business

FedEx Severs Ties with Amazon

Written by adminAugust 7, 2019

For many years, Amazon has dominated the online market scene. It is done so by finding ways to stay had of the competition. Convenience is key here is Amazon can send anything to your home within a day or two. Need to buy a new bed? Comes with free shipping and it will get there, delivered by someone else, in a few days. What company can beat that?

As important as Amazon is, they rely on a network of various delivery companies to get their shipments out into their customer within the promised time. Over the last year or so, Amazon has been making changes to the way they deliver goods. They’ve actually been building up their own delivery fleet of Amazon trucks.

This undoubtedly save them a lot of money, because contracting out those deliveries to UPS and FedEx is costly. One company that’s getting fed up with Amazon is FedEx. Now that Amazon is building up its own fleet of trucks and planes, as well as adapting new technologies like drones to deliver packages, Amazon looks more and more like a competitor to FedEx rather than a team player.

Two months ago, FedEx announced that it would terminate their air delivery contract with the mega online retail store. Today was just announced that they would sever all ties with the company. This is a natural move for FedEx as Amazon continues to find alternative ways to deliver packages.

Amazon Was Hurting FedEx Business

As you can imagine, there’s a major infrastructure put in place so that companies like Amazon can keep their promises. It takes a lot of engineering and manpower to get to products from the opposite sides of the country to your home at the same time and within a 1 to 2-day window. That means companies like FedEx had to put more trucks and hire more workers, especially during the busy holiday season, to take care of increased demand.

It was just last month when FedEx said that because Amazon is using them less and less, it’s “negatively impacting our financial condition and results of operations.” Perhaps FedEx feels it can sever ties with Amazon as other companies like Target and Walmart are dramatically stepping up their e-commerce business in order to compete with Amazon.

The problem with that is, Walmart and target have their own fleet of trucks as well. They will undoubtedly use their own fleets more often to save money without having to contract out FedEx. But for right now, the move fits with FedEx wants to do. They claim that Amazon only made up about 1.3% of the 850 million they made last year.

Hopefully the severing of this relationship doesn’t impact the holiday season this year. It does mean UPS and other delivery companies, like the USPS, will have to ramp up their operations to fill the void.

Written by adminJuly 18, 2019

Business

Yesterday, we wrote an article that talked about how convenience is king. The company that can offer the best convenience is often going to win the sale. The article discussed how Walmart is moving to in-home grocery delivery, even to the point of putting your groceries away for you. This is a major convenience that most people could use in their busy lives.

There are other conveniences that we often take a lot of advantage of. One of those options is free two-day shipping when we make a purchase on Amazon or Walmart. We love that free two-day shipping because it means we get our package sooner. If it’s one thing we don’t like to do, it’s waiting for something we bought to arrive.

This is an advancement that continues to grow. Other companies are trying their best to catch up with Amazon by also offering free two-day shipping. Of course, with Amazon you are required to have a Prime subscription. As these other companies catch up, Amazon is forced to make some major decisions of their own. They need to stay ahead of the game any way they can.

That’s why in May, Amazon announced that they would soon be offering one-day and same-day delivery. It’s a race to see who can offer the most convenience to their customers by building the better network and getting packages to them the soonest. Walmart is following suit by also offering one-day free shipping. Target is also starting to do the same.

The Major Cost of Fast Shipping

While we certainly enjoy having this convenience at her disposal, and companies fighting for our attention makes life easier for us, there’s a major disadvantage to the environment that happens when we try to rush our purchases to our homes. This is a major cause that most people don’t even realize when I order something online. This is leaving companies to walk a fine line between giving customers what they want and being careful.

“The time in transit has a direct relationship to the environmental impact,” says Patrick Browne, director of global sustainability at UPS. “I don’t think the average consumer understands the environmental impact of having something tomorrow vs. two days from now. The more time you give me, the more efficient I can be.”

It was in 2017 when UPS found out that the e-commerce boom was forcing them to decrease the number of packages it will drop off per mile. Making deliveries is certainly more efficient we can pack more stuff into a single truck. But our demand for fast shipping forces more trucks on the road to better coordinate the different things that we buy.

Insufficient Routes

If you can imagine for a second how much it costs for you to order to products. Both of those products are completely different places. One may be much closer to you and the other clear across the country. It is in Amazon’s job to coordinate getting both of those products at the same time and within shipping parameter you chose.

