euro, economy

Is returning wages the solution?

At V&D it was central to the discussion. Personnel had to turn in wages or the company wouldn’t make it. A closer look shows that in many cases this is only a postponement of the inevitable.

It is often the last resort for organizations that have actually been in distress for years, but were able to camouflage the problems for a long time. Employees are often aware of the problem, but no one leaves the school to prevent the already fragile company from collapsing.

Deprecated

That is in one word the problem of V&D. With La Place, V&D had an excellent concept in the market, but otherwise it remained silent. The changed retail market turned out not to be devoted to V&D, so it was easily passed by Bol.com, Zara, H&M but also an Ikea in the domestic sector.

V&D does not have a specific core group of customers that form the basis of the turnover of the organization. As a result, V&D became increasingly dependent on the success of its actions. Actions that became increasingly difficult to compete with the competition. V&D has also made no progress in the Internet area. The omnichain challenge is something that V&D has yet to embark on. Or take a look in the shops where the modern applications can hardly be found. V&D has been standing still for years.

The historical purchase policy of buildings then slowly becomes a bone in the bone. What seemed like a good plan at the time, sales and rental, is avenged by the ever faster decline in turnover and margin. In that case, emergency measures are taken, such as a wage reduction to still have some liquidity. But in the current free fall of V&D, that is a stay of execution.

New impetus.

V&D deserves a complete renewal of its [marketing] profile. New management and also at executive level, significant changes need to be made. La Place’s success can no longer be the only anchor. V&D must quickly focus on the new retail challenges. That requires new ideas, inspiration and above all courage. Wage measures are in fact a denial of the deplorable state of the company and will not offer any relief, but merely postpone the inevitable.