American Businesses That FAILED Hard in other Countries...
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- čas přidán 2. 08. 2024
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One of the funniest recent fails is Domino's in the land of pizza. Still wonder how they even thought it was possible to take over the Italian market with their American pizza.
That's a new level of stupid.
Haha, that sounds hilarious. Well, that's probably the American optimism or arrogance.
Domino's is also in Germany. But they bought a German pizza chain and just renamed it. I think they didn't even change the products. But it's chain Pizza, there are no big differences anyway. And we have a lot of Italian restaurants as well. So better Pizza is available anyways. Although even those were never as good as the ones I had in Italy.
Sounds like the sorry of Dunkin’ Donuts in Poland. Most Poles found it offensive to serve something this bad, call it a doughnut and ask triple the price. They were selling doughnuts that looked like they were made of plastic in the land of amazing local bakeries on every corner. Very bold. American bold.
not only domino 's ,starbucks in italy?the land of real Caffe', epresso is the only real caffe',starbukc try with usa coffe water bullshit in italia ,only the idea is absurd and they try and fail hehehhehehehheheheh,ps usa pizza is a fake pizza,to dick to slap to much oil etc.......
I think they also tried and failed in Sweden. Because Sweden is the country where your typical pizzeria has like 60 different pizzas on their menu, and the pizza menus even in nearby towns can be rather different.
A Walmart greeter for example would be seen as creepy and overly invasive here in the UK. Anyone approaching you, asking questions or trying to spark up a conversation, especially in uniform would put anyone on guard immediately...
Fake sincerity, overt uninitiated friendliness and the impression of invasive people can utterly destroy a franchises perception...
Germany its the same
@@PPfilmemacher American advertising is equally wierd. It would actually discouraged me from thinking about frequenting their shops or services...
Indeed. When you're in shops in the US, and you're greeted with that over-the-top friendliness, it's very off-putting.
@@robertthomson1587 it makes me decide to go elsewhere if unsolicited someone approaches me from the store... They're there to facilitate for me not the other way around... It's the American go make a sale approach that instantly turns off most Europeans...
Pretty much the same here in Oz
Whilst it’s fine to politely offer help to customers (usually if they seem lost) the over the top enthusiasm from US style greeters is also seen as quite creepy here lol
I think that all these mega stores in the US are a result of the car dependence. I can go to the city center and just shop in many different stores by walking. And most supermarkets are in small shopping centers, which makes it easier to visit multiple stores in one trip. That doesn’t seem to be a thing in the US, but it is in Europe.
Here in germany even german big stores start to fail, since people tend to use the internet or small specific stores, since you can get better advice and tips from a small cosmetics store compared to a big warehouse, people tend to go to the small store even if they could get cosmetics in the big warehouse and for things like household goods people tend to use the internet to get them.
@@Rafaela_S. Yes, the only warehouses that will still be operating are thing like KaDeWe
In the US, it's all about big this and big that. Here in Europe, no one wants to drive for hours to go to the grocery store. We are not car dependent like the people in the US.
I can go to the store by foot, a bike, or a car. I have multiple options. And that's what I want.
@@samulivainionpaa9338 This does not sound like car dependence. More like the opposite.
@@88balloonsonthewall70 Well, if my best option is shopping centers outside the city, where i have to use cars to get to, that's how it's car dependent, similar to US, city centers are so shitty that you have to go elsewhere and you need car for that.
Starbucks is hanging on in Europe, mostly in the tourist cities
Uber has had a lot of trouble in Europe too. Mostly because their employee practices are often considered bordering or downright illegal and a severe lack of accountability and adherence to a variety of other local laws on Uber's end
its probably only living of the name brand making people try it once or twice.... i did.... never again... overpriced idiotic garbage
little addition about Uber: in most countries in europe you need a taxi license (or bus license) to transport people for money. And the same applies for Uber drivers.
If they don't get a taxi license and register a business they would be doing 2 illegal things.
(The taxi licensees are checked regularly for clean cars and their taxes to make sure there is a standard for passengers.)
Uber is just so big in the US i think because they lack the public transport infrastructure europe has.
@@nirfz Yeah in my country we have Uber, but my province banned them because it would have killed our licensed taxi businesses and ultimately not lowered prices, just wages for drivers and everyone's general safety. You can't drive taxis without extensive background checks.. I once managed to sign up for Uber without a driver's license, in a city I didn't live in, using an address I found off a real estate website.
@@azarinevil exactely.
In the last year i have occasionally seen one Taxi that has the Uber logo on the door near to my workplace, but not really with passengers to be honest.
As they have to fulfill the same requirments any other taxi business has to, they have no advantage over the others here either.
Interesting to me was that when they first came to europe our media claimed that only our country and neighbouring germany "were so backwards" to not allow them to do taxi business outside of taxi regulations.
Here in the comment section i noticed that that wasn't the case, but that almost all of europe acted the same even without any coordination on EU level!
@@nirfz Yeah it was the Mexico, US, and Canada (my country) that just bent over and let Uber move in. My province is one of the rare exceptions to their ability to operate freely in North America.
Fun story about Wendy's. They try to launch in the Benelux (belgium, netherlands, luxemburg) but they cant. A small snackbar in the netherlands is already called wendy's and dropped the trademark in the benelux in 1995. So if wendy's want to come to the benelux, they have to buy the naming rights from that little snackbar owner (and hes demanding millions) or rename their franchise in the benelux.
That's similar to burger king in australia.
the weird thing in both Australia and Benelux.. that would be a good deal long run. A few million can be made up for in a few years if you launch well, those aren't small markets. I am amazed the companies didn't pay up just to ensure they had the trademark and exclusive SEO on the name.
@@azarinevil Can't speak for Australia, but here in the Netherlands, the market for such food chains is really really over-saturated, and very much dominated by locally owned independent fast food places and McDonald's. KFC and Burger King are active here, but together they do not even have close to 50% of the number of restaurants McDonalds has, simply because there is no room for more in that market.
Slightly more up-market there is room, but that is not Wendy's market.
McDonalds lost a similar lawsuit in Ireland to the Irish fast food chain Supermac's, which existed there for decades before McDonalds tried to enter the Irish market.
@@jankrusat2150 McDonald's tried to copyright the name 'McDonald' in Scotland of all places trying to bully small local cafes and fish & chip shops. You can guess where the Scottish judge told them to stick it.
Maybe something the USA companies do not understand is that the US basic wage is somewhere near $7.50 per hour while in Australia the basic wage is around $23 per hour.
AND that Australians expect to be treated like humans, and will tell them F U and walk out if the employer behaves like an American slave driver.
Because things are almost two times more expensive. A videogame that cost 60$ can cost 100+ Australian dollars.
It depends on the company because most companies won't pay much for basic wage that's why they get teenage kid's or do apprenticeship's so they can get away with paying F all
@@JesusProtects Speaking as an Aussie videogame nerd here, the increased prices of video games is something of an outlier compared to most other things (aside from the god awful housing market), and you might be surprised to find that we actually spend less on fresh food and health care (aka 2 of the 3 critical for life things), while still having that far higher minimum wage than the US as well as far more time off and sick days -and free healthcare and many worker protections against abuse or making us work past the bounds of our contracts etc etc-
Australia has a strong Union culture (one of our two major political parties was formed by unions) and most Aussies do NOT like the idea of people working full time and still being unable to support themselves no matter what the job is, so our minimum wage goes up a LOT more often than it does in America and how a lot of companies treat their employees in the US would be outright illegal here, whether that be via underpaying them or just how they treat them in general.
That's not to say that we don't also have issues with companies still trying to undercut their workers or weaken worker protections in favor of Big Profit culture (we do, and that would be the other major political party naturally ;D) but the prices of stuff being more expensive here having anything to do with our minimum or average wages as opposed to us having a very firm idea of what our work should be worth and trying(*) to actually keep up with the cost of living as opposed to the US's policy of 'hope you get a better job or really lucky with tips' is just... Not right?
Overly simple to the point that it screams 'does not know much about Aus's history with workers rights and why we can never shut up about how good we've got it but was probably said earnestly and well intentioned' so. Yeah. 😅
Sorry about all the babble, especially if you really don't care all that much but I figured it would be better to inform on the off chance you didn't know any of this rather than IDK assume any kind of foul play or deliberate misinformation being out there or something, and... Yeah. Hope you have a nice day and that this was helpful in some way to know~ =3
(*) Side note: Trying is a key word there given the current housing/rental crisis going on in Aus but that's arguably less a 'pay needs rising' issue and more a 'we need to fix the laws on this because the ones we currently have suck' kinda issue though I don't understand it all enough to say how much it does/doesn't apply to this topic in general.
You're correct man and all that means that your economy is more robust. Also Australia has a higher corporate tax. This tax is the legitimate tax avoidance system that if you train, equip etc, you set those costs against your tax obligations. This also makes companies stay onshore and discourages takeovers and mergers. Just that it's been lowered there and around the world and with no import restrictions, it can get hard to compete.
The rot all really started with Reagan and Thatcher and their hacks.
From what I heard here in Germany, US based companies often struggle with the differences in work culture of our two countries. So even if there is not a great deal of customer contact that could create problems, its not easy for Americans to establish a good, productive work environment. They think they can apply the same attitude that is common in the states, when it comes to the work climate in their German shops, forgetting that we have certain regulations and customs regarding employment.
