1

Sears case study

AGENDA 2

1. Overview
2. Sears
Narrative
3. Catalogs
4. Stores

5. Brands
6. M&A
7. Culture

8. Decline
9. Summary
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overview
Sears Overview 4

Sears' Mission
To grow our business by providing quality products
and services at great value when and where our
customers want them, and by building positive,
lasting relationships with our customers.

Sears' Vision
To be the preferred and most trusted resource for the
products and services that enhance home and family
life.

Sears' Core Values

We must
 earn our customers' trust and business every day;
 act with integrity in everything we do;
 treat everyone fairly and value diversity;
 be accountable for our actions; and
 win as a team.
Sears Overview 5

Founded:
 1886; 132 years ago (legacy)
 1892; 126 years ago (first incorporation)
 1906; 112 years ago (second incorporation) in
Chicago, Illinois

Founders: Richard Warren Sears Alvah Curtis

Roebuck

Headquarters: Hoffman Estates, Illinois, United States

Number of locations: 506 (Q2 2018)[1]

Area served: United States, Mexico, Canada

Products: Clothing footwear bedding furniture

jewelry beauty products appliances housewares tools
electronics

Fate: Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

 6

Sears – Original philosophy

“Bring quality goods with a fair price to the American people, one
doorstep at a time. If you want to know about the American History, just
read a Sears Catalog”
 7

Sears
Narrative
In the Beginning - 1886 8

Picture America in the late 1880s Richard Sears and the beginning of Sears
The states were only 38 in number. Their total He was an agent of the Minneapolis and St.
population was 58 million and about 65 percent Louis railway station in North Redwood,
of these people lived in rural areas. Only a Minnesota. Sears job as station agent left him
dozen or so cities had 200,000 or more plenty of spare time, so he sold lumber and coal
residents. And the yearly national income was to local residents on the side to make extra
about $10 billion. This was the scene when, one money. Later, when he received a shipment of
day in 1886, a Chicago jewelry company watches - unwanted by a neighboring Redwood
shipped some gold-filled watches to an Falls jeweler - he was ready. Sears purchased
unsuspecting jeweler in a Minnesota hamlet. them himself, sold the watches at a nice profit
Thus started a chain of events that led to the to other station agents up and down the line,
founding of Sears. and then ordered more for resale.

In 1886 Sears began the R.W. Sears Watch Company in Minneapolis.

Sears Settles in Chicago - 1887 9

First Job Ads

The following year, Sears moved his business to
Chicago and inserted a classified ad in the Chicago
Daily News. "WANTED: Watchmaker with reference
who can furnish tools. State age, experience and
salary required. ADDRESS T39, Daily News."

Alvah [Link] – The co-founder

An Indiana lad, Alvah C. Roebuck answered the ad. He
told Sears he knew watches and brought a sample of
his work to prove it. Sears hired him. Here began the
association of two young men, both still in their
twenties, that was to make their names famous. For it
was in 1893 that the corporate name of the firm
became Sears, Roebuck and Co.
Sears Settles in Chicago - 1887 10

By the time Sears was started, farmers in rural

America were selling their crops for cash and buying
what they needed from rural general stores. But when
they laid their money on the line for goods, farmers
saw red. In 1891 the wholesale price of a barrel of
flour was reported to be $3.47. Price at retail was at
least $7, a 100 percent increase. Farmers formed
protest movements, such as the Grange, to do battle
against high prices and the "middleman."

Sears, Roebuck and Co. and other mail-order

companies were the answer to farmers' prayers.
Thanks to volume buying, to the railroads and post
office, and later to rural free delivery and parcel post,
they offered a happy alternative to the high-priced
rural stores. Years later the company adopted the
motto "Shop at Sears and Save." Because farmers
could do so in the 1890s, Sears prospered.
Mail-order Business 11

Takes Off - 1890s

Richard Sears was the guiding genius of the new mail-
order firm. He knew farmers, understood their needs
and desires. Better yet, he could write advertising
copy that made farmers send in their money and
orders.

Under Sears leadership, sales in 1893 topped

$400,000. Two years later they exceeded $750,000.
While the earliest catalogs featured only watches and
jewelry, the new firm by 1895 was producing a 532-
page catalog with many other items. This book
offered shoes, women's garments and millinery,
wagons, fishing tackle, stoves, furniture, china,
musical instruments, saddles, firearms, buggies,
bicycles, baby carriages and glassware, in addition to
watches and jewelry.
Mail-order Business 12

Takes Off - 1890s

Selling, advertising, merchandising - these were
Richard Sears' talents, not organizing the company
so it could handle orders on an economical and
efficient basis. That was left to Chicago clothing
manufacturer Julius Rosenwald, who bought into the
company in 1895.

The company's reorganization resulted in Rosenwald

becoming vice president. Sears retained the
presidency. Suffering from ill health, Roebuck
resigned, although the company still retained his
name. In 1901 Rosenwald became treasurer as well
as vice president. Five years later, needing additional
capital, Sears and Rosenwald for the first time sold
common and preferred stock on the open market.
The company has been publicly owned ever since.
 13

Sears business expanded fast. So fast, in fact that the company soon outgrew its rented five-story building. In
1896 Sears moved to a new six-story-and-basement building. By the turn of the century, additional buildings
were built or leased in various areas of Chicago. Meanwhile, construction was started on a 40-acre, $5 million
mail-order plant and office building on Chicago's West Side. When opened in 1906, the mail-order plant, with
more than 3 million square feet of floor space, was the largest business building in the world.
Sears Settles in Chicago - Early 1900s 14