This is very expensive for the shipper to do. We don’t often understand these costs because those costs aren’t being transferred to us. They’re offering free shipping as a means of keeping our business, which means we don’t have a true understanding of the full financial and environmental impact it truly has.

“There are some companies that can absorb the cost,” Jaller says. “One of them — it’s one of the largest ones — has been absorbing the logistic cost for a while. And it’s in the billions of dollars per year.” Of course, the company mentioned here is Amazon. They can eat the costs, still offer free shipping, but improving on that is going to require that they improve their infrastructure.

That’s exactly what Amazon is doing. At the same time that they’ve announced their free one-day shipping, they’ve also announced an $800 million investment into improving their logistics infrastructure. That means more trucks on the road, more fulfillment centers closer to population centers across the country, and even improving their drone delivery service.

Amazon’s Statement

When asked whether Amazon was harming the environment by offering free one-day shipping, they said no. In fact, they believe by improving their logistics and revamping their shipping process, they can give their customers what they want while at the same time protecting the environment. They made a statement about this.

“Prime Free One-Day is possible because we’ve been building our network for over 20 years,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “This allows Amazon to work smarter based on decades of process improvement and innovation, and to deliver orders faster and more efficiently.” And that is the ultimate goal. Fixing the problem so it doesn’t harm the environment.

There are a few other proposed solutions, including letting customers feel the full impact of their decision. If you want the fast shipping, having to brunt the cost of it will make more people choose differently. One option, as one of the largest retailers in Mexico tried, was revealing the environmental impact of their two-day shipping.

They had a green option available and the two-day, but the two-day showed how many trees would need to be cut down to fulfill their order. They found that 52% of people chose the green option when confronted with the impact of their decision. While it might work to some degree, convenience will continue to be king. But should we pass on the cost of this burden to customers? Would we be willing to give up convenience if it helped the environment?

“If they paid the true price of that delivery, they would ask themselves if they really needed it sooner,” says Goodchild. “I think that the fundamental idea of really paying for what it cost in terms of traffic congestion and emissions is something we don’t do right now. The more we did, the more balance there would be in what people are asking for and what people are willing to buy.”

Written by adminJuly 11, 2019

Entertainment

Just when it seemed like Disney and Marvel had everything going for, they risk losing one of their biggest franchises. As fans, we’ve been excited for Spider-Man: Far From Home for quite some time. Little did we know, that there’s a lot riding on this film if it’s going to stay in the right hands: Marvel Studios.

The Ankler is an entertainment magazine that has claimed the rights to Spider-Man might revert back to Sony if the film doesn’t clear $1 billion in sales. The Ankler revealed that this is the deal that Marvel has with Sony. Apparently, there’s a certain sales threshold that must be met in order for the film to stay with Marvel. If they want to do a third movie, then they’re really putting a lot on this one film.

This Spider-Man has had a major role in the Avengers storyline, including sharing screen time with major Marvel characters, like Iron Man. It has been a great run so far with Marvel once again making Spider-Man movies. But, “Far From Home” is being threatened as the last Marvel-produced Spider-Man movie.

“The original Sony/Marvel/Spidey deal to co-produce these movies stipulated that if this Spidey cleared a billion, Marvel would get to oversee a third,” Richard Rushfield writes. “If it hadn’t, full control would have reverted back to Sony.” So far, the numbers are looking good. In its first weekend, “Far From Home” made over $600 million and is on pace to beat the $1 billion expectation before it makes it out of theaters.

The Disney/Marvel/Sony Deal

If “Far From Home” crosses that billion dollar threshold, it appears as if there deal would include one more co-produced solo Spider-Man movie. So far, they’ve produced two solo movies together which were distributed by Sony Entertainment. Disney distributed three more movies that had the Tom Holland Spider-Man character in it.

The Tom Holland Spider-Man made his debut with the MCU not with his own movie, but as part of Captain America: Civil War. It was a major surprise to see Spidey show up in that film, but it was just a taste of what was to come. He appeared in all of the Infinity Saga Avenger movies as well, so Marvel and Disney have made great use of the character, regardless of if “Far From Home” crosses the $1 billion mark.

While we sit back and wonder about the future of this franchise, still very possible that the rights to Holland’s Spider-Man revert back to Sony anyway. Venom was a box-office success and the plan moving forward might be to bring the two together. That would be quite the natural move for Sony to make. Especially when you consider Sony has rights to other villains from the same roster, such as Kraven, Morbius, and Nightwatch.