As a example: I know about a take over when John Deere bought a well established German company that makes construction work machinery, in particular famous for those huge grinders that grind off the old tarmac from roads before they get resurfaced.
Many of the employees there were in that company for many years, even decades, and had a good relationship with the management, which was basically a family business.
Under the new management this relationship turned impersonal and bossy, and a whole number of those old employes even quit their jobs because of that. That can be more of a problem as it may seem - those old employees carry the experience of decades of designing and building those machines. You cant just go to a job agency and hire a bunch of new guys with the same qualities. So this has nothing to do with the actual costomers for the products - who are international anyway - but still has much impact on the smooth operation of the business.
And they struggle with the legal regulation.
Walmart failed in Germany because of labour and competition laws, which they broke and doing it the lagal way made it unprofitable.
Same for Uber.
They ignore the fact that for a commercial transport of people you need to follow other rules.
You need a taxi license, the car most have the TÜV (MOT) every year and not every 2 years.
So you can't call an Uber in Germany Uber offers only a rental car service with driver which is not the same like a taxi.
They went actually to the ECJ over that.
@@helloweener2007 Yes, the legal regulations are part of the differences. And a big one - things like paid leave and piad sick days are seen as a luxury in the US, or that you cannot fire people from one day to the next.
With Uber it is a complicated subject. True, they are not classed as a Taxi. But I think thats the same in the US, because also there you need a Taxi license to operate a Taxi. So they use tricks to evade that, like having "self employed contractors" with their own cars. All they do is to to run the app and give them the trips, and handle the payment side. And keep a share of the money, of course.
May be they try this in Germany as well, but it could easily cause trouble because of "Scheinselbstständigkeit" like in some other businesses. The laws for transporting people are complicated. A "Personenbeförderungsschein" is only needed if the car has more than 9 seats, afaik. About the TÜV rule I don't know, its well possible, and perhaps it needs a different insurance as well.
You just made me think of a company that didn’t event get their foot in the door In Australia. Kaufland folded right in the middle of building warehouses and buying a number of lots.
Also Costco exists and ALDI is possibly evading tax by posing as a LLP.
@@jordanferrazza8700
ALDI is very creative with laws.
One could say that ALDI is a very big company but on paper they are not.
In Germany there are legally lots of smaller companies which contribute the revenue in the foundations that which holds all ALDI stores. So they can avaoid labour laws that would apply for companies that have more than a certain amount of employees.
So using all gains in tax laws to avoid paying more fits into their way of doing business.
@@helloweener2007 In Australia, Chemist Warehouse is very big and evades competition laws regarding pharmacies
Starbucks failed in Australia for a very simple reason. From the start of European settlement, Australians by and large drank tea, following their English forebears. After WW II, many Italians came here, bringing their coffee with them. Coffee shops sprang up everywhere and thrived. Australians changed their allegiance from tea to Italian coffee. Starbucks coffee is not Italian espresso style even though it may be made using espresso machines.
I've tried Starbucks here in Australia it's way too sweet
@@nelsondawson9706 Perhaps, but the general opinion is that it's just plain bad coffee and to be avoided.
@Aussie Pom They didn't even try to "dip their toe in" first, they went in "all guns blazing" and tried to put a Starbucks on every corner, which went badly for them.
There's only one starbucks in wellington. They're not really anywhere much. May be in Auckland? In NZ, it's bespoke.
There are NO Starbucks in Western Australia. I guess Chinese and American tourists here may have to stray out of their comfort zone and try real coffee.
I heard a couple of months back that Domino's failed in Italy. I didn't even know they tried. They had some nerve 😂
An American pizza place in the country of said food's origin? Woooow!
Walmart bought a controlling interest in ASDA in the UK and just didn't get it, just like Europe, trading practices and employee rights are a big corporate shock. A lot of American business just gave up in Europe as a whole, that majority share in Asda was sold, they bought in for $6.7 billion in 1999 and sold out in 2021 for $8.8 billion to a pair of brothers through a British venture capitalists company, so it returned to British ownership...
The point about employee rights and corporate culture are a big one for all European countries really. With the Walmart in Germany example, Walmart tried to impose strict rules on the employees but they employees just said no. People know their rights more and stand up for them. I don't like to generalise, but European employees are, in general, less submissive to corporations than US employees and US people in general.
In my experience, in the US, the corporations use healthcare and insurance as pressure on their employees. In all European countries, social healthcare is the norm.
It doesn't really matter of you have a job or not, you will receive healthcare.
Then, generally higher school education, people know their rights and are protected by the state.
So, if I understand the calculator I worked this out on, over the period of 22 years they lost $2 billion in terms of the companies valuation. Usually you would expect the company to become more valuable as you open more stores and invest in the infrastructure.
@@zo7034 The other thing they tried in Germany is the trick they use in America around part time employees. In America they employ a lot of part time workers (about 50% of their employees are part time and most of these are the floor workers) and keep their hours below the threshold where they would have to start paying for benfits (medical, dental, etc...). They thought that they could play that trick in Germany and got a big shock when they were informed that they have to pay for benfits (health, pension, etc...) for ALL employees regardless of amount of hours worked and it ended up costing them more than if they had just heard full time workers.
@@zo7034 I worked for a Dutch company that was taken over by a UK competitor. The new owners tried to impose UK labour law on the Dutch employees, we wouldn't have anything of it (quite apart from them trying to break Dutch labour law, but that gave us the ammo to fight and win quickly).
The main reason Target failed in Canada was because many Canadians were already familiar with their stores from having traveled to the US. 80% of Canada's population lives within 100 miles of the US border. As a result, it's very common from Canadians from the Toronto area to go to Buffalo for a day out shopping. Similar for Vancouver residents going to Seattle. Therefore, when we saw that the Canadian Target stores didn't have the low prices we'd seen at American Target stores, we became disillusioned.
As someone who worked in one for a few months before leaving for uni, it would have failed even without expectations. People in charge or ordering did a horrible job and all their projections didn't reflect what people were actually buying. Even worse with seasonal things that would sell out quickly with no way to get more.
If I remember one of the expectations we had when Target came up here was they were going to compete with Walmart... They said no, they were going to try against places like Shoppers...
Some of the areas they had stores in didn't make sense either. I'm in Peterborough and the closest Target was in Lindsay, a place that rejected Walmart for years.. We ended up getting a second Walmart in our Zellers..
Its also common for Americans that live in the border area to go north for a day out
Speaking of spectacular failures... Taco Bell tried entering the mexican market once in the early 90s. The fact that they even tried tells you that not only were they clueless about the consumers and competitors, they understood very little about tacos, authentic ones I mean. They tried again in the late 00s, they had a little more understanding but still failed miserably. Something similar happened to Domino's in Italy which I believe were in business for around 5 years... that's twice as much as Taco Bell in MX.
Hey Ian. Love your work, but if you can, please set the volume of the videos you're watching to the same level of yours. 🙂
BTW - Walmart tried to open in Australia but when they learnt that they couldn't ban employees from joining a union and would have to pay them minimum wage, they ran off, never to return. :-)
Starbucks failed miserably in Australia because their coffee was absolute crap, and there was always a coffee shop a few doors down selling good coffee.
And the local café's coffee was cheaper than Starbucks too!
Yeah, Walmarts practice standards are illegal in Australia.
We now have a STARBUCKS here in Delacombe , Victoria, Australia, been in operation about 9 months.
Seems to be doing okay with drive thru.
EXACTLY!
@@tomgeorge3726 Some people have NO taste!
Hello. ⛔️ please be careful with the annoying commentator channel posing as IWrocker with that logo in the channel and the channel name is “telegram me …” Ian will never contact anyone via comment to say you won something, that is a scammer. Please be warned and never click on any random links from any fake Channels. Ian is now verified so his channel name is IWrocker and it has a little check mark next to it. Thank you. Have a great day- Dani
I literally just went through every comment and reported it… Came back in and they were back 🤦🏾♂️ Great work CZcams 🤣
How many people are here for their first day on the internet and what's the chances they understand that there are comments below the video or even that you can scroll down a page? Anyone falling for this kind of thing these days... Well, they probably should have be in a facility where nurses are monitoring them by now.
@@laupstad sadly there are a lot of people that are not "internet savvy" as you are mate… It’s just a nice gesture by Dani to warn people before they get hacked
Bots gonna bot, sadly.
Thank for the warning!
@@laupstad HMMM, sounds like someone who fell for a scam and is trying to big note themselves to cover up for their own FUBAR event.
Dutchman here. The only great thing about Starbucks is that they give me a nice and warm place to rest while heading to work by train, since I always need to wait like half an hour until the next train arrives. It's like a smaller store located within the station, so it's pretty convenient. I never actually get coffee there because during my time, the place is pretty empty. Besides, I never drink coffee anyways.
I need to drive 2 hours one way to nearest starbucks
Starbucks coffee is barely drinkable anyway, so you don't miss out anything.
Stsrbucks taste like gutherwater ...it is typical a ..hipster..thing
You're not missing much. Starbuck's coffee is battery acid in a cup. It's a great example of how marketing trumps quality.
@tomvsas You wouldn't even get real coffee at Starbucks anyway.