As Sears expanded, Management followed

In 1906, Sears opened an office in Dallas, Texas, which six years later blossomed into a mail-order
plant. This plant offered the Southwest such advantages as lower freight rates, faster delivery and
reduced damage to merchandise. Sears wrote:

"If with this trial we can get any success, the next place will get the kind of preparation that will
insure success, and encourage us to cover the United States rapidly with 10 or more branches..."
Building mail-order plants was one thing. Making them operate efficiently was something else.
Around the turn of the century a customer complained: “For heaven's sake, quit sending me sewing
machines. Every time I go to the station I find another one there. You have shipped me five already.”
Sears Settles in Chicago - Early 1900s 15

Time Schedule Innovation

Sears mail-order executives knew of the problems and were as unhappy as the customers about
them. After much experimenting, they introduced a time schedule. Under it, each order, as it
arrived, was given a time to be shipped. Then no matter what happened, the order had to be in the
appropriate bin in the merchandise-assembly room at the assigned time. It traveled to the room by
an intricate system of belts and chutes.

The time-scheduling system brought order to mail order, enabling the Chicago plant, according to
one expert, to handle 10 times the business it handled before the system was introduced. Before
long, the system became a sort of "seventh wonder" of the business world. Henry Ford is reported
to have visited the Chicago plant to study the assembly-line technique used in the system.
Sears Settles in Chicago - Early 1900s 16

Catalog writing & Products quality improved

While some executives were perfecting the scheduling system, others were involved with other projects. Fanciful
catalog writing started by Sears became far less fanciful. What's more, buyers began looking beyond price tags
to the quality of the good they were buying. The change in the catalog from the flamboyant to the factual
appears to have started by the turn of the century, although Richard Sears' influence continued for some time
after. One Sears authority says the change to factual catalog writing came out of day-to-day decisions. Hundreds
of decisions about copy on specific products added up to a factually written catalog.

Not only did copy improve, but some products such as patent medicines were dropped. The 1912 catalog
devoted one less page to patent medicines than the 1911 catalog. The 1913 catalog came out solidly against
home remedies under the banner line "Why We Have Discontinued Patent Medicines." The improvement in the
quality of Sears goods goes hand in hand with the story of Sears laboratory. As early as 1905 the company
began insisting not only on accurate catalog descriptions but also on quality merchandise
Sears Settles in Chicago - Early 1900s 17

Sears Laboratory
The first laboratory opened in 1911 and, in time, became known as the "watchdog of the catalog" suggesting
minimum standards for some products spot-testing mail-order plant merchandise conducting scientific
comparisons between Sears and competitors' products.

Sears Catalogs
The Sears catalog has had a varied and interesting career. In the old days it sold "heavyweight, nice soft-finish,
black" wool cheviot coats for $4.98; men's suits for $9.95. It sold a "Stradivarius model violin" for $6.10 and an $8
brass banquet lamp for $2.30. The catalog, on occasion, was given away free; on other occasions it cost as much
as 50 cents.
Famous in catalog history is the plan Richard Sears used to put his wish books into the hands of thousands of
potential new customers. In 1905 Sears wrote to the company's best customers in Iowa, asking each to
distribute 24 catalogs among friends and neighbors. These customers sent Sears the names of people who
received the catalogs. When these people, in turn, sent in orders, the original customers received premiums for
their work: a stove, a bicycle or a sewing machine. With success in Iowa, the system was applied in other states.
Opening Retail Stores - 1925 18

Adapt to the switch of buying behavior: from catalog to retail stores

In 1906 Sears wrote: "We do comparatively very little business in cities, and we assume the cities are not at all
our field - maybe they are not - but I think it is our duty to prove they are not "

Nineteen years later, the time came for Sears, Roebuck and Co. to prove that cities were its field. The man who
proved it was Robert E. Wood, then a Sears vice president later to become president and board chairman. At
Sears, he garnered fame as the father of Sears retail expansion.

There were several reasons why Wood crusaded for Sears to open retail stores. For one thing, chain stores were
beginning to blanket the country and cut into Sears mail-order business. In 1914 there were about 24,000 chain
stores. Fifteen years later there were more than 150,000.

The whole face of the country was changing. With cars and modern roads, Sears rural customers were no longer
limited to shopping by catalog. Just as important, American cities were growing up, and Sears rural customers
were abandoning the farm for the factory. In 1900 rural population still outnumbered the urban population. By
1920 the situation was reversed.

City dwellers, Wood reasoned, weren't good catalog customers. They shopped in city stores. Unless Sears
opened stores of its own, it would end up serving only a small fraction of the total American buying public. As
soon as he was on the job, Wood moved.
Opening Retail Stores - 1925 19

Adapt to the switch of buying behavior: from catalog to retail stores

Early in 1925, he experimented with one store located in the Chicago mail-order plant. It was an immediate
success. Before the year was out he opened seven more retail stores, four of them in mail-order plants. By the
end of 1927 he had 27 stores in operation.

The retail operation grew to 192 stores in 1928, to 319 stores in 1929 and to 400 stores in 1933. During one 12-
month period in the late 20's, stores opened on the average of one every other business day. When two huge
stores opened in one city on the same day, more than 120,000 people visited them during the first 12 hours they
were open. As one authority put it, "Leases can't be signed fast enough, stores can't be readied fast enough,
personnel can't be hired fast enough."

The principle of Sears buying began to change in the late 1920s. Some mail-order merchandise already was
being sold under Sears own trade names. And with the opening of more and more retail stores, volume in these
and other lines grew rapidly. With this growth, Sears buyers were able to develop exclusively different items to
be sold under Sears brand names. This was the beginning of such names as Craftsman, Kenmore and DieHard.

