Retail & Online Business Overview

1. Sears Roebuck and Co.
Sears made history in 1974 when it
completed the 110-story Sears Tower in
Chicago.
Phase III

2. Initially the business was selling watches through mail order catalogs.
By 1894, the Sears catalog had grown to 322 pages, featuring sewing machines,
bicycles, sporting goods, automobiles.
A Year later clothing, dolls, refrigerators, stoves and groceries had been added to the
catalog.
The first Sears retail store opened in Chicago on February 2, 1925. They continued
expansion by opening stores in urban areas from 1925-1950.
Then in the 1950s, the company expanded into suburban markets, and malls in the
1960s and 1970s.
Iconic Heritage
1, 2

3. 1. Added Allstate Insurance Company in 1931.
2. Over the decades it established major national
brands, such as Kenmore, Craftsman, DieHard,
Silvertone, Supertone, and Toughskins.
3. Introduced the Discover credit card in 1985.
4. In March 2009, Sears purchased the social search
engine Delver.
Growth Through Diversifying
2

4. ● Although the brand was well re-knowned , many rural
dwellers who had no access to Sears retail stores at
the time used the Sears brand as a euphemism for
toilet paper because of them being mass-mailed.
● In the 90's Sear's excessive divesting into many non-
retail entities resulted in great loses to the company's
bottom line.
● In 1993, Sears stopped production of its general
merchandise catalog because of sinking sales and
profits. Sears Holdings continues to produce specialty
catalogs though.
Past Hurdles
3

5. Alan Lacy, Sears’ CEO, realized that Sears’ marketing strategies
should be based on an understanding of how consumers select
department stores while shopping for specific needs.
Few people are betting on a revitalization of the retail arm of
Sears; not even the company itself. In 2010, Sears announced
that it would sell its coveted Craftsman and Kenmore brands in
other retail stores like Costco.
Even though consumers aren’t selecting Sears very often, the
brands web platform and home services have a strong backing.
Sears Holdings is the nation’s largest provider of home services,
with more than 11 million service calls made annually.
Future of Sears
4

6. Media experts heavily criticize the Sears brand,
describing it as a hedge fund with money being
diverted from the maintenance and improvement of
stores to non-retail financial investments.
My belief is that Sears can survive by investing money
into becoming a leading online retailer, but many
investors believe that monetizing their many real
estate holdings and building their brands outside of
their retail stores is their best hope.
Future Cont.
4, 5

7. ● Problems causing company to fall behind:
● Struggling in CRM
● Struggling with supply chain management, resulted in
miscalculated inventories and high shrinkage
● Problem between company leaders over issues dealing
with how business runs.
● Spent millions of dollars to reposition themselves.
● CEOs blaming past` CEOs of poor management.
Barriers
6

8. The company needs to influence the consumers selection criteria:
● Public Awareness
● Value
● Price
● Reputation
● Location
Reassessment of the advertising campaign
● Relocation
● Specialize in fewer areas
Barriers

9. Goal is to attract the younger consumer, the biggest barrier
is the brick and mortar operations
Sears needs to engage and retain new customers. It is seen
more as an electronic, appliance, and auto retailer. It
hasn’t been able to engage younger consumers even
through its Kardashian Kollection.
This venture flopped due to poor advertising and due
diligence when they were forced to pull a number of
products because of copyright infringement from
designers Vera Wang, Alexis Bittar, and Monica Botiker
Cont.
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10. Online – over 20 million unique visitors monthly
● Consumer input is very prominent because of Sear’s very strong web
presence.
● Originally limited to older house moms and seniors, their breadth has
broadened over recent months.. Due to their strong web presence,
younger consumers have increased activity with the Sears brand
through digital portals.
● Sears also offers interactive promotions, like "People's Pick," which
lets customers vote for a discount from a pre-selected list. The product
with the most votes is put on sale the following weekend.’
● A Sears team also responds to customer complaints on Facebook and
Twitter.
Digital Landscape
8, 10

11. Sears creating a Yelp-like site called MySears.com where people can
comment on products and talk about the service they received.
Reviews can be accessed on a smart phone and product number at the
retail store to merge the offline and online brand identities.
Sears aims to use social media to promote transparency and customer
satisfaction.
Overall, digital can improve the brand image and has helped in
engaging new customers but restructuring is necessary to sway the
younger consumer to enter a Sears retail location especially for non-
electronic needs
Social Media
Sears social media ranks 3rd
behind Kraft Foods 1st
, and
McDonalds 2nd
.
9

12. 1. Clymer, Floyd. Treasury of Early American Automobiles, 1877–1925. (New
York: Bonanza, 1950), p.90.
2. http://www.searsarchives.com/history/
3. Book: Historic Sears, Roebuck and Co. Catalog Plant ISBN 0-7385-3977-5
4. The Washington Post, Risky Side of Sears: Retailer Is Recast As a Hedge
Fund, As Sales and Stores Decline, Chairman Focuses on Investment, March
11, 2007.
5. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/history-future-sears-212356783.html
6. Marketresearch.com
7. http://www.realitytea.com/2011/11/10/kardashians-accused-of-copying-
designs-for-their-kardashian-kollection-for-sears-plus-vera-wang-angry-at-
kim/
8. http://www.marketingvox.com/sears-and-kmart-try-the-social-media-my-
044015/
9. http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20111231/ISSUE02/312319985
10. http://siteanalytics.compete.com/sears.com/
References