Starbucks is barely hanging on in most of Europe. You find them in a lot of airports, train stations, harbours that get a lot of cruise liners, maybe the occasional busy shopping street that is frequented by a lot of tourists, I have seen one in the centre of an industrial park between manufacturing facilities of a lot of multinationals... that's it though. Example Germany: there is 1 Starbucks per 520k population, if you exclude the ones in or just outside train stations and airports it's more in the ballpark of 1 per 1.5 to 2 million (in the US there is 1 Starbucks per 21k populations).
It's bad, boring, overpriced coffee (or liquid desserts with a hint of caffeine) that can't hold up when compared to the quality and price of what is served at local cafes, roasteries, bakeries etc.
Yeah, we had one in my hometown (of 160,000 inhabitants) for a while. It barely lasted a year. Basically it was doomed from the start. With high prices and no discernible traits from local cafés, pastry shops and even regular lunch restaurants it's no wonder it didn't last. The word of mouth was:"Why pay €3 for a coffee drink at Starbucks when you can get excellent, freshly ground coffee for €2 at most places?"
In Belgium (pop. 11.5 million) there are 20 Starbucks. Of which roughly halve are located in or at the outskirts of Brussels.
It's overpriced oversugared drinks with a hint of cheap coffee. The only reason I've been in one is because my wife is American so for her it's a taste of 'home'.
The laws and the mentality were not the only things that caused problems for Walmart here in Germany.
It was already the existing markets, rewe, aldi, lidl, metro and co, who stay together at that moment and showed Walmart who is the boss.
Lidl and Aldi in particular have shown how it's done by entering the american market themselves.
So like; "Hey, Walmart. Remember us?"
Main problem was really the law, because walmart tried to sell items under their own buying price and that is illegal in Germany. It's normal for walmart to do that for a time to ruin the competition. Another main problem was the general price level and the high salaries. Germany was thought to be the starting point to conquer Europe but that didn't work. And at least in the store I knew there were often empty shelves like it was shown in the Target/Canada example. Even in the UK there are now no walmart stores only ASDA. And I believe they had same problem in Asia and had to leave South Korea.
It is baffling that these huge companies with their budget don't spend the money to understand the mindset and culture of the foreign target audience.
Australian here, I have bought two things from a Starbucks in Australia a cup of coffee which I drank a third of and threw the rest away and a Thermos flask which I have been using for over a decade and is brilliant. I have however bought food in Starbucks in Canada and the UK and it was pretty good, not cheap but not unacceptably expensive. Coffee however? Nope, never, no chance.
Yep, their other stuff is alright but I certainly wouldn't go to starbucks just for coffee, as I can make way better and cheaper coffee for myself at home 👍
AGREED
ok, wtf is starbucks? I thought, it`s a coffe shop(at least they are here).
@@bastion6421 it is that here too but the also pushed Starbucks branded merchandise that was mainly crap. Mugs, coffee plungers stuff like that. Long ago they used to sell a Starbucks branded thermos flask just the right size for one of their smallest hot drinks. It is brilliant and still going strong.
@Phillip Banes flat white, that is what I drink when I am not making it myself. It was both weak as dishwater and bitter as quinine which really shouldn’t be possible.
Wendy's is one of those confusing ones for me, because Australia has its own Wendy's chain which is very different from the US one.
They sell Ice Cream, Milkshakes and Hotdogs from small kiosks in shopping Malls.
Was like that in nz, but now we have the restaurant ones as well
I remember a Wendy's in Melbourne (Vic) back in the late 80s, it had a sit in restaurant and sold burgers, fries, etc. I can't remember where exactly, but not sure if this was the US one or the Australian one.
@@utha2665 I think there was a vid on {US] Wendy's failing in Australia, might have been that..
@@Goatcha_M Yeah, I actually went to this restaurant when I was in the Army. We had the icreamery version over in WA but had never seen, or heard of the US version back then.
Six Flags failed here in The Netherlands, they've acquired some local parks in Europe and started looking for employees in the age range of 18-25 in towns over 30 kilometers away. Problem with that is, though it was possible to get a drivers licence from the age of 18 at the time, it is not as common to get one immediately. (I for one didn't start to get my licence until I was 24 and got it when I was 25)
They also advertised the park as "near Amsterdam" expecting people to fly into Schiphol and take a rental to the park it self. Problem with that is, the park is more than 80 kilometers away from Amsterdam, which is halfway across the country, also, rentals aren't as common over here in Europe. In 2004, they sold it after 4 years of ownership.
I live in London, there was a Best Buy near my house years ago, it only lasted about six months. They closed down, there are none here anymore, and haven't been for many years. The worst thing about Best Buy was the staff pouncing on you and chatting to you when you are just browsing. We also had Currys that are the same kind of shop, so Best Buy wasn't needed, also Currys/PC World leave you alone to browse.
I think that's a big difference between Europe and the US. They expect to be greeted and 'entertained' in the shops and we (I'm German) don't. We want to browse or shop in peace. If we need help, we're after all perfectly capable of asking for it. So, yes, have employees in the store apart from at the checkout. But, no, do not have them make contact with the customer unasked.
Currys PC World is fine for 'White Goods' but their computer parts and staff knowledge are abysmally poor. PC components are overpriced too and tend to be older gen stuff that new builders wouldn't want.
Interesting. Since it's "an American Thing" to pounce on customers when they shop.
Actually, during the 1990s, Starbucks had previously failed in my home county , Israel, due to their inability to adapt to the local coffee culture, so I felt their management would avoid repeating a similar blunder on a larger scale , and therefore was surprised to find out they had failed once again in Australia, and for a similar reason.
The US business model of if it does not work make it bigger is a failure in the rest of the world
Starbucks:
While it's true we Australians love the independent cafes, there is one that you see all over the place that has done brilliantly in the Australian market - Gloria Jean's. We've got two of them in my town alone. They do good coffee, good food, have nice places to sit and talk while drinking your coffee, and the coffee is in the Australian style, not the American giant cup of sugar, cream and flavours.
Gloria Jeans coffee is actually really good
Starbucks failed hard in New Zealand too. Came in with a hiss and a roar and all but disappeared within a couple of years - they still have a few stores around, in touristy spots where Americans like to visit.
My husband and I have been woofing in NZ for 1 year and the coffee we were able to get there was the best we ever had. To us it was even better than italian coffee. So it seems ridiculous that Starbucks even tried to get in the market 😂
@@phillipbanes5484 hi! I can’t imagine Starbucks saw themselves as niche when they started expanding. They had to learn by failure that being niche can also be good enough in certain countries
I know there's in the Westfield in Christchurch? It was the easiest place to catch up with a friend because the mall is easy to find and get parking in a town I'm not familiar with lol.
It was the first time I'd been to one since the Starbucks closed in Palmy about 13 years ago
Macca;s is pushing it's luck in Australia by constantly raising prices. They are no longer cheap. The only item I have bought for years, the Mighty McMuffin (not available in USA or Canada) has gone from $4.75 to $6.50 at my local outlet in only a couple of years. For $6.50, I can get a far better product at any independent takeaway. Also Uber is struggling a bit because of bad service.
Same thing in the UK a barely warm badly made big Mac is nearly 7 quid, whereas you can get a hot artisan burger that tastes like real food for the same price.
Same in Austria... For a full McDonald's meal, you could as well uust go to a fancy restaurant for that price and get something actually good (but somehow people still eat that stuff) 👍
Uber is on the decline in Australia also because of Price surging. A trip that costs you $12 one minute can cost $60 the next. Popular trips are also expensive. I can now catch a taxi from my house to the airport $20 cheaper than Uber.
@Phillip Banes Been watching Fox News again have you? You seriously don't have a clue about Australia mate!
@Phillip Banes most of us are fine with how the restrictions were handled. How many people in the US died as a result of not taking strong action quickly enough? About a million, wasn't it?
Talking about Best Buy - coming from Germany , now living in Austria, here we have "Media Markt" for electronics. You can shop online or in-store. You also can choose "click & collect" and go to the store with your order code or proof of payment (if you already payed online) to pick it up. I love this option. Here in Salzburg we have at least 2 stores and you can see online if the store has the product you want in stock or not. If it's not in stock they'll message you when it's there (taken from another store)
Speaking of McDonalds. McDonalds were in some places close to failing in Sweden at the beginning, especially in the Northern part of Sweden since we already have another burger chain called Max. In the home town of were Max were created. the McDonalds store had to close down due to the loyalty showed Max burgers.
Speaking of which, here's another fun story told from my father when he and his friends visited Gothenburg for the first time when McDonalds recently had established in Sweden. Where we live, there's another restaurant chain called Sibylla who serves everything from burgers to mashed potatoes and sausages. One particular ingredience that's common in their meals is the addition of shrimp relish. When my father tried McDonalds the first time, he remembers being so disappointed in the fact that their meals had no shrimp relish at all :P
McDonalds and BK have similar issues in Finland as well. Our local Hesburger is so popular that people tend to ignore these US chains.
Max is opening stores in Poland and i heard they are really good but sadly there are none in my city
@@user-jn5xy3mm9o Max burgers are really good indeed. Once I tried them I never went back to any other burger chain.
@@user-jn5xy3mm9o Max's sauce game is unreal, currently they have 10 varieties and they are all good.
