Dictation: Trader Joe's - Why They're Successful

hyunsik-yoon commented 1 year ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC8v-wHf7Ro

do a 180

make a reversal in stance
ex) "The CEO did a 180 and decided that she no longer wanted to expand the business."
ex) "He was against the idea at first, but he did a 180 and became a supporter."

listen again later

Instead of stubbornly trying fighting uphill battle against 7-11, he simply surrender and went out to find a new battle where he thought he had more of chance.

fight an uphill battle

face significant challenges or obstacles in a situation where success is difficult or unlikely
ex) "Joe didn't try fighting an uphill battle against 7-Eleven."
ex) "The startup company is fighting an uphill battle to establish itself in a market dominated by big companies"

listen again

Since TJ was known for selling a hundred brands of scotch and wide assortment of CA wines, they were one of those stores.

reliant on

depending heavily on or relying significantly on something or someone
ex) "Stores all around the states were becoming increasingly reliant on a liquor sale"
ex) "The company's success is heavily reliant on its innovative technology and patents."

it got to a point where ~

a particular situation or condition reached a certain level or stage
ex) "It got to a point where the noise in the office was so loud that we couldn't concentrate on our work."
ex) "It got to a point where he couldn't handle the stress anymore and decided to take a break."

a [diverse/wide/curated/exclusive/premium/...] assortment of ~

~ selection of different items
ex) "The store carries a wide assortment of catering."
ex) ""The online retailer provides a premium assortment of electronics."

lift(법)

법을 remove, revoke
ex) "In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom lifted California's general indoor mask mandate March 1, 2022."
ex) "The curfew was lifted, allowing people to move freely during the evening hours."
ex) "The suspension on the athlete was lifted, allowing them to compete in future events."

hyunsik-yoon commented 1 year ago

1

Trader Joe's is unlike any other supermarket chain. I am sure that anyone who's been there before realizes within the first four minutes. Trust me when I say that the differences run much deeper than what you can see on the surface. In fact, when comparing them to all of the other supermarket chains that either their size or bigger, they are the most unconventional. They have been really successful because of it. Now they haven't been one of the fastest supermarket chains but they have been one of the steadiest.

They officially started in the 1960s. For the first 20 years or so, you can say that they were taking it slow. They grew from a single store in SoCal to 27 stores in SoCal but then in 1988, they started pushing down that accelerator.

From that point, there have been more TJs added every single year. It's the first year that they expanded beyond SoCal too. it was into northern California.

But by 1993, they opened one in Az, in 3 years later, when they were approaching 100 locations, they open one in Maryland, marking their first presence on the east coast.

Today they are over 500 of them, located in pretty much every states. If you don't yet have TJ near you, be patient because I think it's just matter of time.

next: https://youtu.be/dC8v-wHf7Ro?t=93

hyunsik-yoon commented 1 year ago

2

So considering that this is such an unconventional supermarket that has been taken over the nation I thought it would be a good idea to take a look at how they got to this point and try to identify the big reasons behind their success.

You may wanna laugh at hearing my first reason because it sounds counter intuitive but hear me out on it.

A big reason behind their success is being able to admit defeat. I am specifically talking about Joe Calum, the Joe behind TJ. who I should say sadly passed away in early 2020 at the age of 89.

His career started in 1954. He has just graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. degree in economics and a M.S. degree in business administration when he was hired by a company called Lexel Drug. As the name implies, it was a chain of drug stores in SoCal that was soon looking to take advantage of growing market by opening of their own chain of local convenient stores.

