start to move into the lucrative short term loan market "payday loans"
Will they do it ? who knows , but if i was running the company i would be taking advantage of my greatest asset , the multitudes of poor and financially challenged masses that walk into my shops every day

Pretty ruthless, but probably correct.

The rise and rise of Instant Finance tends to suggest you are right.

[GTM 3442]

Which suggests The Warehouse bought the wrong company.....

Do the Warehouse do finance at all these days ?

I recall some tie-in with Westpac many years back, but nothing since, if I recall correctly.

[ENP]

Do the Warehouse do finance at all these days ?

I recall some tie-in with Westpac many years back, but nothing since, if I recall correctly.

http://www.thewarehouse.co.nz/red/ca...ards-insurance

[emearg]

What I don't get, is why not just shop online? In other words, why are you in a shop at all?

This "price comparison" stuff really isn't a comparison at all - you're comparing someone that has rental, stock and staff overheads to someone who does not!

To utilise those extra overheads, then force a comparison against someone who doesn't have them really makes no sense to me unless people don't see any value in shops. Which takes me back to the original question, if there is not value in shops, why not just shop entirely online?

The only other rationale, and I must admit the welfare state pops into my head at this point, is that a lot of people like the convenience of shops, expect to be able to look at / touch / try things in a shop but then buy online for the rest of history, they know deep down that if everyone acted like them the whole system would fall over, but are betting that not everyone will!

I will....bow out at this stage and avoid getting philosophical.

You should check out Pricespy. Here is an example http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=1131821

You will note it is comparing lots of retailers that have stores. So it seems a fair comparison to me....

[emearg]

I will tell you all now how the warehouse should proceed , it is in my opinion the only way they can make this work.

They need to sell everything on a buy now pay later basis , they need to ruthlessly exploit the less well off sections of society , sell them stuff on the never, never at exhorbitant interest rates. These are the people who cannot buy online because they dont have the money to buy the products outright.
They should also move into the rent to own sector like thorn group . From there they can start to move into the lucrative short term loan market "payday loans"
Will they do it ? who knows , but if i was running the company i would be taking advantage of my greatest asset , the multitudes of poor and financially challenged masses that walk into my shops every day

That would be interesting!

Such an approach would certainly change the brand image!

The extra overheads in selling stuff to people who can't or won't pay may be more undesirable than you think. Huge numbers of staff required to chase the debts, most of which end up with debt collectors and are never recovered. There is a segment of the population (a chunk of your new target market) that buys stuff with no intention of ever paying. That is what they do. Different names, addresses are used on a daily basis. I say this having done a bit of credit recovery work for a large telco in the 90's. So perhaps things have changed with improved technology? I suspect they haven't though!

Think of the huge additional working capital requirements. How much stock to WHS have at any one time? Imagine if most of that wasn't being paid for for two or three months? If at all.

Still, it would do wonders for debt collectors and softball bat retailers...

[Balance]

That would be interesting!

Such an approach would certainly change the brand image!

The extra overheads in selling stuff to people who can't or won't pay may be more undesirable than you think. Huge numbers of staff required to chase the debts, most of which end up with debt collectors and are never recovered. There is a segment of the population (a chunk of your new target market) that buys stuff with no intention of ever paying. That is what they do. Different names, addresses are used on a daily basis. I say this having done a bit of credit recovery work for a large telco in the 90's. So perhaps things have changed with improved technology? I suspect they haven't though!

Think of the huge additional working capital requirements. How much stock to WHS have at any one time? Imagine if most of that wasn't being paid for for two or three months? If at all.

Still, it would do wonders for debt collectors and softball bat retailers...

Will not happen.

Steven Tindall directs the company in his own image - as a deeply religious individual.

[Stranger_Danger]

Really?

I must confess, "hallelujah" isn't the first word that comes to mind when I enter a Warehouse store. The first thing I notice is that the exact sort of people that Ratkin et all would seek to attract, already in the store, already spending money they don't have. All he proposes is going after their existing core customer more ruthlessly.

I don't claim to be a religious person, but if I wanted to get into heaven, importing a whole lot of stuff from third world slums and selling it to the people who no longer have manufacturing jobs would not be the way I'd choose to go about it.

[BIRMANBOY]

Come on SD..money and its pursuit has always been the most religious of pursuits. One of the wealthiest orgs internationally is the Vatican.

Really?

I must confess, "hallelujah" isn't the first word that comes to mind when I enter a Warehouse store. The first thing I notice is that the exact sort of people that Ratkin et all would seek to attract, already in the store, already spending money they don't have. All he proposes is going after their existing core customer more ruthlessly.

I don't claim to be a religious person, but if I wanted to get into heaven, importing a whole lot of stuff from third world slums and selling it to the people who no longer have manufacturing jobs would not be the way I'd choose to go about it.

[emearg]

It is still tough out there:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/8150...-Harvey-Norman