Starbucks only remains because of tourists/new expats here in Barcelona. (And you can only found them in the city, nowhere else). The only locals I know go there use it as a free cozy co-working place :)
Also, strangely enough, the first fast food chain in Barcelona was a local one called "Wendy's" with (I presume) no relationship with the US one. The first Burger King and McDonalds in the city opened just beside Wendy's, on top of las Ramblas.
I remember being in Starbucks in Barcelona. You could tell it was aimed at tourists. Most of the conversations overheard there were english so not many locals there.
@@bobbiebob575 Ya I remember when I was in Australia I think I saw a couple in airports and one in Surfer's Paradise so a major tourist destination.
Ive heard rumors of one being in Finland, in the Helsinki-Vantaa airport. Im sure they wont make the same mistake with us, as they did with Aussies. We drink a lot of joe, but it has to be certain way. Im deffo going to taste, but lets see..
McD came here in the early 80s and now its everywhere, I think it forced our national competitors, Carrols & Hesburger, to merge. BK is somewhat recent, I dont think it has been even a decade yet. I got my first taste in Spain, it was my first time seeing ashtrays in fast food place, I (smoker) loved it! And I think we just got our first Taco Bells here, very few in the biggest malls.
Retail culture in the UK is fundamentally different to the US, and not just the intrusive faux friendliness, but the fact that we’ve been used to ‘online’ purchasing styles since before the web was a thing (catalogue shops and their phone equivalent were very popular in the 80s and 90s). Online grocery shopping became popular in the mid to late 90s, and it was much more economically viable here because of population density. Nowadays, I’m used to being able to order groceries and have them turn up at my front door within an hour or less, or next day if I want more unusual things.
Something they touched on, but bears expanding, is that it wasn’t just the customer culture many of these didn’t get, but the supplier culture. Many US companies have business models that depend on a particular way of approaching suppliers and other supply chain partners. Since most of the world has completely different expectations and norms for this, their fundamental models were incompatible. Even if they could get stock, and customers, they’d struggle to make the profits they want/expect. This isn’t unique to the US, although it seems (anecdotally) more common with the US business mindset.
You forgot Kays catalogue ..and what was the other one from Liverpool. I remember ordering crapload of stuff from them catalogues
@@freelancerxxx Littlewoods or Oxendales probably. Though I think both are owned by the same company. They are still around and you can order online from them. I remember ordering stuff from them years ago, and definitely from Kays, I think they had better stuff at more affordable prices from memory.
@Phillip Banes the uk is certainly not as miserable as the extremely long blank highways you guys have , and we don't get shot every day at school , so stfu you know nothing about Europe
If the fake smiling and “Im your friend now, lets get shopping” thing wasnt huge in UK, I wont even dare to think how we Finns would take it. Like, seeing a greeter on the door would ruin someones day. Small-talking cashier with a forced smile on would be alarming to me, I would spend hours thinking about that poor person, like they were trapped in a bad place and needed urgent rescue.
We are used to ask for help if needed, “Hi”, “Thanks” and “Have a nice weekend” is the most interaction most of us want, I know some customers wont say a word. And its completely ok. As a worker, the “go us” company worship feels so alien too. Im loyal, but that feels excessive, I can be loyal without the hype.
And yes, catalogues were big here too, I still have my fleece hoodie from Ellos (Swedish co). Its at least 2 decades old, it might be indestructible. I think Ellos may have turned into an online shop. Ive shopped at Jacksons for decades (Im an artist), Im secretly waiting for Breturn, Im still on their mailing list, holding onto hope :)
OK lets get some Aussie stuff laid out. }
Target and K-Mart are separate companies to their US compadres but share common ownership and direction, both have been here forever and do very well indeed. On the other hand, Aussie Wendys has NOTHING to do with the US company. In Australia, Wendys is a "middle of the mall" franchise that sells coffee, shakes, hot dogs and doughnuts. It is not at all connected to the American burger chain.
We have no Walmart (thank God for that!), around a dozen and a half Costcos (which we love), no Tractor Supply, or Home Depot. Our Lowes is a working man's clothing chain and our True Value Hardware (a purchasing collective of individual-owned stores) has no connection to the US juggernaut.
Burger King here is licensed to an Aussie company called Hungry Jacks, there are two remaining actual Burger Kings in Sydney. (the conflict between them is a story in itself). IMHO Hungry Jacks beats the hell outa Maccas and I wish they had the capital when they needed it to compete because, as the advertising says, "the burgers are (honestly) better at Hungry Jacks."
Likewise, 711 is wholly Aussie owned, they license the name as do several petrol/gas companies and many in the food game. Just because the name is the same doesn't mean it's the US company.
Hungry Jacks is awful tasting. I don't like Maccas or KFC either.
Yeah basically the Australian equivalent of home depot is either mitre 10 or Bunnings
@@nelsondawson9706 Indeed.
@Phillip Banes No, none of the ones I have listed are master franchises. Mcdonalds' operates as a licensee as does BurgerKing. The rest, as I have said have no connection to the US company, and neither do U-Haul Aust, no connection at all there either.
@Phillip Banes Sigh, you are either trolling or not reading. Where do I say that McDonalds is not mostly American in presentation and origin? Oh yeah, nowhere. Now that you mention it, however, Mc Cafe is a wholly Australian concept developed in Melbourne.
And once again your comprehension appears to be letting you down because the only three companies I mentioned above that have no connection to their US parents at all are Lowes (which is in an entirely different industry, clothing), Wendys and U-Haul and no, none of those three have any connection whatsoever with the US companies of the same name.
Lowes (USA) did try to enter the Australian hardware market as a 50% partner in Masters Hardware and lost several hundred million when it failed completely within three years.
I mostly shop online (the Netherlands) and will support smaller businesses more than the larger chains. In smaller shops you get better service and I'm happy to pay a few € more for it. McDonalds, KFC and burger King are doing fine here.
To Walmart Germany must be said, that they had several law suits breaking German law on workers rights and trade regulations. It looked like they thought they could do everything cause they are US American, "best in the world". Beside cultural problems not respecting German laws gets the Germans very upset. At the end no one wants to supply to them (!) and no one wants to buy from them (at last it wasn't cheaper nor better than in the established stores).
@@phillipbanes5484 There are two continents called North America and South America.
Together they are 'The Americas'. Anyone from any of a couple of dozen countries in those two can call themselves 'American', but that doesn't mean what many think.
One of these continents (the Northern one) contains a country called 'The United States of America', which is the southern half of North America, not including Canada, as well as the Central American region, the several countries in that thin bit between North and South American continents.
I'm from Britain, and if I were to be called 'Scandinavian', I would be puzzled, as while Europe contains a region called 'scandinavia' among others, Britain is part of a region called The British Isles, islands containing four countries and some self-governing regions of it's own.
@Phillip Banes Vorurteil 100% bestätigt. Gratulation 😅
I was in America twice and visited Wendy's once. That was honestly enough for me. Wendy's just doesn't stand out in anything. There are similar fast food restaurants in Germany as well (no chain though) - you visit once and you know, you don't need to go there a second time.
Barbie is a copy of a German doll. The wife of Mattel owner bought a doll in Lucerne, Switzerland. The doll was marketed as Lilli, the doll from a German comic strip.
After that, they stole the design and marketed it as Barbie. So another German invention, that is oh so American, like a Hamburger.
The German doll was not a children’s toy.
@@katymcdonald5481 it was and the original Barbie was just 100% intellectual theft, since it was just a copy. The face looked identical.
@@kevinblankenburg4816 I’m not saying it wasn’t copied just that the original doll wasn’t made for children.
To be fair, it was a novelty doll, not something mass-produced and sold to a lot of people. Yet, it's true that Bild Lily was first and Ruth Handler simply bought the US rights and changed it into Barbie as we know her today (the first ones looked a lot like Lily). Lily even already had a scooter and a poodle.
@@cayreet5992 yes it sold in such small numbers that they even made movie based on the character... (In the 50s!) 130.000 pieces sold in Germany alone...
I hear a lot of excuses, but Germans are used to that the US is raping their child stories and toys back and forth. Aka Walt Disney. Or look up the story of the Teddy bear.
Uber also made a huge belly splash when they tried to launch in Denmark. Not sure how much info there is on it out in the world but man was it a story here. I honestly think it might be one of the shortest attempts made of any company trying to enter the danish market of any kind.
They operated for 2,5 year, then one of the drivers was hauled to court, and fined around $1000. Count deemed Uber to be a taxi service and not a rideshare. After that, the tax authorities took a look at the 2000 drivers and what if any, amount of what they had declared from their driving. As I remember, one had to pay US $ 12000 in undeclared income tax.
The company's spokesperson said at the time they where closed: "Basically we are not a traditional taxi service, we are an app." Well basically courts said you where an taxi service, because you made a profit on moving people around. Rideshare are nonprofit, and only share the expenses on fuel, oil etc.
The same happened in the Netherlands. Taxi companies filed a lawsuit because of unfair competition since a taxi license is pretty expensive and of course none of the uber drivers had one. Uber also tried arguying that they where just a ridesharing app, but they did some research and found that the majority of drivers worked fulltime. They still operate here, but now they are a chauffeur service and as far as I know the drivers have to found a microbusiness with themselves as the only employee before being able to offer rides on the app. (Which arguably puts almost all negative consequences from that lawsuit on the drivers unfortunately)
Interesting that there was no mention of employee wages and working conditions. I know some American companies have had legal difficulties when ignoring the employee protection legislation in foreign locations.