Written by adminJuly 8, 2019

Business

For the past few years, it would seem as if Amazon got all the great press. Every holiday season, they took a larger chunk out of the pockets of retail stores. They were winning the war and forcing several big names to decide to close their doors for good.

Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, wasn’t going to sit back and let it happen. They saw their own profits start to dwindle and decided to jump in the online market to compete. And compete they did!

One retail expert was quoted by Fox Business as saying that Walmart has finally put an end to Amazon’s dominance. Not just by revamping their ecommerce, but also through updating their stores.

We’ve previously reported that one of the main reasons why Amazon was able to put Toys ‘R Us out of business was because they weren’t able to catch up. Their stores were outdated and they had no online game. Walmart read the signs and decided to do something about it.

At the end of the day, Walmart has lower prices. When you can do the same thing as your competitors, but do it cheaper, you’re going to win. Simple as that.

Putting a heavy emphasis on its newer, better website, Walmart was able to bump sales up 33% in the first quarter of this year. They also acquired other online retailers, such as Jet.com and Flipkart, to help increase their visibility in countries like India.

It’s not just online sales that have been bolstered. Reports reveal that more Americans have been flocking to the stores with in-store sales rising 2.6% as well. According to Burt Flickinger, managing director at Strategic Resource Group, it’s all about American Patriotism. Walmart knows its customer base and is winning them over.

It’s All About Patriotism

“They are winning on patriotism. You’ve never seen so much patriotism in terms of action alley. There are U.S. flags on every shelf, every merchandising aisle. It stimulates pride and people. They are buying more and Walmart is laying waste to the rest of U.S. retail,” he said.

“Walmart is going to beat Amazon on land and with Flipkart and with Jet, Walmart’s going to start winning even more online.”

It remains to be seen how this will all play out. It was all but a sure thing that Amazon would eventually edge out all competitors and take the number one retail spot, but defeating Walmart won’t be that easy.

Now with Amazon raising the prices of Prime as much as 20%, even after recording record-high profits, it might just be enough to get people off the computer and back into brick-and-mortar…especially if the prices are right.

As we come off the July 4th holiday, you’d think of the fireworks, parades, and BBQs, but Walmart is also a part of that small-town community charm while Amazon is still just a website. Maybe there’s room for both to fight head-to-head, but Walmart certainly has come back from behind.

Written by adminJuly 2, 2019

Business , Credit & Debt

It’s not very often that a business can come back from the dead and is resurrected from the ashes. Toys “R” Us might be the very business that does that. This company is taking a beating over the past decade as Amazon and Walmart have fired up their online sales taken a massive chunk out of their profits.

Any of the current major retail businesses that have gone under did not learn to adjust their business model. They just fell behind the massive change that was taking place within the world of retail. Customers were seeking something that was more convenient. Toys “R” Us decided not to change your model and hurt them in the end.

But consider this redemption story. Toys “R” Us is learned from its mistakes and now wants to return into the fold. They very much have a new plan for tackling new sales and bringing an all-new audience at the perfect time for the 2019 Christmas season. Toys “R” Us is looking to revamp the entire image offering the same convenience you’ll find at other thriving stores.

Toys “R” Us Plans and New Model

Before, Toys “R” Us was just a huge box store. They really offered nothing to invite families with kids through their doors. The place really was just way too big and offered very little convenience. This is what appears to be changing their new stores. The only plan to be about a third of the size of the old ones, at about only 10,000 square feet.

Cutting down on size will allow for them to save money and offer the toys that parents are most likely to buy. They also want to up the Toys “R” Us experience. They want to include play areas and other experiences for children selection you want to come to a Toys “R” Us store and be able to have fun while parents shop.

They even want to change their sales model into more of a consignment form. If you want to sell your toys through Toys “R” Us, you won’t get paid until customers buy your products. This is a new approach against the old outdated model that cost the company a lot of money. It all boils down to the new owners and their plan to get Toys “R” Us back on track.

New Owners

Tru Kids, Inc is the company that took over Toys “R” Us earlier in the year. They believe that the company still could make a comeback if it was just revamped and the model changed. The new executive of the company and CEO of Tru Kids is Richard Barry, who spent the past few months pitching his new ideas to toy manufacturers in conferences.

Even plan on putting out a brand-new website that has a lot of the same features as you would find with Amazon or Walmart. In the new modern technological age, you must provide new experiences, especially when children are involved. Whether these new techniques will be hit is unknown until the 2019 holiday season.