Joe was one put in charge of that project. In 1958, they open the first one under the name Pronto. I have to say, Pronto is not a bad name for a convenient store. Within 4 years, Pronto has grown to a chain of 4 stores, when rexel drug did a 180 and decided that they no longer wanted to be involved.

https://youtu.be/dC8v-wHf7Ro?t=165

do a 180

make a reversal in stance
ex) "The CEO did a 180 and decided that she no longer wanted to expand the business."
ex) "He was against the idea at first, but he did a 180 and became a supporter."

hyunsik-yoon commented 1 year ago

3

They changed the plan to give Joe the opportunity to buy the chain of the stores with some financial from Pronto employees. He then proceed to own and operate the chain growing into 18 stores in next 5 years but in 1963 he was confronted with some trouble with in the form of 7-11 that was competing chain of convenience store, i am sure everyone knows about that, even in 1967, far bigger than 18 stores.

all of sudden, they were making an aggressive push to establish themselves in Joe's market of SoCal. it started to opening stores all around him, even acquired one of the biggest supplier.

In a words of TJ himself, I don't know if he wants to be called that but he said, when I saw 7-11 stores coming into SoCal in 1963 I started to convert Pronto into TJ because I didn't want to compete with them.

Now that sounds a lot like admitting defeat. That's what it was. Instead of stubbornly trying fighting uphill battle against 7-11, he simply surrender and went out to find a new battle where he thought he had more of chance.

listen again later

Instead of stubbornly trying fighting uphill battle against 7-11, he simply surrender and went out to find a new battle where he thought he had more of chance.

fight an uphill battle

face significant challenges or obstacles in a situation where success is difficult or unlikely
ex) "Joe didn't try fighting an uphill battle against 7-Eleven."
ex) "The startup company is fighting an uphill battle to establish itself in a market dominated by big companies"

next) https://youtu.be/dC8v-wHf7Ro?t=224

hyunsik-yoon commented 1 year ago

4

Believe or not, I actually have a second example of how him admitting defeat that may have saved the company.

See, up until 1976, the CA government had this laws in place that control the price of liquor. It was illegal for super market to sell it for too cheap. So wherever you want to buy your alcohol, it was pretty much the same price. Since the free market wasn't allow to drive the price down, it was being sold at a high margin.

Stores all around the states were becoming increasingly reliant on a liquor sale because it was such an easy way to make money. It got to a point where for many of these stores almost everything else they were selling simply acted as bait to lead people over to that liquor section.

Since TJ was known for selling a hundred brands of scotch and wide assortment of CA wines, they were one of those stores.

All of their food were priced really low to where they were hardly make any money from it. But it was all good as long as their customers bought some liquors while they were there.

well, in 1976, the laws were lifted. The industries were no longer regulated and each retailer was free to low their price.

listen again

Since TJ was known for selling a hundred brands of scotch and wide assortment of CA wines, they were one of those stores.

reliant on

depending heavily on or relying significantly on something or someone
ex) "Stores all around the states were becoming increasingly reliant on a liquor sale"
ex) "The company's success is heavily reliant on its innovative technology and patents."

it got to a point where ~

a particular situation or condition reached a certain level or stage
ex) "It got to a point where the noise in the office was so loud that we couldn't concentrate on our work."
ex) "It got to a point where he couldn't handle the stress anymore and decided to take a break."

a [diverse/wide/curated/exclusive/premium/...] assortment of ~

~ selection of different items
ex) "The store carries a wide assortment of catering."
ex) ""The online retailer provides a premium assortment of electronics."

lift(법)

법을 remove, revoke
ex) "In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom lifted California's general indoor mask mandate March 1, 2022."
ex) "The curfew was lifted, allowing people to move freely during the evening hours."
ex) "The suspension on the athlete was lifted, allowing them to compete in future events."

next: https://youtu.be/dC8v-wHf7Ro?t=285

hyunsik-yoon commented 1 year ago

questions

Do you sometimes visit TJ? What do you usually buy?
Regarding atmosphere from employees, do you feel difference between TJ and other marts?
Regarding internal decorations, do you feel difference between TJ and other marts?
Regarding selling products, do you feel difference between TJ and other marts?
If you want to prepare salad, where do you want to go to buy vegetables?

labsurde-life / english