That's the main reason US companies fail in the UK and across Europe.
I ate at a Wendy's in Idaho with my son once. We both got so sick, so never again a Wendy's.
And Uber is banned in Denmark as they would not follow Danish law.
Here in Luxembourg, the bigest fail I would say is Subway. They opend so many stores... but we have real bread here and sandwiches. And of course Starbucks failed to because we have a large Italian and Potuguese community that does the best cofee in the world. Mac donald's is sucesfull (like almost anywhere in the world because they adapt at least some of their products to the locals). But another one is doing really great and that is Burger King now opening multiple stores and are doing well (I eat there in average once a month).
Cultural differences are always going to be the biggest stumbling block, especially when it comes to countries like China and Japan, their attitudes are just so different over a lot of things than here in the west.
As for this particular Brit, the main reason I shop online is due to the dominance of chains, which I believe very much restrict choice.
If you take tools for example (I'm a gardener/landscaper), if I need a new spade, all the chains stock roughly the same items from the same manufacturers, which are ok, but the ones I know to be the strongest, best balanced etc are hardly ever stocked so I use independent retailers or buy direct.
If the price difference is not too great, I will always support local businesses first.
As for food chains, McDonalds are my least favourite burger but apparently there's a lot of difference between the UK and USA menus.
I don't drink coffee so Starbucks means little to me apart from the fact that one time when I had no other choice but to use them, they were able to produce the absolute worst cup of tea I've had in my entire life.
Funny thing that some things are the same across areas, the thing with what chains stock and even different chains stocking the same thing is also something i have experienced in austria. My problem why i do shop online for maybe 50% of my things is that in the last decades the staff in the chains declined in knowledge to a level that is almost comical.
Some time ago i wanted to buy something in an electronics store and had a question abuot a funciton. The answere i got by the guy i asked was "i only work her on saturdays"... I had several enoucnters where the staff that's responsible for items knows less about the stuff they should advise the consumer about than the consumer themself.
Small shops who aren't part of huge chains are usually better with that, but for years now i do not even anticipate the person in the shop to be able to answer a question.
So i have to research online anyways.
As for fast food restaurants: since august 2000 i entered one for a single time, and that was to use the bathroom.
I don't drink coffe either, but it's sad that young people and tourists in austria go to starbucks when there is a very long lasting and rich coffe culture in the cities. (All the cafes had 20+ kinds of coffee long before Starbucks, but not because they used different milk replacments....)
@@nirfz We have a number of, ironically, Chinese run small shops that deal with computer supplies, repairs [and mobile phones/repairs] and their owners actually do know what they are talking about. If you want something they will ask what you are intending to use it for and can usually give you a couple of other suggestions so you have a choice. I've been using them for years now [the African owned ones are also incredibly good with knowledgeable and helpful owners as well] and for computer/phone stuff I find they are much better than the larger more dedicated shops. You might need to wait a few days for an order to arrive but you get what you want and the prices are often cheaper because they add on less of a mark-up.
@@musicandbooklover-p2o Interesting! We don't heve these here. What we do have are small mobile phone oriented shops (but mostly second hand mobile phones) run by turkish migrants but i haven't actually visited one. So i can't say anything about their level of expertese.
Well, TBF the Chinese government set up a lot rules and regulations deliberately designed to limit the influx of foreign companies while at the same time doing everything to promote similar Chinese companies. It isn't just a culture issue when it comes to China, but the fact that the government intentionally is making it as difficult as possible for any foreign company to operate with as little help and as many obstacles as they can, while usually having a personal interest (somebody in government will have a financial interest in any major Chinese company) to give the Chinese companies huge local advantages. It is not ever an equal and fair market by design. But then, most of those foreign companies kind of asked to be in that mess, lured in and blinded by the prospects of the size of Chinese market, without doing any research further.
So with China, it isn't really a culture issue, or at least it's hard to tell, as it is more obvious that the political obstacles are the primary reason most foreign companies only have a very small impact and share on what should be such a large market. The other is that most of foreign made goods are simply too pricey for the average low-middling income Chinese (most of the population), who will then buy the much cheaper made, lower quality, functional but for a short time product. Cultural differences I would think is only really a less frequent cause of any company failing in China specifically where people that could opts out of buying for that specific reason. Sure it can be the cause, but with China I'd first look closely and make sure to eliminate all other potential causes that there might be and were more likely first. Regardless of what the company claimed as the cause.
🤣 Starbucks produce the worst coffee too and I will say Spain is not known for be the most picky country with our coffee. I only had this one cup of ¿coffee? in USA and I was incapable of drink a quarter of it. And it was the smaller one. Why they drink this bucket of dirty water and call it coffee?
I live in the UK and don't even remember Best Buy even opening here!
Fully agree with Starbucks being bad. Costa Coffee at a push, but there are really good independents everywhere now :)
I remember me and my dad buying coffee from Costa's when we were on vacation in the UK. It was the second worst coffee I've ever drank but fortunately we found a nordic coffee shop with great coffee
Ironically when my daughter tried Costa hot chocolate drinks she was ill, even the coffee makes her throw up so I'd love to know what they use other chains don't Not willing to try one myself.
Friend of mine once said that eating at McDonalds is like self-pleasuring. Everybody's done it at least once, some of us do it LOTS, but nobody ever wants to talk about it. :)
As far as I know, Wendy's never attempted to open in Australia and I think one reason is because there is an existing chain named Wendy's but they are quite different. Wendy's Australia are a chain of kiosk stores in shopping malls who sell shakes, coffee and doughnuts, not burgers or fries. The battle to use the name wouldn't be worth the effort. Not to mention the existing competition from McDonald's and Hungry Jacks.
FYI, Zeller’s (the store Target “replaced “) is coming back to Canada! Of course I don’t know if it will be as good as it was before but I’ll check it out. Greetings from your neighbour (notice spelling 😊 ) to the North 🇨🇦🇨🇦.
14:45 In Germany most people do either buy online or go to large markets, in out case Media Markt or Saturn (both are owned by Ceconomy AG and therefore not really competitors but more like sister companies.)
There are very few small electronic stores elft, however the death of those was not the large markets, it was the online shops which heavily undercut the prices the small stores where able to offer and forced most of them out of business.
People go to local shops to get advice about products and then order the same thing online. Noone can survive like that.
@@ivans.9303 No, they just dropped service. We have Saturn in the city and media markt in the neighbor city and people can order online. We had a few electronic and white ware (washing machines, fridges etc.) stores. The only one of those small stores that still exist and make good money is the one that still has his own technicians, offers free install and delivery even late in the evening and you can call the shop if the machine is defect and they repair it in your home and if they can't offer a replacement for the repair time. They are a little more expensive, but the option to call them even on a weekend if there is a problem like a broken freezer and get a replacement until repaired is it worth. And if you are someone who is poor, they have cheap used and tested items with a year of warranty. Nothing you get online or at Saturn/media markt.
But I don't see the advantage buying local if I still have to call the manufacturers service if there is a problem and have to wait 4 weeks until they arrive. I buy local because of the service and if they decide not to have the service their problem that nobody want to buy local. Another thing to buy local is that you need it fast and many of those local shops give you the 'we have to order it' - sorry, but that is something I can do myself and get it delivered to my home without the need to drive into the town.
Target Australia and Target US are completely separate companies that just used the same name by coincidence.
In the meantime one of Germany's biggest discounters ("Aldi") is present in the US as "Trader Joe's". A name they use over here for a few selected products like salted peanuts or chips.
Right and wrong - Aldi Nord is Trader Joe's and Aldi Süd is Aldi USA.
Best buy is very similar to a chain in Australia called JB Hi-fi. We tend to have large chain stores for those types of goods too. Harvey Norman is another one. We do have small independent stores too but people tend to duck into a JB or whatever as there's more around.
Walmart wanted to launch in Australia a few times over the years but I believe they wouldn't agree to our work conditions (our minimum wage etc) so I can't see them ever coming here.
I am extremely happy Walmart is not coming to Australia. I lived in China for a few years where Walmart is popular and to my horror I saw within their supermarkets Chinese Communist Party propaganda placards conspicuously located.
Years ago Dick Smith's was the place for electronic bits and pieces.
@@LynetteMcGrath ah yes! I forgot about Dick Smith! Them too.
I still wonder how Costco is surviving here in Australia. From what I see it does not look like their employees have a lunch room or anything.
Despite the identical logo, name and similar type of outlets, *Target Australia* carries no direct relation or affiliation to the American big box retailer Target Corporation. and *Wendy's Australia* is a completely unrelated franchise. I believe that Wendy's US planned to open here, but the name was already taken. Wendy's US is a burger joint, Wendy's Australia is an ice cream store.
Is Wendy's Australia still a thing haven't seen any store or ads for them in years.
@@killzoneisa if you are referring to australian wendys yes they're still going
@@top40researcher31 Good.
That’s crazy and would like to try the Wendy’s icecream when we visit there one day. Thanks for the info :)
I do like Wendy’s ice cream during summer.
