SEARS lost almost $10 billion in the past six years. To survive, it has sold some of its best-performing stores plus stakes in Sears Canada and Lands’ End. In May it said it was exploring “strategic alternatives” for its Kenmore, Craftsman, and DieHard brands. Having sold the furniture and the silverware, it’s now trying to sell the bathtub and Grandma’s wedding ring says Fortune Mag. Its revenue last year was $25 billion vs. Walmart’s $482 billion.
So what went wrong? In a word, high prices.
Sears was bought by Kmart. Their stores have all the charm of a dollar store without the prices, nor even the service, and with even more disengaged employees. Bright fluorescent lights highlight the drab floors, peeling paint and sad displays of merchandising that are reminiscent of department stores in the communist Soviet Union.
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