In 1931 Sears retail sales topped mail-order sales for the first time. Stores accounted for 53.4 percent of total
sales of more than $180 million. Despite the Depression, Sears continued to open stores during the 1930s.
When war broke out in 1941, more than 600 stores were operating. World War II called a halt to Sears retail
expansion and even forced several stores to close. After the war, however, Wood resumed his expansion
program.
Allstate Insurance - 1930s 20

Allstate insurance for the small towns

Just as Wood recognized the need to open retail stores in
outlying areas, so too did he recognize the average
family's need for an automobile and for low-cost
insurance. Allstate Insurance Co. was launched as a wholly
owned Sears subsidiary in 1931, and Wood became the
first employee-policyholder. Its name was taken from
Sears line of automobile tires.

At first, Allstate operated only by mail. However, by 1933

management discovered that most sales were being made
in smaller towns where the catalog business was big, while
the large metropolitan markets were not responding. As a
result, Allstate pioneered a bold idea - the installation of
sales locations in Sears stores.
Sears Expansion - 1940s to 1970s 21

store planning and display department

A milestone was passed in 1932 when Sears established the store planning and display department.
Before merchandise had been fitted into buildings, now buildings were built around merchandise.
The first store to be built from the inside out was the Glendale, California store opened in 1935. The
new store planning and display department concerned itself with all elements of the store - tables,
fixtures, space requirements for the different merchandise lines, customer flow and width of aisles.
The store shell was built around the selling floor plan.

When Sears opened its Pico Boulevard store in Los Angeles four years later, a rival merchandising
executive paid tribute: "In my long experience in the retail field," he said, "I have yet to witness a
retail unit which equals Sears Pico Store in practical efficiency, merchandise engineering, operation,
layout and presentation of merchandise."
Sears Expansion - 1940s to 1970s 22

store planning and display department

 The first Sears retail stores were opened in conjunction with the company's mail order offices, typically in
working-class neighborhoods far from the main shopping center.

 Sears was a pioneer in creating department stores that catered to men as well as women, especially with lines
of hardware and building materials.

 It de-emphasized the latest fashions in favor of practicality and durability, and allowed customers to select
goods without the aid of a clerk. Its stores were oriented to motorists—set apart from existing business
districts amid residential areas occupied by their target audience; had ample, free, off-street parking; and
communicated a clear corporate identity.

 The company designed fully air-conditioned, "windowless" stores whose layout was driven wholly by
merchandising concerns.
 23

Gradually, a comprehensive code of retail operating techniques was worked out, enabling store managers to
concentrate on two essentials - selling and proper ordering. The new techniques were as vital to retail as the
time-schedule system was to mail order.
Another important approach to urban customers was made through catalog sales desks, which were installed in
the retail stores. In another move, Sears opened catalog sales offices in towns too small to support retail stores.
Two decades later, the company launched an additional catalog operation - the independent catalog merchant
program - in which a person operates his or her own store to sell Sears merchandise.
Sears Expansion - 1940s to 1970s 24

In 1942, the company opened its first store in Havana, Cuba, its first permanent retail outlet in a
foreign land. But due to shortages created by World War II, refrigerators, stoves, washing
machines, fans - all the hardlines so familiar in Sears stores - soon disappeared from the new
Havana store.

In 1947, with war shortages disappearing, Sears opened a store in Mexico City. In subsequent
years, Sears opened stores or sales offices in Central and South America and Europe. In the early
1980s, Sears divested itself of many of its foreign retail operations.

Sears expansion south of the border was matched in 1953 by its expansion north of the border.
Sears joined a pioneer Canadian merchandising company, Simpsons, Limited to form Simpsons-
Sears Limited. The Canadian subsidiary now is known as Sears Canada Inc.
Sears Expansion – 25

1940s to 1970s
Sears Tower
In 1969, Sears announced plans to build a new
headquarters building in downtown Chicago. The
110-story Sears Tower became the world's tallest
building at 1,454 feet when it was opened in
1973. The staggering amount of materials
needed to construct the building included 76,000
tons of steel, 2 million cubic feet of concrete,
16,000 tinted windows, 1,500 miles of electrical
wiring and 80 miles of elevator cable.
Sears History - 1980s to 2000s
26

Sears Merchandise Group

In 1980, Sears, Roebuck and Co. announced the formation of a corporate office and plans for major
restructuring. This resulted in renaming the retail business the Sears Merchandise Group and the insurance
business Allstate Insurance Group in early 1981. When Sears acquired the Dean Witter Reynolds Organization,
Inc. and Coldwell Banker & Company later that year, it formed the Dean Witter Financial Services Group and the
Coldwell Banker Real Estate Group. The following year, Sears formed a world trading company. It became Sears
World Trade, whose activities were reduced and transferred to the Sears Merchandise Group in 1986.

The financial services strategy worked. The corporation --plus the Discover Card introduced in 1985--grew into
the 1990s, with revenues reaching $59 billion in 1992. That year Sears announced it would again reshape the
company to give it greater strength and marketing focus and to give its shareholders a better return on
investment.

