
Amazon Will Buy Target This Year, Gene Munster Predicts - jolesf
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-02/amazon-will-buy-target-this-year-loup-s-gene-munster-predicts
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dang
Maybe so, but from a submission quality perspective we all gain by waiting
till these things actually happen. Most don't.

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randomerr
This actually gives Amazon a backdoor entrance to CVS/Caremark medication
distribution. You see CVS has been slowing down building new free standing
locations because they've taken over all of Target's pharmacy.

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.

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gmoore
excellent insight - access to CVS would be huge for them

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ForRealsies
There's no way such easy access to prescription drugs could ever go wrong.

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mabbo
For what purpose? Amazon's goal is to kill off traditional retail, as far as I
can tell. Big box stores like Target are failing because their business model
can't compete.

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.

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samfisher83
Everything is cyclical. You went from the Mainframes to PC era and not back to
cloud computing (main frames). Amazon is kind of like sears.It started out as
a catalog and then open retail store.

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mikestew
There's a certain sense of irony in Amazon taking part of the old Sears
distribution building in Seattle for their physical grocery store.

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jonknee
If Amazon is going to make a high dollar retail acquisition, I think Costco
makes a lot more sense than Target. True warehouse stores that could be used
for distribution, high income customers who don't mind paying a subscription
fee and it is already headquartered in the Seattle area.

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cjf4
Costco would be almost 3 times the cost, using market cap as a basis.

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justherefortart
Much less coverage as well. Not to mention different philosophies.

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Talyen42
what's with all these analysts predicting mega mergers today?

> "Citi analysts see 40% chance Apple will buy Netflix"

Yeah, right. It's baseless cable news headline-bait garbage.

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empath75
I actually think an Apple/Netflix merger makes a lot of sense. Apple sucks at
online services and netflix could use the deep pockets.

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toomuchtodo
There's no reason that Apple couldn't build a Netflix competitor and then ban
Netflix from its mobile device platforms.

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booleandilemma
And that would be the day I switch to Samsung.

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zodPod
Yeah because Samsung is known for a free and open platform. Honestly I bought
an S8+ in March and I don't think I'll be getting another Samsung device. They
make their own apps for so much there are issues getting their phones to work
with things built for Android. I have a car that supports Android Auto and it
worked fantastically when I had my Nexus 6p but it has been unreliable and I
don't use it anymore thanks to my Samsung device.

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athenot
I was in Whole Foods yesterday and was half-expecting to see USB cables for
sale between the tomatoes and the oranges—the real-world version of Amazon's
product recommendations... :)

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.

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el_benhameen
I think the real-world version of Amazon’s product recommendations would be a
man offering you 30 more varieties of apples after you put a Fuji in your
basket.

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code_duck
That seems to be standard with automated product recommendations. I recently
purchased a coffee maker for my girlfriend. My Facebook account has become
linked my credit card account, somehow, so Facebook has started showing me
advertisements for the manufacturer of the coffee maker. There are at least a
few faulty assumptions at work there.

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dave5104
Just in case you want to buy another! /s

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.)

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wonder_bread
Typical click-bait; An extremely bold prediction with an article that takes
less than two minutes to read with a re-direct to another Bloomberg article
about a less-sexy potential Amazon acquisition.

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dboreham
I don't know anything about retail but I'd have thought they were more likely
to buy Kohls: Target seems pretty successful at what they do hence expensive,
while Kohls seems sort of directionless but they have stores most places. They
also have an arrangement already with Amazon for BnM returns.

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bob_theslob646
Gene Munster clearly does not understand how Amazon works. They dominate on
efficiency which comes with scale. I do not think they want to the brick and
mortar route, but could be wrong.

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...](http://www.businessinsider.com/store-closures-in-2018-will-
eclipse-2017-2018-1))
([https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/12/20/here-26-reta...](https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/12/20/here-26-retailers-
and-apparel-companies-most-risk-2018/950328001/))

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.

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mikehines
This prediction is as accurate as "Apple Will Buy Netflix This Year".

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debt
It makes sense in a way.

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.

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karlshea
This has been going around the Minneapolis subreddit and development forums in
the last week or so, with a lot of doom and gloom about one of our biggest HQs
moving out of the city.

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.

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rch
I'd expect someone other than Amazon to buy Target (if anyone does), and
stories like this will make the price seem more justifiable as a defensive
move.

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anderworx
Maybe then I'll get to use ApplePay at Target.

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pizzaknife
If it takes drones to make brick and mortar restrooms not excessively laden
with feces... then i welcome our new masters

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throwaway287391
Having spent a terrible summer working at Target as a cart attendant, I can
explain at least part of the reason why their restrooms are gross. The job of
cleaning the restrooms, as well as every other awful job that nobody wants to
do, is given to "cart attendants", who applied thinking they'll just be
pushing carts around all day and don't find out about these "side tasks" until
their first day on the job. So these side tasks often go neglected out of
spite and a lack of willingness to deal with that crap (figuratively and
literally) for just above minimum wage. Why a gigantic store like a Super
Target wouldn't hire a separate person as a "custodian" or "janitor" for such
things is beyond me.

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lerie82
Didn't we hear something about this already last year?

