Dollar Tree to Sell Family Dollar for $1 Billion

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  • 00:00So, Karen, the Family dollar purchase never really paid off, did it for Dollar Tree. I mean, at any point, was it a net positive for this company? I was only a net positive. And thank you for having me. It was only a net positive with the expectations that earnings could be $8 in 2018. I think it was, and it just was. It’s a very tough asset and I want to be very frank, It was probably one of the worst purchases in the history of retail, and they’re finally unburdening themselves of that purchase. So it’s a good day for dollar trading to return to its roots, which is the dollar trade banner. And that’s a very strong banner and it’s a very well respected banner with very, very high loyalty. From a market share perspective. Okay. So it gets to kind of regroup here and double down on its core customer. Tell us a little bit about the headwinds that Dollar Tree faces now that it’s removed. The overhang of Family Dollar tariffs has to be top of mind. Yes. I mean, you have talked about tariffs and they do have exposure to China, which they exposed, as you know, 41 to 43%. They can mitigate now that they have multiple price points, they will mitigate more. So they’ve already mitigated the first 10% and will mitigate in some shape or form the second time a percent. So it’s not it is a headwind, but Dollar Tree is not the banner that is the low, low income. To me, their bigger headwinds are labor because, you know, they basically from a real estate perspective, they are positioned very close to retailers that pay significantly higher wages than they do tariffs. They now have flexibility with their multi price points to flex. Yeah, despite the name Dollar Tree, That’s a good point. It doesn’t just rely on the lowest income customers and it’s something that people don’t quite realize when they’re trying to distinguish between the different dollar stores. Having said all that, the dollar store industry as a group did very well during the financial crisis and afterwards as people flocked to lower cost items. Given that inflation is such a big concern right now, what can Dollar Tree do to really capitalize on this opportunity as consumers once again flock to lower cost items or maybe higher income customers trade down to lower cost items. Well, I think the first thing is Dollar Tree is a banner is no longer distracted in any way, shape or form, so they can focus on the Dollar Tree banner. The second is that they have introduced multiple price points so they can actually flex within their price architecture more than anything else. And they never had that ability. Third, they’re not really the the low income necessarily customer. Go to their a treasure hunt. I mean, they’re like five below. So it’s all about merchandising. You know, like five below. It’s it’s not it’s just the shop is not the lower end customer. Wal-Mart has definitely been a factor in terms of the dollar stores. And that can’t be ignored. But Dollar Tree as a stand alone banner is not subject necessarily to that as much. And they can just get back to the basics and focus what they’ve always done well.

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