Written by adminJune 8, 2019

Business

If you’re one of the many who are in the beginning stages of opening your own business, you might be considering your options. One of those options may be whether or not you’d be successful at becoming a franchisee. If this is the case, there are several questions you must ask yourself before getting started. Of course, some are better candidates than others.

There’s a mindset that exists amongst potential franchisees that moving in this direction means they receive a ‘business-in-a-box’ so to speak. As if all the directions come with the toy, giving them a false sense of security. There’s much more to it than paying the fee and obtaining a loan from the bank. Let’s take a quick look at what qualities a successful franchisee must possess.

1) Give up the ego.

When you decide to start a franchise, it doesn’t matter how many years you have in the business or if you think you know more than your franchiser. Reality is, you are buying into their product and their system. Even though you get a stake in the success of the business, it still belongs to them, which means they make the rules of how it’s operated. To be a successful franchisee, you must consider if you’re okay doing things their way, even if it goes against what you think is the ‘right way’. If you don’t think you can handle that, it’s probably not for you.

2) Do you have a professional background?

A good franchisee candidate typically has a background in professional system-based work and performed well at what they did. It shows not only your professional nature, but that you have a high rate of success, even if you’ve had a disagreement with your boss. Those good in marketing, military veterans, and salesmen typically do well at becoming a franchisee.

3) Great at accepting feedback.

This goes along with number one. If you are good at following the rules and work well within a structured environment, you may be a good candidate. They do their best to refrain from conflict and don’t mind taking appropriate feedback to keep within the boundaries set by the franchiser.

4) Great hiring skills.

You are the most successful only when you surround yourself with the most qualified people for the job. Often times, franchisees only hire candidates that are just marginally qualified based upon the available capital. That may help the budget, but the system only works when the franchisees care as much about quality as they do quantity. Turning people down who aren’t quite right for the job helps the industry.

5) Knows how to market appropriately.

A lot of franchisees get too excited too soon. They set out to prove themselves and market too heavily without taking into consideration the fact that most don’t make a dime the first year. Odds are, you won’t be making money right off the bat, even under the most popular of brand umbrellas.

There are a lot of people who just aren’t right for becoming a franchisee. They jump right in without considering if they’re right for the job. It should be up to the franchiser to turn them down, but often they don’t choose the right candidate due to the financial windfall of franchising their business. If you stay smart with your money, know how to hire the right candidates, don’t overdo the marketing, and follow the rules well, you should be on your way to growing a successful business.

Written by adminMay 15, 2019

Entertainment

Disney has been busy the past few years and dropping billions of dollars on entertainment empires. No one can even begin to rival Disney’s properties and rights after they recently bought Fox Entertainment, Lucas Films, Marvel Studios, and more. They also plan to create their own streaming service, Disney+.

But Disney+ won’t be the only streaming service they own. Now they also own Hulu after finishing a new deal with Comcast. They already took a controlling interest of 66% of Hulu as part of the Fox Entertainment package. Comcast owned the other third of Hulu, but recently decided to sell full rights to Disney.

According to both companies, the deal is to go into place immediately. While Disney does own the full 100%, they will continue to license Comcast content that is already on the streaming service. The deal is ultimately worth $27.5 billion, yet Comcast will receive $5.8 through the licensing of their content.

Disney Is Ready for War

Comcast was more willing to let go of Hulu because they plan on creating their own streaming service in the near future. Comcast is part of the NBC and Universal brands, so they have a lot of premium content of their own. Yet, Disney gets the license to continue streaming NBC/Comcast content and NBC live events as a part of the Hulu Live package.

Not only do they get to use NBC licensing, they now have full control over two major streaming services: Hulu and the soon-to-be Disney+. It’s clear that Disney is not going to pull any punches in their war against Netflix. Because they own Marvel Studios as well, there’s plenty of opportunity to Disney to cash in on the Avenger cash cow franchises.

Disney also owns the Star Wars franchise and just announced their plan to release three new movies in the coming years. They also plan to release new top-tier content with their own shows including Winter Soldier, The Mandalorian, Hulk, and other shows. Details are still emerging as they try to keep projects under wraps.

When Disney+ launches in November, it will only cost $6.99 per month. But if Netflix is any indication, we’ll see those prices rise dramatically. Producing their own unique content will be expensive. $6.99 is simply an introductory price to get people subscribed. The world of entertainment is changing dramatically and Disney looks to be at the front of the line.