There’s a Baskin and Robins near me and my nieces and I tried it, just to see the difference I guess. No where near as good as Wendy’s or the local stores lol
In Australia a few years back a company called "masters" tried to take on our prized "Bunnings" for home and construction hardware. I think its been one of the larger flops ive withnessed in this country in my life time
We have TARGET in Australia, however they have nothing to do with the American TARGET. Coincidently they both started in the same year, however the company in Australia had been going for many years under a different name. The Australian Target story began in 1926 when two men, George Lindsay and Alex McKenzie, opened a drapery store in Geelong, Victoria after signing a partnership the previous year. The store primarily sold dress fabrics, manchester and furnishings. A pioneer of discount retailing, Lindsay's business methodology was 'half the profit, twice the turnover'.
After acquiring the original store from Lindsay in 1957, Geoff Betts, John Wade and their team grew Lindsay's original discount retail philosophy from its single store base in Geelong to a statewide multistore business.
By 1968, Lindsay & McKenzie Pty Ltd had grown to 14 small stores around Victoria. Myer Emporium Ltd, recognising the potential for growth, bought the business and the company became Lindsay's Target Pty Ltd.
In March 1973, we became Target Australia Pty Ltd, and in August 1985, the Myer Emporium Ltd and GJ Coles & Coy Limited merged, becoming Coles Myer Limited. In 1996 Fosseys and Target merged, and in 1999, Fosseys stores were converted into Target stores, bringing the benefits of our services and fashion to regional areas.
I'm glad I read the comments! You just beat me to it 🙂 Good description of Target in Australia however you can add that it's now owned by Wesfarmers which also own Bunnings and K Mart.
@@ballantynemoyes8019 And Wesfarmers have now shut down a lot of the Target stores in Qld, especially in shopping centres where there was a Target and a KMart. In some places the Targets were rebranded as KMart.
@@LynetteMcGrath same in NSW. I live in the country. We had a Country Target in my town and a regular target in the nearest city about 45mins away. They closed ours down and turn the other into a Kmart Hub which is Kmart but without anything useful.
@@esmeraldagreengate4354 Same here, I live in a rural town but the Target closed (now Smart dollar) in Cooma because of the stupid reason the bank did: The outdoor place was trying to buy the whole street. Mind you the bar across the road had the owner rat on the publican.
@@havanadaurcy1321 damn. Small town politics are the worst.
The Australian Target started in 1926 with 300 stores. In the US the Dayton company opened Target in 1962 with an identical logo. There is no other connection other than the name and logo. It's one of those rare moments when the US literally ripped off an Australian company.
Target Canada might be the most epic failure we'll know in a long time. People had a certain attachment to Zellers and it was like a must for the middle class, a sort of predecessor to Walmart. And when Target took over, not only did they not had a good supply chain but what people mostly didn't appreciate were the prices. A lot of people in Canada were expecting US low prices and the same merchandise, which wasn't the case. I went a few times to Target and it almost looked like a discount store, the clothes were out of fashion, and the rest were not stuff that you wanted. I never bought anything except a small wine cabinet when they were selling everything before closure. Something that hurt them a lot too was that a lot of the locations they took over were very close to Walmarts, as Walmart had opened its stores close to the Zellers locations... so Walmart was doing much better right next door and Target never really managed to be threat for all the things they got wrong.
In Canada, I feel like the zellers shopping experience was similar to other major retailers like Walmart or target in the US, but zellers was completely absorbed and replaced by target as a direct downgrade, I feel like supply chain issues were not really that big since stores were stocked enough where they didn't feel empty, but it felt like they were stocked with junk that no one in the US wanted, so they sent it to Canada. people might've actually went and shopped there if they had stuff people actually wanted, it was common to see store wide sales of more than 90% off when they were trying to get rid of and sell anything at all but it was all junk until they just closed since no one would buy anything even with the big sales.
Our Target opened in the spring and closed that same fall... never had anything in stock and what there was, was crap! (Today, it's a huge empty room, in our mall)
As someone who's been to mcdonalds in quite a few european countries i can tell you the menu isn't really "bigger" imo. It's just that some items cater to local tastes. They also have special time limited promotional burgers which are sometimes influenced by local foods. In Germany they occasionally sell pretzel bun burgers for example.
But they aren't all available at the same time or place. So if you made a list of all the different items mcdonalds sold in europe over a year it would be huge. But you'd have to be in the right country at the right time to actually get them.
The promotional burgers are even more selective. They are regional. For example there was a fish burger in north Germany but you couldn't get it in south Germany.
I actually work for US corp here in EU. Talking with middle management people and trainers about how this company went through struggles and how their previous employers failed always boils down to disregard of European laws that usually favour customer and the employee. Many standard practices in motherland are actually criminal on this side of the pond.
While McDonalds and Burger King do reasonably well in Germany (McDonalds does better, but Burger King is holding on), Wendy's actually failed to establish itself here as well. Apart from the two big ones, Germany also has had 'Kochlöffel' (literally 'cooking spoon') for quite a while, which is a smaller version of the same principle. Wendy's simply failed to find their market share here.
I think the biggest problem for quite some American brands is that they assume customers want to be treated the same everywhere, but as many have already pointed out, Europeans hate invasive greeter culture. We want to browse in peace and shop as we want to. We're asking for assistance when we need it, we neither want to chat nor to be courted nor to be watched.
In addition, many of us prefer the more individual local stores to the big brands - precisely because they offer something more unique than products which are the same everywhere. You'll be able to find your favourite bread, coffee, or whatever with a bit of testing and it will be much more to your personal taste than the 'one size fits all' standardised products of big brands like Starbucks.
Australians also hate invasive greeter culture..
Yeah, I'm German and when I'm browsing and there are sales persons that ask every 5min if they can help me I leave the shop without buying. If I want help I ask, I'm no toddler that need help. I lived in the US and and shopping there was always creepy. First the greeters, then the permanently exaggerated friendly sales persons, then the cashiers that always wanted to small talk and last the baggers in the grocery shops.
Costco has not taken off in Australia. They only have 14 stores Australia wide.
costco is work well in Australia, the only reason there is few stores is the population density as they will only appear in capital citys or larger towns off 200k plus people. Here in Melbourne they are always packed with people.
I'm from Melbourne, the coffee capital of Australia.
I remember Starbucks making their attempt and it was immediately viewed as an inferior product, mass produced, with less trained staff. It had no chance against the decades of immigrants from Italy, Turkey, Spain, and Vietnam who all made traditional coffee WAY better and at better prices.
They are actually still around but in smaller number and they cater to the more eccentric, sweeter toothed Gen Z and late millennial crowd who aren't as picky about coffee quality so long as there's a few extra pumps of caramel flavouring.
I expected to see Taco Bell's Failed Attempts to open locations in Mexico... but was informative to learn about the other business in another countries
To this day I am kinda amazed the Golden Seagulls are that big.
They are my last choice when I look for a fastfood joint.
Food is bleh, countless times the burgers and fries have been cold when using drive through.
Only place lower for me is a local brand, due to some issues several years back. (like attacking a different brand, that was way older but got to close due to "stealing a similar name and logo" )
heard a old guy compare starbucks coffee with wartime replacement coffee. "roasted grain"
Pablo was a cheap brand of granulated coffee that was sold in Australia in the 60' s to may be the early 70's. It was awful but often seved at social functions.
As a Canadian that lived 2 blocks away from one of the Targets, I can say their problem wasn't one of culture. Almost all of the stores in Canada are US chains, with a few exceptions. Their problem was logistics. Maybe they should have jumped more slowly into the market, or shared warehouses with northern US stores. But they had only a few warehouses to cover 130+ stores across approx 5000 miles. Then another mistake, Target has/had a policy that if stock was out in an item, they wouldn't fill shelves with something else. They left the shelf bare in the spot where that product was supposed to be, so when you walked into the store you would see aisles of bare shelves. Most Canadians I know, myself included like Target US stores, and I am sure they could have popped up a few more warehouses, or cut the number of stores in half until they figured out their issues. But instead they closed all 133 stores on the same day.
Uber's business model is sketchy AF. Unsustainable in any place that cares about working conditions.
small fun fact about Uber: In Germany Uber is just an app to call a local licenced taxi company or to rent an e-bike/e-car.
because people need an extra license to transport people as a business. If uber would be the same here as in the US and I want to drive for them, I first have to get that license.
@@fusssel7178 and you have to register a business.
@@nirfz I love beaucracy (well, it makes sense in certain cases)
Target Australia is owned by Wesfarmers, not the American Target
We in Germany have FiveGuys that does really well, delicious burgers... but expensive I must say.
Like in the US the MacDonalds fry's over here in Belgium are equally uneatable and a farce compared to how fries should taste and look. Remember Belgium invented the pommes frites, wrongly named French Fries in the US and therefore a historical discussion between Belgium and France.
In 1996 I went to see KISS in Brussels for their reunion tour. Paul Stanley shouted: "I'm glad to be back in the land of the French Fries!!". He got no response whatsoever, so he quickly resumed with "You know, pommes frites?". 🙂
Target is an Aussie staple, or at least it was for many years, great for cheap baby clothes that the kids go out of in two weeks. Although I hear their sales have dropped significantly in the last few years. Wendy's here just got rebranded as Hungry Jacks and is still going strong, and is very popular. As for Starbucks well I had their coffee while I was in the US and it tasted like last nights dish water strained through a old gym sock, blah. Come to Melbourne and I'll show you what real coffee looks, smells and tastes like
My husband and I visited the US in the late 90s and tried Starbucks coffee for the first (and last!) time...
