So...about Weight Watchers
The news coming out of corporate headquarters is not good.
The company posted a loss for 4th quarter 2015 and anticipates a loss for 1st quarter 2016.
The company has seen its revenues decline in recent years, but they did post a modest profit 4th quarter 2014.
I think they expected Oprah to work her magic. When she bought her shares in October, the price of shares soared. When she did her first commercial, the price of shares went up. When she did her second, there was a modest increase in the price of shares.
With the earnings report, the price of shares in Weight Watchers has dropped. A lot.
Some are blaming Oprah, that she's not as effective as she used to be in selling a product. But that's only one facet of the story.
People forget that Weight Watchers was in decline before Oprah invested. There are so many options available these days. Free apps like My Fitness Pal. Or tracking on the app that came with your Fitbit. Nutrisystem and Jenny Craig are also losing ground, and for the same reason.
And Weight Watchers has been plagued with website issues since November. Worse than the usual failures we same to know and expect from their IT department. Coupled with absolutely horrendous customer service, of course.
But what really did them in, I think, was the mass exodus of long term members who hate the new Smart Points program. A program that was tested for only 3 months before it was rolled out, a program that's still being revised, a program that has left a lot of people feeling frustrated and angry.
Jean Nidetch must be rolling in her grave.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
The company posted a loss for 4th quarter 2015 and anticipates a loss for 1st quarter 2016.
The company has seen its revenues decline in recent years, but they did post a modest profit 4th quarter 2014.
I think they expected Oprah to work her magic. When she bought her shares in October, the price of shares soared. When she did her first commercial, the price of shares went up. When she did her second, there was a modest increase in the price of shares.
With the earnings report, the price of shares in Weight Watchers has dropped. A lot.
Some are blaming Oprah, that she's not as effective as she used to be in selling a product. But that's only one facet of the story.
People forget that Weight Watchers was in decline before Oprah invested. There are so many options available these days. Free apps like My Fitness Pal. Or tracking on the app that came with your Fitbit. Nutrisystem and Jenny Craig are also losing ground, and for the same reason.
And Weight Watchers has been plagued with website issues since November. Worse than the usual failures we same to know and expect from their IT department. Coupled with absolutely horrendous customer service, of course.
But what really did them in, I think, was the mass exodus of long term members who hate the new Smart Points program. A program that was tested for only 3 months before it was rolled out, a program that's still being revised, a program that has left a lot of people feeling frustrated and angry.
Jean Nidetch must be rolling in her grave.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
In a way, it's sad but Weight Watchers was selling support more than anything else. Support in losing weight and keeping it off. Their customer service was horrible, as you mention. Their app was glitchy. The search function on their website didn't find food you were looking for half the time. When you are paying for support you should be getting support. I downloaded My Fitness Pal. I find the tracking function slow and frustrating, but I will continue to try to work with it. Wonderful lists of food - even has local store brands (i.e. Wegmans).Calories come up right away. I just need to work with it more (using my Kindle Fire). I know many people who love it. And it's free. Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com
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