WHS - Warehouse Group

[kiwi2007]

Wokeness is the way of the new world these days. I stayed in a brand new hotel in Cadiz last night. No kettle in case I scold  myself, a bright green light above the bedroom door (in case I cant find my way out) bathing the the room in an annoying eerie green glow all night and a flashing red light every 6 seconds from the smoke detector above the bed. Designed , I'd imagine, by some very clever chap with a decent degree who was following all the latest EU guidelines but without an ounce of business sense.

[BlackPeter]

Wokeness is the way of the new world these days. I stayed in a brand new hotel in Cadiz last night. No kettle in case I scold  myself, a bright green light above the bedroom door (in case I cant find my way out) bathing the the room in an annoying eerie green glow all night and a flashing red light every 6 seconds from the smoke detector above the bed. Designed , I'd imagine, by some very clever chap with a decent degree who was following all the latest EU guidelines but without an ounce of business sense.

Always interesting to hear people running down terms without any clue what they mean, but whatever ...

Tells us a lot about these people, doesn't it?

BTW - what does it exactly have to do with the Warehouse if you pick a hotel which does not seem to suit your needs?

[Untamed]

Getting back to The Warehouse ... I have just been looking online for a cheap pair of everyday, mucking about shoes, only to find that every pair of shoes I liked, is not available in store. It seems shoes are now online only (other than maybe slippers and gumboots).

Wh0 buys shoes without trying them on first? Sizes vary according to where they are made, and some people have foot issues which means some shoes are not suitable.

If this is the way The Warehouse is going, no wonder people are not shopping there. They are not what they used to be that's for sure.

[BlackPeter]

Getting back to The Warehouse ... I have just been looking online for a cheap pair of everyday, mucking about shoes, only to find that every pair of shoes I liked, is not available in store. It seems shoes are now online only (other than maybe slippers and gumboots).

Wh0 buys shoes without trying them on first? Sizes vary according to where they are made, and some people have foot issues which means some shoes are not suitable.

If this is the way The Warehouse is going, no wonder people are not shopping there. They are not what they used to be that's for sure.

Mmh - while I am not sure I would generally recommend to buy shoes in the Warehouse (some of their other stuff is not too bad) ... last time I checked, their shoe shelves have been stacked. Maybe its a problem with your specific size? They tend to run out of popular sizes early ...

Agree - buying shoes online does not work for me either.

[Untamed]

Mmh - while I am not sure I would generally recommend to buy shoes in the Warehouse (some of their other stuff is not too bad) ... last time I checked, their shoe shelves have been stacked. Maybe its a problem with your specific size? They tend to run out of popular sizes early ...

Agree - buying shoes online does not work for me either.

It was nothing to do with not having a particular size. Every shoe I looked at on the website had a "Please note" statement below the product info, stating the shoes are not available in store - online only.

It seems to me that The Warehouse is still sourcing many of their products via "partners" - as they did with The Market before they canned it. More and more products only available online.

I rarely shop there now, and hardly ever buy shoes there. Was really just looking to see what they had.

[KW]

It's the mindset - board and management who have time to think and implement woke policies and strategies, have the same screwed up mindset when it comes to overall business strategies and policies.

Seriously, WTF cares about staff attending culturally & gender aware customer interaction (part of WHS staff training) indoctrination courses and programs when said staff walk by products in a dishevelled state (common state of Warehouse stores) or plants half dead with no attempt to tidy up or clean up? 

Basics, not woke!

Woke infested minds cannot make sound decisions.

That's how the Warehouse screwed itself up.

ESG stuff is a major distraction from what the core of running a successful retail business is.  

The Warehouse has really gone down hill over the last few years.  Lack of stock being the main one.  They have amalgamated Warehouse Stationery into the main stores, and handed over floor space to a new grocery section, the result of which is there is hardly any stock of the stuff they used to sell before.  Which presumably was the stuff people wanted to buy.  

Now it doesnt matter if I am black or white, gay or straight, male or female (or other), what matters is that I want to buy cat litter.  And they dont have any.  They've gone from having a really decent pet section, to it being a single aisle with stuff mostly out of stock.   Same for a lot of things that I've gone in there lately to look for - I have been forced to walk out without buying anything because they dont have anything to buy.  

Perhaps if they dumped the hundreds of people employed to spend money on diversity advertising or whatever, and hired the same number of people to be stock designers and buyers, the Warehouse would be more successful.  At the end of the day paying a living wage to employees is meaningless when those employees end up losing their jobs due to store closures.  