As part of this restructuring, the Sears Merchandise Group, reorganized around its apparel, home and
automotive businesses, closed many of its under-performing retail locations including some mall-based stores.
Its unprofitable general catalog operations also were closed in 1993, leaving a smaller -- but successful -- direct-
response business.
Sears History - 1980s to 2000s
27

initial public offering (IPO) of 20 percent of its Dean Witter organization, then called Dean Witter
In early 1993, Sears also completed an initial public offering (IPO) of 20 percent of its Dean Witter organization,
then called Dean Witter. In the second largest stock dividend distribution in U.S. history, Sears spunoff its
remaining shares of Dean Witter to Sears shareholders. Later in the year, Sears established another financial
milestone through the IPO of 20 percent of Allstate's stock. At the time, it was the largest IPO in U.S. history. The
remaining Allstate shares were distributed to shareholder in 1995. As the result of these actions, shareholders of
Sears then owned shares in three separate and non-affiliated companies: Sears, Roebuck and Co., Allstate and
Dean Witter Discover & Co. (now Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co.).

In addition, Sears sold the Coldwell Banker Residential Services, the Sears Mortgage Banking Group and the
Homart Development Company. Total proceeds from these transactions, about $4 billion, were used to reduce
overall corporate debt. With its diversified companies divested, Sears, Roebuck and Co. had returned to its
retailing roots.
Sears History - 1980s to 2000s
28

[Link]

A major expansion of [Link] in 1999 heralded a new era of enhancing the customer experience through
Web-based technology. With [Link], the company began serving as a single national "clicks and bricks"
resource for researching, buying, delivering, installing, maintaining and repairing the top brands of home-related
products - major appliances, home electronics, heating and cooling systems, lawn and garden equipment,
jewelry and watches, recreation/games, power tools, repair parts and select apparel items.

Sears 2000s
At the close of its 2000 fiscal year, Sears operated 863 mall-based retail stores, most with co-located Sears Auto
Centers, and an additional 1,200 retail locations including hardware, outlet, tire and battery stores as well as
independently owned stores, primarily in smaller and rural markets.

The company's services operations include product installation and repair services; service contracts; selected
installed home improvements; and direct response. Direct response includes direct response marketing, clubs
and services memberships; and merchandise through specialty catalogs.

Sears, Roebuck and Co. also is the majority owner of Sears Canada Inc., one of Canada's largest retailers. Sears
Canada operates 125 full-line stores, 176 specialty stores, and 1,550 independently owned catalog agents and
hometown stores
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Sears THROUCH TIMELINE

detailed Chronlogy

1886
Rechard Sears resigns as a railroad station in North
Redwood, Minn., and forms R.W. Sears Watch Company

1887
Alvah [Link] joins Sears after answering newspaper
ad for a watch repairman
Catalog includes jewelry and other products
Sears moves headquarters to Chicago from Minnesota
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1888

1889

1891
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1892

1893

1894
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1895

1896

1898
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33

1901

1906

1907
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1908
Richard Sears retires as president of the company.
Modern Homes (catalog homes) program begins.

1909
Sears Motor Buggy (briefly, until 1912) joins the product
line.

1911
Product testing labs open at Sears.
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1912
County Agent Program begins.

1916
Sears institutes the Profit Sharing Fund.

1917
Julius Rosenwald Fund (a charitable organization) is
chartered.
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1921
Sears faces a financial crisis, but Julius Rosenwald
stakes his personal fortune to save the company.

1923
Sears Roebuck Agricultural Foundation (a charitable
organization) chartered.

1924
Sears Agricultural Foundation begins operating radio
station "WLS" ("World's Largest Store") in Chicago.
Julius Rosenwald is named chairman.
General Robert E. Wood joins Sears. He will serve the
company in executive-level positions, including terms as
president and chairman, until his death in 1969.
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1925
Sears opens its first retail stores.

1926
The Allstate brand (car tires) is born after a nationwide
naming contest—more than 100,000 entries are
submitted

1927
"Satisfaction Guaranteed or Your Money Back" slogan
first appears in Sears catalogs.
Sears launches the Kenmore and Craftsman brands.
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1929
Stock market crashes, plunging America into the Great
Depression. Sears suffers, yet initially maintains
aggressive expansion program.

1930
General Credit Office opens.

1931
Employees receive group life insurance.
Sears launches Allstate Insurance Company.
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1933
Sears issues its first Christmas catalog.

1936
Sears News-Graphic, an employee newspaper, debuts
and is later forwarded to draftees when World War II
begins.
Sears celebrates its 50th anniversary (the "Golden
Jubilee").
1931
Robert E. Wood is named chairman
40
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1941
United States enters World War II; many Sears items are
pulled from stores and catalogs due to rationing.
Sears-Roebuck Foundation, a philanthropic
organization, is chartered.
Sears ends mail-order groceries.
1944
Women make up 75 percent of Sears' workforce at
height of World War II.

1945
Sales exceed $1 billion.
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1946
Anticipating U.S. demographic changes, Sears begins a
program to build large stores in suburbs

1949
Television sets appear in catalogs.

1953
Sears launches its own credit card.
Sears offers service contracts to its customers.
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1954
Theodore Houser is named chairman.

1956
Sears guarantees nationwide appliance service.

1957
Datatron, Sears first mainframe computer, is installed.
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1958
Fowler McConnell is named chairman.

1960
Charles Kellstadt is named chairman.
Barbie doll makes her Sears debut in the Christmas
Book.

1957
Austin Cushman becomes chairman.
Sears introduces the Vincent Price Fine Arts Collection.
Catalogs and ads feature the slogan "You can count on
us."
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1965
Gordon Metcalf is named chairman.
After nine years of research, Sears introduces DieHard-
brand batteries.

1968
The Christmas catalog is officially named the Wish
Book.
Sears introduces cost-reducing Power Miser technology
to appliances several years before the energy crisis.

1971
Kenmore microwave ovens debut.
Sears installs computerized cash registers and point-of-
sale equipment.
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1973
Sears moves into its new headquarters, the Sears
Tower, the world's tallest building.
Arthur Wood (no relation to former chairman Gen.
Robert Wood) is named chairman.

