Amazon Will Buy Target This Year, Gene Munster Predicts
bloomberg.com
bloomberg.com
If Amazon does actually buy Target I would look at CVS start delivering prescriptions and equipment directly to homes via Amazon's distribution system. This is yet another reason not to go to a competitor.
I would also look at all Targets to become order pick-ups for rural and high crime areas.
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/30/amazon-holding-exploratory-t...
Except that you are forgetting that WalMart is a more prevalent retailer in those areas.
CVS also has horrendous customer service issues. A few months ago, Walmart ran out of one of the several medications I take, and after the shortage lasted long enough, I had my doctor transfer just that script to CVS. It was hell. I was constantly innundated by calls from CVS daily telling me it was time to refill my prescription. Even if I just refilled it, I would start getting the calls a few days after I picked it up. I'm a little bit disappointed in my doctor for even giving my phone number to these people (Walmart doesn't have my phone number and never asked for it).
I had to call CVS corporate several times to get them to stop calling me every day. The first couple of times, they told me they took my number off, and it was a blatant lie. The last time I called, they said they took my number off their list again, but when I asked them to confirm that my phone number had been completely removed from all my records, they said they couldn't do that. I had to straight-up lie to them. I told them I'd just sold my phone, my SIM card, and the username and password to my account with my carrier to some rando on Craigslist (and I'm fairly sure that selling this is illegal, but keep in mind that I was lying through my teeth when I said I did this), so my number is no longer mine, and if they call that number and divulge anything about my prescriptions, they'll be committing a HIPAA violation. That got them to change my phone number to (000) 000-0000. And now every time I pick up my prescription from them, their credit card terminal makes me click through a whole bunch of screens complaining that my phone number is invalid. Fortunately I only have one med with them, and the rest are still with Walmart.
I hate CVS, and the next time I see my doctor, I'm going to have him call Walmart to see if they're stocking the medication again so I can kick CVS to the curb.
Amazon partnering with CVS just means I won't have any interest in moving my meds over to them.
Amazon already bought Whole Foods, which gives them a large enough physical presence to do whatever it is they're going to do with it. Integrating that business with the rest of Amazon will already take years- why complicate it further?
My guess? Gene Munster owns some stocks in Target and wants to offload them at a price slightly higher than what it's currently at.
Also, even if it were a real possibility - I really hope not. We don't need more monopolies.
It saddened me when Amazon absorbed Whole Foods. I still shop there because I like the breakfast bar, and there's a limit on what we can actually do as consumers. I realize it's all symbolic as you can't actually "vote with your dollars" as the libertarians would have you believe.
But still, I hope this is all Munster vaporware blowing out his ass. I'm sure there'd be serious FTC issues with a merger that large. Then again, the FCC did just ditch network neutrality and both companies are large enough they can probably lobby whoever they want to make such a transaction go through.
Sure you can, and you did. You're gripe is that the majority of others don't share your concerns--so you have been, thus far, out voted.
"Voting" has never guaranteed that your desired outcome is the one chosen. If it was, it would have to be called something other than "voting".
What makes you think that's their goal?
sears should have been amazon
If target could more intelligently replace those inferior and pricier products with their cheaper, Amazon-based alternative, then Target would provide a more competitive buying experience.
But Target is locked in with old brands and not necessarily the best ones in the market for their given vertical.
Seems like an extremely simple fix, but maybe Target is mired in longer term contracts with big brands that they can't break.
As a quick example, is Bic still the best manufacturer of the best available pens?
And there are many products on Amazon that are fake. At least I know what I'm getting at Target, and returns don't involve negotiating for a shipping label and figuring out where there's a package drop-off nearby.
> As a quick example, is Bic still the best manufacturer of the best available pens?
Probably not, but luckily they're not the only brands that Target carries in-store: Paper Mate, Pilot, BIC, NPW, Pentel, Staedtler, Sugar Rush, Uniball, up&up, Write Dudes, and Yoobi are all advertised as pen brands sold by Target.
Then why are they opening up bookstores?
most retail sales are made at big box stores. amazon probably wants some of that, yeah?
Let me think about picking up consumer electronics from Whole Foods...Nah! Don't like it. Doesn't work for me as a consumer from a branding perspective. Picking those up from Target? Sure! The branding work there has already been done.
