Saturday, February 2, 2013
The War On American Department Stores
The War On American Department Stores
In our most, recent class sessions we've discussed the rise of the “department” store to prominence. In the early years of American consumerism, people would visit locally owned country stores where items were haphazardly distributed throughout and there were was no pattern or theme in which goods were organized within the business. However, as we've learned in the latter stages of the 19th century entrepreneurs such as Alexander T. Stewart and Marshall Field were the first to organize their goods into “departments” which in turn revolutionized shopping history in terms of American consumers. Instead of having to search endlessly and tediously for the items they needed in the archaic country store, consumers could go straight to the department which fitted their individual needs. These revolutionary departments included textiles, toys and other popular dry goods. Department stores were birth of the consumer ideology of “one stop shop” as the majority of a consumer’s needs could be met by visiting one store. Fast forward a century or so and there are still a myriad of middle class department stores such as Sears, Macy’s, JC Penny’s and Kohl’s which inhabit the landscape of many American shopping centers. I can remember as a teenager visiting these stores with parents for most of our shopping needs.
Despite the overwhelmingly convenience offered by these department stores, they are no longer viewed as the dominant businesses in the America’s consumer landscape. An article entitled ‘The Dying Discount Department Store” on US News’ website described the two pronged assault that is currently being waged on middle class department stores. One side of the war being waged on the aforementioned department stores is the shift of consumers to “big-box” stores such as Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club and Target. While these “big-box” stores contain the same kinds of departments as JC Penny’s or Kohl’s location, they also contain foods and fresh produce which allows even further convenience for consumers. The article also described a shift in which American consumers have come to value “hands-on customer” service which is present in higher-end stores such as Nordstrom and Saks. Overall, utilizing sales data gathered from the Commerce Department, this article summarized the monetary losses faced by department stores by stating that, “in June, department store sales were down by 3.2 percent from one year ago. In the second quarter they were also down 2.4 percent from one year prior” (Kurtzleben).
The information presented in this article begs the question, why have American consumers turned their backs on the same department stores that they once solely relied upon for their consumer needs? In my personal opinion, the majority of shifts in consumer behavior are predicated on convenience alone. The rise of “big-box” stores and online shopping is slowly but surely providing the final nail in the coffin of the average American department store.
Sources: Kurtzleben, Danielle. "The Dying Discount Department Store." US News. U.S.News & World Report, 23 July 2012. Web. 30 Jan. 2013
By: Tyler Tucker
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While I definitely agree with you that the demise of the traditional department store is due to the rise of Big Box competitors and Online mega outlets, like Amazon.com and Zappos.com, offering not only the same products as department stores but also expanding upon the items offered in those departments and offering items at competitively lower prices, I also believe that the demise of the department store lies in the American Consumer’s need for not just convenience but for the next best thing. Department stores have been the economic powerhouses behind the US economy for over a century now, but like all things, everything is subject to change and to evolution over time. I think that department stores are not out of the consumer fad just yet, but I think it is those department stores that are not changing and adapting with the ever-present technological dependency of our culture that are going to fail and that are going to become extinct. In order for traditional department stores like Macy’s, Sears, and JCP to survive they must evolve to not only include an online consumer marketplace for convenient shopping, but they must also keep up with this new transition back to favoring the stores that have everything under one roof from produce, to clothes, to tires. Sadly, I believe that if these department stores do not adapt to this new consumer marketplace that they will fall behind and Charles Darwin’s Theory of the “Survival of the Fittest” will kick in and only those stores able to keep up and to provide the consumer with the newest technologies and with the newest and most modern forms of consumerism will be able to survive. But sadly if they do not, they will be forced out of the consumer game and become just memories and eventually forgettable consumer outlets just like Border’s, the bookstore forced out of the market due to not inventing a form of a personal E-Reader like an Amazon Kindle or a Barnes and Noble Nook, became in September of 2011.
ReplyDelete-Michelle Tobeson
I find it quite astonishing that less than 200 years ago Sears offered over 100,000 products, ranging from medicine to stoves, and everything in between, and nowadays primarily carry clothing (although there are locations that carry more than others). It's pretty ironic that these box stores and Internet sites are doing so well utilizing the same techniques the department stores of yesteryear invented, and most modern department stores are on the decline using a business model that has proved to be inefficient.