The strong coffee culture (started by Italian immigrants after WW2) that we have in Sydney and Melbourne (and I'm sure other cities as well) is far superior and a much more pleasant experience...
Target in Australia isnt the same as Target in the USA.
"The Target story began in 1926 when two men, George Lindsay and Alex McKenzie, opened a drapery store in Geelong, Victoria after signing a partnership the previous year. The store primarily sold dress fabrics, manchester and furnishings. A pioneer of discount retailing, Lindsay's business methodology was 'half the profit, twice the turnover'.
After acquiring the original store from Lindsay in 1957, Geoff Betts, John Wade and their team grew Lindsay's original discount retail philosophy from its single store base in Geelong to a statewide multistore business.
By 1968, Lindsay & McKenzie Pty Ltd had grown to 14 small stores around Victoria. Myer Emporium Ltd, recognising the potential for growth, bought the business and the company became Lindsay's Target Pty Ltd."
Source Target Australia history page.
The group that owns Target here in Australia recently closed half their stores and changed them over to K-mart (which the same parent company owns) A lot of it was because of the pandemic but even before then many stores were losing money so downsizing was in order anyway. Target is still my preferred store but like most people do in this day and age, shop online and see who has the best price and then get things delivered if possible.
I'm not sure about the rest of Australia but here in Adelaide, Wendy's was a hot dog and ice cream place. They only had little shops inside the shopping malls but was always good to get a bit to eat when out shopping. They closed a few years ago and were taken over by Golden North (which is an ice cream company based a couple hours drive north of Adelaide)
The key point for ANY business whether it be expanding overseas or just to new locations within your own country is to research your market and know if it is going to be worthwhile investing the money there.
Uber on the other hand just doesn't care. They are happy to use unscrupulous tactics, coersian of governments and dodgy practices to FORCE customers to use them and make it hard for the local taxi companies to survive, then when the taxi companies have gone and all that is left is Uber, they bump their prices up to HIGHER than what the taxi fares were before Uber. They are happy to run at a loss for a while as long as they takeover the market. Just before the pandemic in 2018, Uber ran at a US$5,000,000,000+ ($5 Billion) loss and didn't care because they knew in the long run all the new markets they just expanded into would eventually become a profit for them. Not only are they banned in China, but also Denmark, Hungary, Thailand, Germany (ironic given Uber is a German word) Bulgaria, Italy (only available in 8 cities) Romania (only available in 10 cities) Canada and Australia also have such strict regulation on how Uber operates and many major Canadian cities had it outright banned initially including Vancouver, Toronto and the whole of Quebec. I have also heard reports that London in the UK was looking at trying to get Uber banned so as not to ruin the livelihood of the drivers of the famous Black Cabs
My daughter was the Manager who was in charge of that process - moving some Target staff to K-Mart and retrenching the remainder. Can confirm this was already in place before 2020. Needless to say, she chose to leave after that experience.
London was partly because Uber were using drivers without doing police checks - I think this also happened in other UK cities. Turned out they were employing convicted sexual predators and a number of passengers were attacked. Then they also tried to state that as the drivers were self employed they weren't entitled to holidays and other basic rights, that didn't work either and the courts sided against Uber. I think there was a case in Greece where another unchecked Uber driver picked up a group of girls and the next time they were seen was a bodies, it took a while to solve but eventually they caught the bloke.
To say they are unethical is a major understatement, seems they don't care who them employ and certainly don't believe in paying for police background checks, the basics for any taxi driver to be employed. Yet some on this channel still claim Uber are much safer to use than a taxi is (apparently because you can't hail them on the street, they are tracked and have to register if they pick up a passenger [which relies on an honest driver] and credit cards must be genuine and not fake - which applies to taxis as well.
I wouldn't trust them and I'm not certain they are that big in Ireland, lots of different taxi companies and you can't flag them down on the streets either [some you can, depends on the licences] and their drivers have to have police checks, display official ID cards in the cabs and if you are at all doubtful of the ID or the driver you simply don't get in and ring the police. Not sure if Uber have official photo IDs in their cars but if you don't have to pass a police background check then I wouldn't trust the ID anyway.
@@joanneburford6364 In the US, Target is popular and K-Mart is all but out of business. I think they only have something like 3 stores left in the USA. They're owned by different companies, too. They're completely separate from each other. I used to work weekends at K-Mart several years ago, until it closed. K-Mart merged with Sears. Now both are mostly defunct. All three companies got their start in the American Midwest, K-Mart and Target in the mid-20th Century and Sears at the end of the 19th Century. All three were retail giants in the USA once upon a time, now Target is the last one standing.
@joannesmith2484 different types of markets between the two countries and possibly the range. We have never had Sears in Australia. It's like your Starbucks failed here due to our taste for real coffee. We did start McCafe in McDonald's (Maccas) in Melbourne though and you also have Bluestone Lane coffee shops there to give you an idea of what our market is for brekkie (breakfast).
@IvliaVespa uber must vary from country to country. Apparently Melbourne is the largest user globally. I've heard our requirements are stricter but that doesn't stop some cowboys. Ubers have basically replaced taxis here as the taxi standard was so bad.
Greetings from Germany. Walmart hired for lowest possible wages that resulted in unmotivated employees and very dirty and caotic stores. I personally experienced a Walmart that had pig fat or fatty pork belly under some of the shelves, because to move the heavy shelves the employees put them on the fat to slide them around.... of course it started rotting. My mother took me 2 or 3 times there to get cool American sweets but the store got dirtier and creepier so we didn't go there anymore. At that location later was a "real" with similar concepts, products (-cool american imports) and same size and it worked.
Don't treat your employees like shit and hire from the bottom of the barrel then maybe your store will not look like a catastrophe took place after 2 months.
Anywhere Walmart fails is a *good* thing for all of us. It's modern day slavery which shouldn't be allowed anywhere in the developed world.
Canadian here. I was not surprised Target failed here. From day one, I saw whole aisles empty or near empty. The prices were not worth it, and the selection was very limited. You could just see this countdown clock ticking from day 1.
I'm surprised about Best Buy in the UK only surviving two years. I'm surprised because I didn't know they had set up shops there. Which to me is shocking because I live there.
I wasn't aware they were here either and I'm a PC builder. It's been very rare for me to buy any PC parts over the counter in the UK (over 30 years), as getting it delivered to your door is just easier.
Starbucks failed hard in Australia. Some of the comments from people who tried it can't be repeated under community guidelines
That's what happens when you try to pass horse piss off as coffee
Lol.
Also that *you won something * comment is fake, it’s a scam, please don’t engage in it. That’s not IWrocker
Germans here. about 15 years ago i kept standing in front of starbucks and wanted to buy something - but the prices started at 6€, while the normal cafes started at 1€. I couldn't and didn't want to afford that! many of my friends feel the same way. there were no opening prizes like other chains, not even coupons after they flopped, to make you go inside even once.
on the other hand, i often went to wallmart to buy clothes. Prices were very low there, but no one knew the brands, so at work, you didn't look like you belonged to the lower class. the strange greeters were really creepy. I always thought these employees had done a great deal of crap and would now be punished with this embarrassing work! that's worse than having to clean the customer toilets!
I definitely think that McDonalds in Iceland should be on this list.
Starbucks in Italy was a quick and nasty death too 🤣
Also it's no surprise that Starbucks failed here in Australia.
We have a strong coffee culture (started by Italian immigrants after WW2) which is very apparent in Sydney and Melbourne (and other cities as well).
I hate shopping and hate crowds so only go shopping at shops if I really need a specific thing and I get in and out. Unless it’s bunnings where I spend at least 3 hours getting what I need in there lol
My husband is exactly the same!
It's fascinating that Americans call things like McDonald's a "restaurant". Despite that's what they call themselves, I think everyone else around the world see it as just a fast food place. A "restaurant" is a place you sit down and order from a menu and is served at the table. McDonald's is more like a roadside cafeteria where you order and pay upfront and bring your own food from the cashier. It's seen as crappy warm meal option for people in a hurry, rather than a place you go if you have time to choose anything else.
Also nice to read -> "McDonald’s Flop of the Century: Why Did Bolivia Reject the Global Food Chain?"
In Australia, it's McDonalds that is ridiculously popular, they always are packed with huge lines. Starbucks still exists, but there sure aren't a lot. I like it mainly for things like the frappucinos, which most local coffee shops don't do - the main focus for them is the traditional coffees like latte, cappucino etc.
There are a few Starbucks in the Eastern Australian states. These few stores are mainly for the comfort of Chinese and American tourists.
I've only been to Wendy's twice. We totally heard about them overhere (the Netherlands), but obviously they have no restaurants here, so while in the USA, I just had to try them. They seem ok. Many years later I was at an airport in the USA, and there was a Wendy's there, which I totally appreciated, and that was the 2nd time I had a meal at a Wendy's. Predictable food and service is quite a good thing at the airport... There also was a KFC and a Burger King there... but I can get those at home as well.