We’re just here for the ride.

Written by adminFebruary 27, 2018

Saving

Real estate mogul. Billionaire. Reality TV star. President of the United States. Donald Trump goes by a lot of titles, and whichever side of the political arena you’re on, I’m sure there’s a lot more you can say about this man. Currently, Mr. Trump is America’s most polarizing character and no one knows what he’ll say or do next.

But, if it’s one thing Trump seems good at doing, it’s slapping the TRUMP name on things to sell his brand. If you were to visit Trump Tower in New York City, you’ll see gift shops stuffed full of items and souvenirs with his name stamped on there somewhere. While Trump loves to promote his brand, he’s not always successful at doing so.

Here are 10 of Donald Trump’s worst business failures:

1) Trump University

Let’s get the most well-known failure out of the way. Trump, a knowledgeable businessman, thought he could add to his fortune by teaching others the art of the deal. In 2005, Trump University was born. Because the college was never accredited, many students (who, in some cases, paid as much as $35,000 to take the course), felt the whole thing was a fraud.

Eric Schneiderman, New York Attorney General, sued Trump in 2013 on the basis of fraud. The case was eventually settled in 2016 after then President-Elect Donald Trump agreed to pay $25 million in settlement fees.

2) Trump Vodka

So, what happens when a man, who claims he doesn’t drink, tries to get into the alcohol business? Well, it goes belly up. Trump vodka, released in 2007, was supposed to become “the most popular drink in America”, but didn’t even survive two years on the market. It disappeared, never to be heard from again.

3) Trump Airlines

Everyone has seen Trump’s famous plane on TV with his name covering the fuselage, but his plane wasn’t intended to be the only one. After Eastern Air Lines went belly-up, Trump bought the airline for $365 million to provide first class accommodations to businessmen and women traveling between New York, Boston, and Washington D.C.

The idea didn’t get too far. Trump ended up selling the company to USAir after it defaulted on its debts.

4) Trump Steaks

Another popular talking point during the 2016 election was Trump Steaks. In 2007, Trump decided to hop into the beef game with business partners QVC and Sharper Image. They claimed to sell “a taste of Donald Trump’s luxurious lifestyle”. The partnership lasted a while until 2014 before dying out completely.

5) Trump Mortgage

What does a real estate mogul know about real estate? Well, you’d think a lot, but Mr. Trump made a bad mistake. One year, the future president decided to start his own mortgage company, claiming that the real estate market would be strong for a ‘very, very long time’. The problem? It was 2006. Two years later, the housing market collapsed, killing Trump Mortgage.

6) Trump Magazine

Do the super-rich and famous have time to sit down and read magazines? That’s the audience Trump was going for when he launched Trump Magazine back in 2007. What many people considered “wealth porn”, the magazine was full of things the average reader wouldn’t associate with, such as reviews for mega yachts, expensive watches covered in jewels, how to make over your private jet, and so much more.

The magazine’s number one model? Donald Trump himself. He featured in a lot of the images and ads himself, making it an Ode to Trump. The magazine was done just two years later in 2009.

7) Trump: The Game

If you were tired of just being moderately rich playing Monopoly, you could try your hand at Trump: The Game. This was a game just like Monopoly where the various players attempt to one-up each other by buying/selling real estate and becoming the Trump of the game. Partnering with Milton Bradley, the game didn’t meet expectations and later disappeared.

8) Trump Casinos

Everyone knows that Donald Trump owns casinos all over the country, except when they start to go downhill. After Trump Casinos filed for its 3rd Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Trump claimed that he has nothing to do with that business, and that all he’s done is slap his name on the building. He later resigned as head of the Trump Entertainment wing of his empire.

9) GoTrump.com

Not even online booking giant Travelocity could keep GoTrump.com from going under. This site was meant to serve as a search engine for luxury flights, but it didn’t even last a year.

10) Trump Beverages

Trump has made a few attempts at selling beverages. We talked about Trump vodka earlier, but he also tried his hand at Trump Ice (bottled water) and other types of beverages. He filed for a trademark of the name “Trump Fire”, but never did anything with it. Same with Trump Power. They were non-alcoholic drinks, but the whole plan was later scrapped.

Love him or hate him, Donald Trump has had his share of both success and failure. Most entrepreneurs fail many times over before finally making it to the big time. Either way, we can’t blame the man for trying!

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Categories

Become a member

Popular Posts