1975
Pong ushers in an era of videogames. Sears becomes
the exclusive supplier of Pong.

1976
Sears slogan becomes "Where America shops."
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1978
Edward Telling is named chairman.

1981
Sears acquires Coldwell Banker and Dean Witter.

1983
Sears introduces Store of the Future concept stores.
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1986
Edward Brennan is named chairman

1987
Barcodes are added to merchandise.

1989
Brand Central departments first appear.
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1990
Sears completes Brand Central's nationwide rollout.

1991
Sears launches KidVantage WearOut Warranty and
Frequent Purchase programs to reduce the costs of
children's clothes.

1992
Sears accepts Visa, Mastercard and American Express
credit cards.
Sears moves its headquarters to Hoffman Estates, Ill.
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1993
"Softer side of Sears" ad campaign debuts.
Sears spins off Dean Witter, sells 20 precent of Allstate,
and sells all stakes in Coldwell Banker and the Sears
Mortgage Banking Group.
The "Big Book" catalog is discontinued.
1995
Arthur Martinez is named chairman

1996
Sears buys the Orchard Hardware Supply chain of
stores.
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1997
Sears becomes a founding sponsor of the Women's
National Basketball Association (WNBA).
Sears makes more than 5,000 Craftsman tools available
online.
The Great Indoors store concept is launched.
1998
[Link] is launched.
"The good life at a great price, guaranteed" ad
campaign debuts.
Sears Direct is launched, combining specialty catalogs,
telemarketing, direct mail, and the Internet into one,
1999 customer-responsive function.
The Great Indoors debut, first store opens in Denver,
Sears launches [Link].
CO.
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2000
Alan Lacy is named chairman.
Sears launches the Sears Gold Mastercard.
Sears initiates the Customer Care Network, providing
customers with a single point of contact.

2001
Eighteen years after the original one closed, Sears' new
Chicago-State Street store opens as the flagship store.

1999
“Sears. Where else?” slogan premieres.
Sears announces plans to debut Covington, its newest
private-label brand.
Sears acquires Lands' End, the largest specialty apparel
catalog company and seller of apparel on the Internet
in the U.S.
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2003
Sears Grand debut, first store opens in West Jordan, UT.

2004
Former P.O.W. Jessica Lynch and the National Military
Family Association kick off a new camp program for
children of Deployed Military.
Sears announced a new ad campaign, the first to
feature Ty Pennington, the star of ABC's smash hit,
2005 Extreme Makover Home Edition.

Sears launched the company's newest off-mall format -

Sears Essentials.
Merger of Kmart and Sears as Sears Holdings, closed on
March 24, 2005, following affirmative shareholder votes
of both companies.
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2005
National Military Family Association and Sears expand
free camp program for children of Deployed
Servicemembers.
Sears commits up to $1 million to support Gulf Coast
residents following Hurricane Katrina.
Aylwin B. Lewis is named Chief Executive Officer and 2005
President of Sears Holdings.
All advertising for Sears and its brands under one
agency - Young & Rubicam, a member of the WPP
Group.
Latina Life, will be one of the first women's clothing
lines launched by a major retailer and a leading
2006 Hispanic-focused media partner.

Sears Holdings' sales rose in 2006, its first full year as a

combined company, but then fell in each of the
following nine years.
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2015 2018

Sears files for bankruptcy

 55

catalogs
Sears Catalog 56

Sears taught Americans how to shop

In an era when print media reigned supreme, Sears
dominated the rural retail market through its huge
catalog, an amazing work of product advertising,
consumer education, and corporate branding. Titled
the Book of Bargains and later, The Great Price Maker,
the famous Sears catalog expanded in the 1890s from
featuring watches and jewelry to including everything
from buggies and bicycles to sporting goods and
sewing machines.

It educated millions of shoppers about mail-order

procedures, such as shipping, cash payment,
substitutions and returns. It used simple and informal
language and a warm, welcoming tone. “We solicit
honest criticism more than orders," the 1908 catalog
stated, emphasizing customer satisfaction above all
else.
Chronology of the Sears Catalog 57

. Year Event
The R.W. Sears Watch Co., the first catalog issued by Richard Sears featured watches and
1888
jewelry.
Evolution of the company involved various catalogs including "The Warren Company" and
1889
the "A.C. Roebuck & Company." Catalogs produced for these companies.
1893 First Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalog

Catalog expands from watches and jewelry to include sewing machines, sporting goods,
1894
musical instruments, saddles, firearms, buggies, bicycles, baby carriages, and some clothing.
• Spring and Fall catalogs began.
• First specialty catalogs appear.
• Size of catalog increases from 6x9 inches to 8x11 inches.
1896 • Groceries introduced.
• Hand cranked washing machines introduced.
• Encyclopedia Britannica introduced.
Chronology of the Sears Catalog 58

. Year Event
• First color section appears. Features shoes in black, brown and red.
1897
• Edison’s Graphophone introduced.

Customer Profit Sharing program begins. Customer purchases are rewarded with a Profit
1904
Sharing Certificate, which was redeemed for selected items.

• "Iowazation" plan begins, Sears asked customers to distribute catalog to friends and
1905 neighbors.
• School desks introduced.

1907 Customer Profit Sharing discontinued

Catalog homes introduced.

1908
Richard Sears retires from company.

1909 Sears motor buggy introduced.

Chronology of the Sears Catalog 59

. Year Event
1910 Electric washing machines introduced

Sears Testing Laboratory begins operating. .