Internet will eventually push Currys PC World out of market in the UK, just like ToysRus a few years back. The big out of town megastores are just not cost effective. Best Buy weren't competing with mom + pop stores.
This video can be told in a sentence. US company: "Hey, HERE I AM! I know you have been waiting for me, so i bought half the country. Now LOVE ME!".
But probably these are their learning lessons, as lot's of times they are working well in Europe like McDonalds, Starbucks etc. But they start in small, and adapt to the local culture.
Ebay and amazon are kind of understandable. Over here, in Hungary, Europe, we have hundreds of web-shops where you can order for a fraction of the price, and for 1-3€ shipping. We have delivery boxes too, where you just have to put in the code and get the stuff. Amazon, etsy, ebay, are really good for unique items, but they are and their shipping too is expensive.
I had the experience that this is different in Germany. Ebay and amazon are most of the times cheaper and the local stores quality went down the drain. Until a few years ago if you bought something bigger like a washing machine in a local shop you paid a little more than online, but installing, delivery and removing the old one was included and they even came after hours if you got problems because of work. And if there was a service case they sent their own technician to repair the thing. Now it doesn't matter where you buy it, you have to pay for installing, delivery and you have to wait for an external technician if there is a problem - same as if you bought it online, but more expensive. Why should you buy in local stores. Adding to that, the selection of local shops is limited. I can't count how often I got the info 'we have to order that' when I need something - and that is something I can do myself and have it delivered to my home without the need to drive to the shop to get it.
Another thing is that the online presence of most German shops are nothing more than v-cards. You can't see what they have, you can't order online. Most of the time there is just a number to call if want something and you still have to drive to the shop to order etc. and if they have a web shop most of the time their prices are even higher than those in their shop. But they are whining they are loosing customers and that is no surprise with the non service policy of many shops. Shops that offer good service or service you don't get anywhere else even if they are a little more expensive are successful.
A tried amazon a few years ago as they had become available in my country (the Netherlands). I decided not to use it because they did not accept the online pay method most popular here (ideal), instead they only accepted credit cards. I didn't even own one of those.
@@tamsel814 Ohhh yeah. Don't like it when websites ask for credit card info. We always have official banks as the mediums for that.
I worked for currys when Best Buy came, they destroyed them, it was easy, they went full American, never go full American. As you walked in someone jumped on you, people hated it 😂🤣
Clearly they failed to adapt to British culture.... btw here in Australia we also hate intrusive greeter culture (so fake and annoying!)
Curry's staff used to do that too, many years ago but learned to not be so pushy for potential sales.
Coffee and tea is soo much better at home than any coffee shop in my city. Proper high quality loose leaf with multiple ways I can brew it at home, freshly roasted beans and only grinded when using for coffee. Both of these makes coffee and tea good enough I don't want to go out for it. I am not going to go out of my way to get garbage.
Trying to open a Barbie store in China, how little could you know about that country 🤣
A few restaurant chains failed or collapsed in Australia over the years except Taco Bell re-entered Australia, Starbucks because a specialty at your local Westfield sort of thing, Krispy Kreme became available at 7-Eleven and some OTRs and things as well as merchandising at Woolworths, Burger King folded into Hungry Jacks after Burger King attempted to constructively fire them, Sizzler folded into Taco Bell and now only operates company-owned in Asia, and Carl's Jr has recently entered Australia and is expanding rapidly. But NZ still gets Church's, Denny's, Wendy's and Pita Pit also.
Also there is a weird franchisee called Max Brenner which is a US-based Israeli-domiciled chocolatery. It spent all its money on its headquarters and collapsed into voluntary administration after experiencing a meanwhile downturn and closed many stores, then was taken into receivership after a takeover was abandoned but last time I checked it finally found one.
Lol I was wondering what happened to Sizzlers
@@someonerandom8552 It stopped operating in Australia and Taco Bell happened to be re-franchised off to Collins. Sizzler also is estranged from the US chain which also filed for bankruptcy protection a few years ago due to the pandemic. Collins currently owns Sizzler Asia
Burger King was already trademarked in Australia
@@bluedog1052 Burger King did at least briefly exist during the 1990s then attempted to constructively terminate and sue Hungry Jacks in the 2000s
@@jordanferrazza8700 I was of the understanding that an Australian business had already trademarked that name in Australia. I do remember something about what you said but I thought that was Burger King US trying to take over HJs. Either way the burgers are better at Hungry Jacks, amen lol
As they talked about Wendy's I said to flat mate how maybe it's because of advertising..
McDonalds and Hungry Jack's (Burger King) advertise ALOT, that 'Maccas' is prob only second to Coke..
Then our video was interrupted by....a Macca's add 😂😂
In Europe we don't really have standalone stores. We have a lot of Malls. Each store within the mall sells a specific category (clothes, electronics, shoes, suits etc). Because of that we are all used to go to a specific store to buy our stuff. For example, I'm not going to go to something like Walmart or Target to buy a phone. I'll buy it from a store that only sells phones/tablets/PCs/TVs etc. They have more options, reputable brands and most of the time you won't even find what you're looking for anywhere else
Next time you visit a city in your country or other EU-member state: just look around. The smaller non-chain stores/resto's are everywhere. But do not visit the malls: they are the chain's "paradise".
What are you talking about? there are more malls than shops? of course not - there are much more small shop than malls, even if count the shops inside the malls... but the point is that the shops in the malls are always or mostly the same in the whole country, which is so boring.
Starbucks had tried in Italy several years ago but without success. They have tried again in recent years and now in the most touristic cities there are some Starbucks but only tourists drink their ''coffee'' . Domino's has also failed miserably in Italy. Come on guys… seriously? That's not pizza, I don't even understand why they tried.
Living here in Australia, We have Target and Kmart. Along with pizza hut and Mcdonald's. We also have Burger King but the Aussie version is called "Hungry Jacks".
Most of the pizza huts have closed down in WA now is just Domino's or local stores.
Our Target isn’t the same as the US one, apparently. It’s owned entirely by Aussie company Wesfarmers.
Kmart has just closed their last US store. Kmart here is not affiliated with the US one.
Target is unrelated, Kmart was related, Kmart US is also pretty much dead after about two bankruptcies and constant asset stripping
@@jordanferrazza8700 no Kmart Australia was never affiliated to the US. A lot of regional targets have been changed to kmart
I reckon Walmart would do alright in Australia, particularly the larger cities
I don't think so... Big W and Kmart have too big a foot hold!
They’d have to dramatically adjust their business strategy if they tried. Many of their practices violates federal law regarding Australian working rights lol
The WalMart in my hometown in Germany simply bought a run down old Supermarket building and didn't even care for the structural repairs. It looked so dilapidated from the Start and the fresh goods were almost always unsoundly checked, meaning meat was long overdue, fruit and veg was rotten more often than not. The Floor came apart and on the ceiling the Wiring hung open and looked unsere, like it would drop down on you if you didn't watch out.
Woolworths was first established in the US around 1900.
Business people from both the UK and Australia visited the US and saw how well the US Woolworth's business model worked so just took the ideas back to the UK and Australia and set up equivalent variety department stores using the Woolworth name and the best of the business style.
The US Woolworth's did not expect to expand beyond the US so did not trade mark the name Woolworth's.
The UK one lasted into the eighties while the Australian one morphed into Big W with Woolworth's being reserved for the developing supermarket chain.
Woolworths and Coles fight it out for number one supermarket chain in Australia.
As I remember the story anyway.
That scam bot been busy.
annoying AF. makes me not want to post. can't youtube do something about them
@@Lupi33z don't think they know how too deal with them or they care.
Ebay failed in many places, Poland is one of them. We have "allegro" 😀
I wouldn't say failed. For quite some time now I have bought my sneakers from a Poland based shop through Ebay. I am from Germany. So in some way, Ebay still is present in Poland, even if it is not being used by Polish customers. 🙃
Yeah, and allegro (its subsidaries in other eastern european countries are called aukro) is/was subsidary of QXL Ricardo, which itself is/was subsidary of Naspers, a south african media tycoon (Newspapers, etc.). As far as I know they went to stock exchange market and therefore not know the current owner structure of allegro anymore.
At the time I had a look at, it was like everywhere Ebay was not present, there was a Naspers company instead... but it has always got another name for national/regional markets and/or bought up national champions like Ricardo in Switzerland which was not rebranded. The UK brand was QXL if I remember right.
So just another big fish, probably just a bit smarter in understanding local markets or perhaps hiding itself not to be a recognized as big fish, who knows.
@@njordholm well...allegro was founded in Poznań (poland) in 1999 by Tomasz Dudziak (polish programmer. And then sold to QXL....
Now the company (rather whole Group incl. Other websites like otomoto, Ceneo, bankier) belongs to investment fund Group.
@@Taki_tam_ktos thx for input and -upgrade- update
I am Canadian and yeah. Target stores were empty, the shelves were just barren and it looked like some "Going out of business" store but the prices on everything were just higher than the Zellers they replaced, which was the main competition for Walmart, who had better prices and more to offer. So in the end, after the "lets check it out" period, people just went to Walmart. Target was dull, pricy and just didn't have anything you wanted.
Target in Canada looked like the baby between a "Going out of business" store and a Texas grocery store when they forecast an inch of snow.
Uber failed so hard in Sweden because we have cab-driver unions and also laws against the kind of wage system Uber uses