ReplyDeletePersonally I believe this all boils down to one simple concept, convenience. As Prof. Spellman noted to yesterday, we've come across the idea of convenience more than once during the first few weeks of the class, and I think it applies in this instance as well. "Big-box" stores such as Wal-Mart give the everyday consumer the ability to accomplish pretty much their every need in one visit. In one trip to Wal-mart you can get groceries for the week, that cool pair of shades for a reasonable price, cleaning products, little Timmy's medicine from the pharmacy, and a Valentine's Day card for mom. Department stores just do not offer such a wide variety of items. To quote a line from "Brooks" a character from the movie "Shawshank Redemption", "The world has become in such a hurry..." This is around the 1970's or 80's after he is released from a fifty year inprisonment. Even now, that is exactly what our society has come to, as a whole we are in a hurry all the time. We don't want to take the extra time to make trips to five different stores when it can be done in one trip to one store. For me, as long as places like Kohls and JCPenny's still exist I will be doing my clothes shopping there because I like the selections better than say Wal-Mart, and I believe they have better prices and deals for the quality. But, I think its safe to say that the Kohls and JCPenny's of the world are not going to be able to stay afloat by solely relying on shoppers like me to walk through their doors.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your answer to the question of why American consumers have turned their backs on department stores that they used to hold so dear. I see how stores like Sears, JCPenny, and Kmart have lost market share. When you look at what Wal-Mart and Target are able to do, it makes sense. These big box stores are carrying a full produce section and clothes for the entire family. Monopolies like those have given consumers perceived "convenience" at the cost of a personal shopping experience. To me, Wal-Mart and Target feel too big and generic when I walk in. These stores reek of "corporate efficiency" in my opinion. The workers aren't very helpful and the stores do not have a pleasant atmosphere. I can see industrialization and the ever competitive society that we live in has come to demand such "convenience.'
ReplyDeleteSomething that wasn't mentioned (at least I don't think) is the transition to online shopping. In today's technological world, consumers spend a lot more time researching products before they make purchases. They also love the convenience of being able to purchase nearly anything from the comfort of the couch. I think technology has created such an emphasis on having everything in life become faster and more efficient, which destroys the actual experiences in my opinion.
Department stores are in the middle of what the consumers want. They have items the consumer needs, but only a small variety. They have good prices, but not enough variety. Big-box stores have every item that a consumer needs and is priced low. High-end stores have the hand-on, customer-friendly experience that consumers wish for, while also paying for fashion and branding. Therefore, the department store is in the middle of a war (literally) and they are losing. If they decide to increase goods, then they will lose their roots and customers might not respect that. If they increase prices and hire more customers to help aid that feeling of "customer-friendly" then they will lose their department store feel and customers might also not respect that. It seems that the era of the department store has come to an end because they seem to be in quite the pickle. The department store cannot simply change a century worth of work to help business, so it seems as if the end is near. It was only a matter of time before the Wal-Mart's, K-Mart's, and other big-box companies took over and conglomerated our grocery experience under one umbrella of a major corporation. It was only a matter of time until businesses became massive and took over all other stores and competitors. People today are lay to the point that they can't even leave their own home to shop; rather they are going to order it online and have a delivery person bring it to their doorstep. The idea of stores is slowly becoming obsolete when everything can be purchased at home on your computer. High-end stores generate revenue with high-prices, name brands, and celebrities promoting their goods. Big-box companies have taken both the grocery store and the department store and combined it into one, thus causing the department store to become obsolete. Following this technological revolution, it only makes sense that our shopping will become so easy to the point that we never have to leave the comfort of our own home. With the creation of newer technologies, it leads me to believe that almost all things will be available on the internet and will causes the whole idea of stores to become obsolete. However, we as a generation are one those in which technology is a must for us because we are used to it. When we are older, technology will have become much more prevalent and therefore, much more invasive in regards to privacy. This post was interesting because I had thought of it before, but I was wondering how department stores were still relevant. they had a good run, but it seems that the department store is nearing the end; that is, unless they can come up with a plan.
ReplyDelete