Kmart's Ten Deadly Sins

(I posted this last September, but wanted to add an extra paragraph to it)

I recently was looking at an eBook of Kmart's Ten Deadly Sins, and was a bit disappointed. It outlines what Kmart did wrong: having terrible locations, rarely updating its stores, and ignoring Wal-Mart until it was way too late.

Well, some of the Amazon.com reviews says it reads like a high school research paper (or early college) as it tends to jump around between Kmart and Wal-Mart with Target as an afterthought. Despite the terrible decisions Kmart made (personally, pushing Big Kmart was a Big Mistake), it's really anti-Kmart, and makes Wal-Mart to be a far better retailer than it was even in 2003.

My uncle had always said that Kmart built far too many stores in Baton Rouge, about eight or nine(!) at its peak, until the bankruptcy, and these were all converted to Target or Wal-Mart. They did treat employees really well, giving my cousin (who worked at Kmart at one time) a few weeks of paid vacation despite only being an hourly employee. It pains me to think about what Lampert and his group did to Kmart, at first giving it a new logo (sadly, not the green-and-gray logo, which I prefer), even a new "Kmart Supercenter" logo before a recent slashing that did away with the grocery sections of many stores (that were left) and even sealing off the K-Café. On the other hand, I know I've seen advertising for Kmart in my local movie theater recently, of all things, and in my town, there's not a Kmart for 100 miles away (the local one closed in 1994).

Another thing that really bothered me about the book is it has a full paragraph on why Little Caesar's is a poor choice for Kmart.

Is it in Kmart’s best interest to commit to another five years with Little Caesar’s? Perhaps not. Explains Rob Gelphman of Gelphman Associates, “Little Caesar’s’ position is two pizzas for the price of one. Low cost is their stated value proposition—not quality, and certainly not taste. When everyone competes on price, it is almost impossible to move up and compete on quality, or performance, or functionality. You are stuck on price. Kmart is now looked at as the low-cost, low-quality leader. Having Little Caesar’s as a partner does not help.”

While that IS true for Caesar's, the fact is ALL fast food works this way. Wal-Mart had McDonald's in most of their stores at this time. Do you go to McDonald's for a really good hamburger, or is it because it's cheap? Clearly this woman is grasping at straws.

More on Kmart will be explored, but not here.