Big box discount stores are generally glum places by nature. The more aesthetically pleasing the environment, after all, the more it feeds the perception that the cost is being handed down.
Walmart just pushed this cheap philosophy so far that it provided room in the U.S. for a fashion-conscious alternative.
The positioning of Target was further validated when it secured its first 105 locations across Canada. No longer would the country be stuck with so many of those bleak Zellers stores that the Hudson's Bay Company never quite knew what to do with.
And, in the run-up to the $1.8 billion handover of about half of its 273 stores from one U.S.-based owner to another — Walmart will get 39 of them, actually — Zellers has seized permission to publicly admit that it became the last place Canadians wanted to shop at.
The lack of need for traditional advertising in the two-year transition period has reportedly helped HBC make more money off the dying stores. Now, the company has accelerated its use of social media to entice customers through irony.
Commercials for "Zellers' Festive Finale" were obviously produced with high viral hopes — bumbling employees are portrayed in a terminal state of deadpan desperation. What do the stores have to lose when a new proprietor is geared to get things right?
Well, some reaction on Twitter suggests not all the employees are so sanguine about this switchover. An anchor for CTV in Montreal tweeted as much, even if no reporter was sent to ask. The real estate reporter for The Globe and Mail further affirmed that his Zellers cashier mom is "not quite as glib about the whole closing-and-out-of-work thing."
Could the campaign backfire if it turned out that Target wasn't going to keep the same staff around? Moreover, fears have increasingly been expressed over the staunch anti-union stance of these new retail overlords.
So, while the fictional "Zellers Exec" is tenaciously tweeting about counting the tiles on the ceiling and having pillow fights at board meetings, the real ones would presumably tell a different story.
And maybe they'd still be in business if some actual candour toward those stuck shopping there was encouraged all along.
A few Reactions
1) Slashing the ad budget is resulting in increased profits for Zellers? Hilarious. It makes you wonder how "cost effective" all the money put into advertising really is.
2) Why is Target spending a couple billion on a chain that's supposedly dying? That's a lot of money to take over about 200 leases. It's not like their business model is substantially different than Zellers, or that they have their own existing customer base that can merge with Zellers'. This shouldn't be much different than a name change.
What's more bizarre is that they're selling some of these locations to arch-rival Wal-Mart. Nothing like helping your enemy, who's already well established, as you're trying to get your own foot in the door.
3) The Canadian public's response to the elimination of Canadian staple Zellers is disheartening. Canadians are all but rejoicing at the thought of replacing it with an American company. Why?
Target is every bit as "bleak & depressing" as Zellers. Perhaps more because their stores are larger, yet seem to have even fewer staff and far more spy cameras. I've also heard the only things that are really going to change (at least for the first few years) are the addition of Target house brands and the signage. Big whup!
Oh, but they do have such cheery, blissful, ads for their dreck. And its AMERICAN, so it must be better!
Can Club Z(eeee) be far behind?