Survival In Doubt, Sears Struggles To Transform
Posted: 04-20-2017 01:16 AM
One of the biggest names in retail a century ago, in those early days, Sears Roebuck and Co. was like Amazon is today — a retailer of great disruption.
For Sears, it meant a path-breaking strategy of offering all sorts of merchandise in catalogs and building department stores in remote places with ample parking. Now, even Sears officials say its future could be in doubt — though they say they have plans to make sure the retail icon survives.
Sears' stature is far smaller these days amid a constantly changing retail landscape that brought with it the dominance of Amazon, the rise of e-commerce and big-box discount retailers. It has left brick-and-mortar stores reeling. Despite its merger with Kmart in 2005, Sears has consistently lost millions of dollars each quarter.
In a memo, CEO Eddie Lampert says Sears is taking decisive action to return to profitability and to become a new kind of retailer. Some analysts accuse Lampert of sucking the value out of the company, selling off its most marketable assets.
Then there's that line in Sears' recent annual report to federal regulators that states "substantial doubt exists related to the Company's ability to continue as a going concern." Leena Munjal, a Sears senior vice president in charge of retail operations, says reports of the company's demise are exaggerated.
"Do we have challenges? Absolutely," she says. "Just like many of the retailers out there and we are all trying to figure out what are the changes we need to make to our business models to be able to rise to those challenges."
Sears' transformation plan includes a membership program called Shop Your Way. Customers collect points they can redeem when they shop at Sears. The company has also worked on ways to make it more convenient for customers to shop online, or on their phones.
There are loyal past shoppers who haven't been in a Sears for years. Susan Mullen has fond memories of the store, but says she's not sure Sears' efforts to transform itself will work.
"It fits no niche. It's not a discount place. It's not high end," Mullen says. "It has no identity anymore. I guess it tried to be everything to everybody and it was very successful at that. But now it's nothing to nobody, which is sad."
FULL STORY
For Sears, it meant a path-breaking strategy of offering all sorts of merchandise in catalogs and building department stores in remote places with ample parking. Now, even Sears officials say its future could be in doubt — though they say they have plans to make sure the retail icon survives.
Sears' stature is far smaller these days amid a constantly changing retail landscape that brought with it the dominance of Amazon, the rise of e-commerce and big-box discount retailers. It has left brick-and-mortar stores reeling. Despite its merger with Kmart in 2005, Sears has consistently lost millions of dollars each quarter.
In a memo, CEO Eddie Lampert says Sears is taking decisive action to return to profitability and to become a new kind of retailer. Some analysts accuse Lampert of sucking the value out of the company, selling off its most marketable assets.
Then there's that line in Sears' recent annual report to federal regulators that states "substantial doubt exists related to the Company's ability to continue as a going concern." Leena Munjal, a Sears senior vice president in charge of retail operations, says reports of the company's demise are exaggerated.
"Do we have challenges? Absolutely," she says. "Just like many of the retailers out there and we are all trying to figure out what are the changes we need to make to our business models to be able to rise to those challenges."
Sears' transformation plan includes a membership program called Shop Your Way. Customers collect points they can redeem when they shop at Sears. The company has also worked on ways to make it more convenient for customers to shop online, or on their phones.
There are loyal past shoppers who haven't been in a Sears for years. Susan Mullen has fond memories of the store, but says she's not sure Sears' efforts to transform itself will work.
"It fits no niche. It's not a discount place. It's not high end," Mullen says. "It has no identity anymore. I guess it tried to be everything to everybody and it was very successful at that. But now it's nothing to nobody, which is sad."
FULL STORY