1911
Sears "Auto-cycle" motorcycle introduced.

Silk stockings introduced.

1912
Motor buggies (cars) discontinued.
.
1913 First specialty catalog for automobiles

1916 Sears "Auto-cycle" motorcycle discontinued.

First of two Norman Rockwell paintings that appeared on the cover of Sears catalogs. The
1927 painting is on the Spring cover and features a couple looking for engagement rings.
"Satisfaction Guaranteed or Your Money Back" banner appears.
Chronology of the Sears Catalog 60

. Year Event
1928 Craftsman tools introduced

1929 Kenmore laundry equipment introduced .

1930 Mail order chicks introduced

First and only year a paid advertisement appears in catalog. Two advertisements, one
. for
1931
Chevrolet motor vehicles and the other for the Curtis Publishing Company

Second of two Norman Rockwell paintings that appeared on the cover of Sears catalogs. This
1932 painting was titled, "At Work on his Washington Essay" which was made for the Washington
Bicentennial
1933 First Christmas Catalog.

1940 Easy Payment Plan introduced. An early buy on credit program.

Chronology of the Sears Catalog 61

. Year Event
Sale of groceries discontinued.
1941 Sale of items such as Coldspot Refrigerators and Silvertone Radios discontinued for the
duration of the Second World War.

1948 Silvertone wire recorder, radio and phonograph entertainment system introduced.

Television sets introduced.

1949 Homart dishwasher introduced.
Silvertone hearing aid introduced.

1957 Automatic electric garage door opener introduced.

1966 The Sears Allstate Radial tire introduced

Phrase "Wish Book" first appears on Christmas catalog.
1968
Diehard batteries introduced.
Chronology of the Sears Catalog 62

. Year Event
1969 Catalog selected as part of time capsule in Texas.
Kenmore trash compactor introduced.
1971
Kenmore Microwave oven introduced

Split catalog idea begins. Catalog split between soft lines, which are offered in Spring and
1985
Fall, and the Hardlines, which only are in one catalog

1989 Toll free 1-800 number introduced

1993 The "Big Book" catalog was discontinued. The Specialty Catalog Group was formed.
The “big book” of sears 63

The 1943 Sears News Graphic wrote that the Sears catalog, "serves as a mirror of our times, recording for future
.
historians today’s desires, habits, customs, and mode of living." The roots of the Sears catalog are as old as the
company.

In 1888, Richard Sears first used a printed mailer to advertise watches and jewelry. Under the banner "The R.W.
Sears Watch Co." Sears promised his customers that, "we warrant every American watch sold by us, with fair
usage, an accurate time keeper for six years – during which time, under our written guarantee we are compelled
to keep it in perfect order free of charge."

The time was right for mail order merchandise. Fueled by the Homestead Act of 1862, America’s westward
expansion followed the growth of the railroads. The postal system aided the mail order business by permitting
the classification of mail order publications as aids in the dissemination of knowledge entitling these catalogs
the postage rate of one cent per pound. The advent of Rural Free Delivery in 1896 also made distribution of the
catalog economical.
The “big book” of sears 64

Sears Writing & Ads

At this time Sears wrote nearly every line appearing in the catalogs drawing upon his personal experience using
language and expressions that appealed to his target customers
 “Book of Bargains: A Money Saver for Everyone”
 “Cheapest Supply House on Earth”
 “Our trade reaches around the World”
 We Can’t Afford to Lose a Customer

Sears was also the pioneer in running paid ads for Chevrolet and Curtis and putting customers’ testimonials in
its catalogs. At that time they are smart moves of Sears.
The “big book” of sears 65

Products in Catalogs
.
This catalog expanded from watches and jewelry, offering merchandise such as sewing machines, sporting goods,
musical instruments, saddles, firearms, buggies, bicycles, baby carriages, and men’s and children’s clothing. The 1895
catalog added eyeglasses, including a self-test for "old sight, near sight and astigmatism." At this time Sears wrote nearly
every line appearing in the catalogs drawing upon his personal experience using language and expressions that
appealed to his target customers.

In the photographic supplies section Sears offered "Special Lecture Outfits" giving the purchaser projection equipment,
a screen, advertising posters, admission tickets, and a printing outfit, everything an entrepreneur needed to set up a
theater for paying customers. The optigraph moving picture equipment worked with either electricity or a system using
a gas process to provide illumination. Limes were one of the ingredients used in these gas systems helping coin the
phrase "in the lime light.“

To get a hands on feel, the 1905 catalog featured full color and texture wallpaper samples, and a swatch of material
used in men’s suits. Following this trend, the next year he added paint samples, and in 1908, the last year Richard Sears
was associated with the company, he offered both wallpaper and paint color sample books to customers.
The “big book” of sears 66

Customer Programs
 Your money back if you are not satisfied
 Club Order Program: encouraging customers to combine their orders with friends or neighbors to share in
discounts
 Iowazation plan (encourage loyal customers to refer to their friends)
 Customer Sharing Profit: To encourage repeat customers, Sears initiated a program called "customer profit
sharing" giving the customer a one-dollar certificate for every dollar spent. By accumulating these certificates
the customer could redeem them for specific items.
The “big book” of sears 67

.Famous Figures Featured

In addition to recording the changing scene in America, the catalogs represent the work and efforts of
thousands of Americans.
 Edgar Rice Burroughs, who later wrote the Tarzan series, worked for Sears.
 Lauren Bacall, Susan Hayward, Gloria Swanson, Susan Dey, Cheryl Tiegs, and Stephanie Powers all appeared
on the pages of Sears catalogs as models.
 The catalogs also featured Roy Rodgers, Ted Williams, Al Unser, and Gene Autry.