> "Citi analysts see 40% chance Apple will buy Netflix"
Yeah, right. It's baseless cable news headline-bait garbage.
Apple sucks at online services
a) deep hardware integration b) deep platform integration (so much, that it feels like effort is required to not use the services).
I guess it depends on what your bar is for “better than terrible”, but when I look at the richest company in tech that also happens to own the entire stack in play, then “better than terrible” is not remotely good enough.
iCloud seems to be on par or better than one drive. I'm not sure who else is it's competitor. Dropbox has better syncing with multiple users and g-suite has better online editing and sharing tools. Their core stories is different than iCloud's, which is a online backup of personal documents. Maybe Google Drive has good desktop apps and works for Android users.
I suppose making Netflix's existing original content Apple-exclusive would have some value to Apple, but not enough to justify purchasing Netflix.
I am not purporting to have any knowledge that was just always my assumption.
2. Announce rumours of merger/acquisition.
3. Stock price rises, sell stock/derivatives at a profit.
Ex: rumor is Amazon will buy Target. Buy securities on a basket of retail, ex-Target, with similarities to Target.
We’re heading into a historic cycle of mergers.
Apple buying Netflix makes slightly more sense given that their own streaming video offerings are not exactly taking the world by storm. I have no idea what they would do with Netflix after they bought them though. Apple's STB offerings already have a Netflix app I'm sure.
I'm also not sold on "We bought you out, now keep doing what you were doing before." What's the point of spending all of that money if you're not going to meddle? Netflix's paltry profits can't be all that enticing to Apple.
In season 4 of Black Mirror, every branded piece of tech was Apple. That's just an example. There was an instance where the Apple logo was featured fully on the screen for a fraction of a second. An entire episode leveraged the creepy factor of Boston Dynamics. This obviously an extreme example but imagine every Netflix show is wall to wall Apple products. In the age of chord cutters this becomes a rather powerful tool to have.
But then that got me thinking that Whole Foods just might be their first foray into retail and I could see them making other retail acquisitions in various niches to eventually cover a wide spectrum of goods.
Target seems more questionable as this would duplicate the logistic systems they already have.
Always thought those types of ads were odd. I just bought the item you're advertising to me--and in most cases, why would I buy another one so soon?
In your case, I'm surprised it's not smart enough to say coffee maker purchased, how about we show some coffee bean ads? (And even in that case, you might make the argument that it'd be a second gift for your girlfriend.)
I've seen a couple places where they are in reasonably close proximity in Northern California; that can't be unique.
(Also faces the big new Google office. Shopping in a store owned by Amazon with that staring at you was kinda surreal the first few days after the acquisition)
His analysis is flawed unless they can pick up Target cheaper than they would be able to custom fit/design their own stores.
I think they would want to own the least amount possible, but they may use stores as storage units if they decide to get into the logistics game.
The Commercial Real Estate in the Retail sector is getting whacked. (In english, it is getting cheap as real estate owners are willing to accept less rather than let a huge building go vacant and receive no income.) With that being said, they will drop a tenant if the likes of Amazon came knocking. The only issue is the leverage that Amazon has may or may not be beneficial for the owner of the real estate.
(http://www.businessinsider.com/store-closures-in-2018-will-e...) (https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/12/20/here-26-reta...)
With interest rates rising in the U.S, it will put more pressure on the retail sector for those whose leases are tied to expensive financing and did not lock in lease/rates.
With all this being said, I see this as very unlikely.
Retail is very similar to record companies or the movie industry. They've failed to innovate solely because they got lazy. They took for granted their position in the market.
A good position too. I mean, if you make believe the internet isn't a threat, which top business people most likely did, then I can easily see brick-and-mortar-rules-all mentality lulling top execs to sleep. Meanwhile, Amazon etc took over from a completely different angle, utilizing on-demand and internet tech.
An acquisition from traditional retailers may be appealing.
I guess I could see why Amazon would want to do it, but I'm also a little torn on what it would do locally if Amazon didn't end up locating HQ2 here while pulling Target HQ somewhere else.
On the other hand, Loup Ventures is also based here, and I wouldn't be surprised if this is just Gene Munster trying to get press by stirring up shit.