Sears catalog was the original toilet paper, catalog goes back pretty far.
We often call out Walmart with its cheap Chinese product as the great destroyer, but what gutted retail are the warehouse stores selling premium goods, not $19 microwaves at Walmart.
Best response I've seen so far.
KMart is an easy thing to look at, manipulate and fix - it's your basic big-box cheap retailer, and Walmart is a clear competitor. Fix your stores, product selection and pricing and you'll be in a position to try and compete.
Sears is tough though. They have no direct competitor. Target, Walmart, Krogers or anyone else do not have the selection Sears has. It seems to be a pretty odd mix - our Sears stores seem to have a huge tools/lawn and garden selection, the big appliance section (Sears focus is now appliances, so no doubt it does okay), and lots of clothing. It's an odd mix.
I think the biggest issue is that you can't complete a project from Sears. You can go there and get the tools you need, but most people need mostly materials and just a few tools, so they end up at the BORG stores (Home Depot, Lowes, Menards, etc.) Now that Craftsman is Made in China, there is little reason to visit for tools at all - you can buy just about the same quality from the others for cheaper, they have a similar return policy at face value, and you can pick them up while you're picking up materials.
In terms of everything else, Sears has a much smaller selection than the discount wholesalers like Target, at higher prices. Kitchen/home goods, consumables for cleaning/personal care/etc., it's all small or nonexistent.
The problem is that the combination of spaces Sears has competed in for years, they now have
no similar competitors. Montgomery Wards is long gone. Nobody is trying to do what Sears does. Walk in Target or Walmart and look at the pathetic tool selection, or the two ************* lawn mores Walmart probably offers. Target and Walmart also have newer stores in up-and-coming areas, not a legacy of old real estate that leaves Sears locations with half the square footage they need to compete with any of the others. When people came to buy Craftsman tools, they hit the lumber yard next for their wood... they didn't do it all in one store.
Sears succeeded before the Internet, when they were a mail order business... like someone said, they failed to capitalize on the Internet as they should have. It seems they've tried a couple things but run pretty much on the same track to failure as they've been doing for a while.
I think the key to success down the road is a combination of shifting suppliers, inventory and store layout, perhaps adding square footage where needed and pulling out of some locations to focus on the more successful ones.
The Craftsman name brand needs to be built back up, not just for tools but for lawn and garden as well. They need to further their position as an "OEM" and find a way in to other retailers, and leverage proven manufacturing methods for things like tools and toolboxes so they don't have the highest price piece of **** out there like their current tool boxes, when you can hit HF for a much nicer one at half the price.
It's a tough spot to be in, but there is no right answer and nobody here has the #s and statistics to figure out what a good path should be.