[notmaurice]

Paying a living wage is also meaningless if the stuff act like they don't give A RATS about the job.

[SemiStrongForm]

I hate that people are attributing WHS downfall to the living wage and diversity initiatives.

Many successful companies embody these values. Idk why people hate to see others make a 'living wage' - its hardly excessive... The same people probably complain about customer service these days.

Find a better scapegoat. Perhaps that the business doesn't offer anything of value in its current form. Nothing the staff on the floor have control over.

[Breezy]

I hate that people are attributing WHS downfall to the living wage and diversity initiatives.

Many successful companies embody these values. Idk why people hate to see others make a 'living wage' - its hardly excessive... The same people probably complain about customer service these days.

Find a better scapegoat. Perhaps that the business doesn't offer anything of value in its current form. Nothing the staff on the floor have control over.

Not the living wage that's the problem, its all the other Woke stuff the company embraces and then there's the troughers further up the food chain than the floor staff that have their snouts well buried, the former CEO is a classic example.

[SemiStrongForm]

Not the living wage that's the problem, its all the other Woke stuff the company embraces and then there's the troughers further up the food chain than the floor staff that have their snouts well buried, the former CEO is a classic example.

We agree that business model is the most important contributor to success. The Canvas, Atlassians of the world seem to be doing fine with their 'woke' initiatives.

Where we differ is that I say there is nothing to suggest that these ESG/woke initiatives are the distraction responsible for kind of decline in value. Only poor strategic decisions made by the executive in other areas can have caused this mess. And there is no evidence to suggest that WHS prioritised ESG/'wokeness' above all else. Such a suggestion is made for political/ideological reasons - not linked to actual operation of WHS.

[KW]

I hate that people are attributing WHS downfall to the living wage and diversity initiatives.

Many successful companies embody these values. Idk why people hate to see others make a 'living wage' - its hardly excessive... The same people probably complain about customer service these days.

Find a better scapegoat. Perhaps that the business doesn't offer anything of value in its current form. Nothing the staff on the floor have control over.

When a retailer stops putting the customer at the centre of everything they do, and starts thinking that their reason for existing is to enable employees to buy houses, or to make certain identity groups feel better about themselves, or to combat cllimate change, or to line the pockets of management, or whatever else they have taken their eye off the ball to focus on - that retailer is heading towards certain death.  The customer needs to come first, shareholders second, and maybe after that they can throw some spare change towards the virtue signalling mob.

[Basil]

Yeap, agree 100% with KW. WHS running a very close second to Synlait with their extreme focus on all things ESG. Its not a coincidence that in both cases the share price is "in the toilet".  Gosh, am I allowed to use that expression any more or is that not cool from a P.C. perspective lol

[SemiStrongForm]

Yeap, agree 100% with KW. WHS running a very close second to Synlait with their extreme focus on all things ESG. Its not a coincidence that in both cases the share price is "in the toilet".  Gosh, am I allowed to use that expression any more or is that not cool from a P.C. perspective lol

Synlait is beset by irresponsible capital management: too much debt, poor operational performance; low utilisation of its plant; and not raising equity when it could have.

In contrast to what you suggest, the link between poor capital management and ESG is weak.

[kiwi2007]

In no particular order:

Fire their clothing buyers, both mens and womens, and get people with at least a little eye for what people actually want.

Close some stores, there are too many in Auckland for a start.

The Albany store has a totally different positive  feel and atmosphere to the rest of the rather drab and downbeat stores I've come across. Promote the guy who runs it and get him to sort the rest out - easy, isn't it.

[Hectorplains]

In no particular order:

Fire their clothing buyers, both mens and womens, and get people with at least a little eye for what people actually want.

Close some stores, there are too many in Auckland for a start.

The Albany store has a totally different positive  feel and atmosphere to the rest of the rather drab and downbeat stores I've come across. Promote the guy who runs it and get him to sort the rest out - easy, isn't it.

This is all true.  It was only a decade ago that Kmart was deeply in the poop.  It was turned around relatively quickly. In two years Kmart had a major structural overhaul that yielded a 100% increased profits. The key was strong management and meeting customer wants.   The simple things, done well.  There's nothing stopping WHS from becoming relevant again. It'll all depend with who they appoint at the top. The initial noise is positive but I don't see them as investable...yet.