Sources for Hollywood and historians

Because the catalogs accurately reflect the styles and furnishings popular through the years, producers of
Broadway shows and Hollywood movies frequently refer to them. Of particular interest to people studying the
history of early fraternal organizations are the pages offering pins for such organizations as the freemasons and
the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. For sports or recreation historians the section on sporting goods
provides a chronology for when items first appeared.
The “big book” of sears 68

.
 Reflecting modern trends in retailing, the company decided to stop producing the general catalog
in 1993.

 While Sears no longer issues the Big Book Catalog, the company continues offering many
specialty catalogs including the Christmas Wish Book, and catalogs for tools, auto accessories,
home improvements, clothing, and even Barbie collectibles.

 In the 2000s, Sears is moving into the electronic age by offering Sears Direct services. This gives
the customer the opportunity to order items through the Shop at Home catalog concept
featuring an on-line Wish Book, and an on-line site for Craftsman tools and parts.
The Christmas Wish Book 69

A Holiday Tradition
The very first Sears Wish Book, known as the Sears Christmas Book
catalog, came out in 1933. Featured items in this first catalog included the
“Miss Pigtails” doll, an electric (battery powered) toy automobile, a Mickey
Mouse watch, fruitcakes, Lionel electric trains, a five pound box of
chocolates, and live singing canaries.

In 1933, Sears was already a familiar part of America’s Christmas tradition.

The 1896 Sears general catalog included wax candles for Christmas trees.
The 1898 Sears catalog added Christmas cards, and the first Christmas
tree ornaments appeared in 1900. Sears began selling Christmas
stockings and artificial Christmas trees in 1910. Electric Christmas tree
lights made their debut in the catalog two years later.

The 1933 Christmas Book catalog started a tradition that made the Sears
Wish Book an American icon. The Sears catalog and the name Wish Book
were closely linked over the years. Prior to 1933, Sears customers often
affectionately referred to the large, semi-annual, general catalogs Sears
issued as the “Wish Book” or “Book of Wishes.” After 1933, the Wish Book
name became synonymous with the annual Christmas Book catalog. In
1968, Sears made it official by renaming the Christmas Book catalog The
Wish Book.
The Christmas Wish Book 70

[Link]
Many people nostalgically think of the Wish Book as filled with
nothing but toys. In fact, over the years, more pages were
devoted to gifts for adults. The 87-page 1933 Christmas Book
catalog featured 25 pages of toys and 62 pages of gifts for
adults. In 1968, the Wish Book totaled 605 pages, with 225 pages
devoted to toys and 380 pages to gifts for adults.

The Wish Book tradition continued into the twenty-first century

with [Link], first launched in 1998.

In 2009, Sears introduced a new, interactive, online version of

everyone's favorite Holiday Wish Book, allowing shoppers to
easily turn the virtual pages of the catalog and purchase
products instantly from their computer. Consumers can shop
the Wish Book by logging onto [Link]/wishbook where
they will find this season's most popular gifts and products. The
online Sears Wish Book is truly interactive with scrolling high
resolution images, Christmas music, and real-life holiday scenes
to help you get into the holiday spirit.
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Sears modern homes 78

No official tally exists of the number of Sears mail-order houses that still survive today. It is reported
that more than 100,000 houses were sold between 1908 and 1940 through Sears’s Modern Homes
program. The keen interest evoked in current homebuyers, architectural historians, and enthusiasts of
American culture indicate that thousands of these houses survive in varying degrees of condition and
original appearance.

It is difficult to appreciate just how important the Modern Homes program and others like it were to
homebuyers in the first half of the twentieth century. Imagine for a moment buying a house in 1908.
Cities were getting more crowded and had always been dirty breeding grounds for disease in an age
before vaccines. The United States was experiencing a great economic boom, and millions of
immigrants who wanted to share in this wealth and escape hardship were pouring into America’s big
cities. City housing was scarce, and the strong economy raised labor costs, which sent new-home
prices soaring.

The growing middle class was leaving the city for the—literally—greener pastures of suburbia as trolley
lines and the railroad extended lifelines for families who needed to travel to the city. Likewise,
companies were building factories on distant, empty parcels of land and needed to house their
workers. Stately, expensive Victorian-style homes were not options for any but the upper class of
homeowner. Affordable, mail-order homes proved to be just the answer to such dilemmas.
Sears modern homes 79

What is a Sears Modern Home?

Sell Homes through Catalogs

From 1908–1940, Sears, Roebuck and Co. sold about 70,000 - 75,000
homes through their mail-order Modern Homes program. Over that time
Sears designed 447 different housing styles, from the elaborate
multistory Ivanhoe, with its elegant French doors and art glass windows,
to the simpler Goldenrod, which served as a quaint, three-room and no-
bath cottage for summer vacationers. (An outhouse could be purchased
separately for Goldenrod and similar cottage dwellers.) Customers could
choose a house to suit their individual tastes and budgets.

Customize your own home

Sears was not an innovative home designer. Sears was instead a very
able follower of popular home designs but with the added advantage of
modifying houses and hardware according to buyer tastes. Individuals
could even design their own homes and submit the blueprints to Sears,
which would then ship off the appropriate precut and fitted materials,
putting the home owner in full creative control. Modern Home
customers had the freedom to build their own dream houses, and Sears
helped realize these dreams through quality custom design and
favorable financing.
Sears Modern homes 80

Designing a Sears Home

Order Pre-cut Build

Sears Homes
materials The house built
Catalog arrives
delivered on site
at your doorstep
through railroad

The process of designing your Sears house began as soon as the Modern Homes catalog arrived at your
doorstep. Over time, Modern Homes catalogs came to advertise three lines of homes, aimed for customers’
differing financial means: Honor Bilt, Standard Built, and Simplex Sectional.
 Honor Bilt homes were the most expensive and finest quality sold by Sears. Joists, studs, and rafters were to
be spaced 14 3/8 inches apart. Attractive cypress siding and cedar shingles adorned most Honor Bilt exteriors.
And, depending on the room, interiors featured clear-grade (i.e., knot-free) flooring and inside trim made
from yellow pine, oak, or maple wood.
 Sears’s catalogs also reported that Standard Built homes were best for warmer climates, meaning they did not
retain heat very well. The Simplex Sectional line, as the name implies, contained simple designs.
 Simplex houses were frequently only a couple of rooms and were ideal for summer cottages.
Sears modern homes 81

Construction of mass produced houses

Modern Home designs did offer distinct advantages over other construction methods. The ability to mass-produce the materials
used in Sears homes lessened manufacturing costs, which lowered purchase costs for customers. Not only did precut and fitted
materials shrink construction time up to 40% but Sears’s use of "balloon style" framing, drywall, and asphalt shingles greatly
eased construction for homebuyers.

"Balloon style" framing. These framing systems did not require a team of skilled carpenters, as previous methods did.
Balloon frames were built faster and generally only required one carpenter. This system uses precut timber of mostly
standard 2_4s and 2_8s for framing. Precut timber, fitted pieces, and the convenience of having everything, including
the nails, shipped by railroad directly to the customer added greatly to the popularity of this framing style.

Drywall. Before drywall, plaster and lathe wall-building techniques were used, which again required skilled carpenters.
Sears homes took advantage of the new homebuilding material of drywall by shipping large quantities of this
inexpensively manufactured product with the rest of the housing materials. Drywall offered advantages of low price,
ease of installation, and was added fire-safety protection. It was also a good fit for the square design of Sears homes.

Asphalt shingles. It was during the Modern Homes program that large quantities of asphalt shingles became available.
The alternative roofing materials available included, among others, tin and wood. Tin was noisy during storms, looked
unattractive, and required a skilled roofer, while wood was highly flammable. Asphalt shingles, however, were cheap to
manufacture and ship, as well as easy and inexpensive to install. Asphalt had the added incentive of being fireproof.
Sears modern homes 82

Modern Conveniences
Sears helped popularize the latest technology available
to modern homebuyers in the early part of the
twentieth century.
Central heating, indoor plumbing, and electricity were
all new developments in home design that Modern
Homes incorporated, although not all of the homes
were designed with these conveniences.
Central heating not only improved the livability of
homes with little insulation but it also improved fire
safety, always a worry in an era where open flames
threatened houses and whole cities, in the case of the
Chicago Fire. Indoor plumbing and homes wired for
electricity were the first steps to modern kitchens and
bathrooms. Sears Modern Homes program stayed
abreast of any technology that could ease the lives of
its homebuyers and gave them the option to design
their homes with modern convenience in mind.
83
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brands
sears exclusive brands 86

Current Brands - Clothing

 Covington – Men's and women's dresswear.  R1893 – Women's clothing, primarily jeans
 Easy Living – Painting equipment  Metaphor – Women's clothing
 Weatherbeater – Painting equipment  Canyon River Blues – Men's and women's clothing. A
 Roebucks – Formerly clothing, now used for men's children's sub-brand called CRB Kids also exists.
work shoes  Colormate – Bedding and bath accessories
 Roebuck & Co. – Men's, women's, and children's  Outdoor Life – More rugged men's and women's
clothing and shoes clothing.
 Structure – Men's clothing and shoes. Originally  Simply Styled – Men's, women's, and children's
owned by Express, Inc. before Sears bought it in clothing and shoes.
2003  Northwest Territory – Men's and women's clothing
 Laura Scott – Women's clothing and outerwear
 Simply Emma – Women's clothing and jewelry
sears exclusive brands 87

Current Brands – Electronics & Clothing Former Brands

 DieHard – Batteries, clothing, and work shoes.  Allen – Washing machines
 Toughskins – Children's clothing  Cheryl Tiegs – Clothing
 Everlast – Through a license deal. Men's, women's,  Allstate – Automobiles, motorcycles and mopeds,
and children's athletic apparel and footwear. vehicle parts and insurance
 Adam Levine Collection – Men's and women's  Alphaline – Brand of electronics accessories, cables
clothing. and headphones. A video on-demand service
 Joe Boxer – Men's and women's underwear and powered by Roxio under the same name launched in
sleepwear. 2010. Brand name abandoned as of 2015.
 Basic Editions – Men's, women's and children's  Celestial Star – Diamond jewelry
clothing.  Challenge Records
 Essential Home – Bed, bath, and kitchen supplies  Coldspot – Appliances
 Athletech – Athletic clothing and shoes  Companion – Tools
 Thom McAn – Shoes  Conqueror Records
 Craftsman – Tools
sears exclusive brands 88

Former Brands
 David Bradley – Farm machinery  Hercules – Work clothing, appliances, insurance,
 Dean Witter Reynolds – Financial services sewage systems, letterman's jackets, fire
 Discover Card – Credit card extinguishers, heavy-duty coveralls, and home
 Dunlap – Tools heating systems
 Economy – Iceboxes, fountain pens, sewing machine  Hillary – Camping and outdoor gear
cabinets, gasoline engines, portable saw rigs, variety  Homart – Heating and cooling systems, plumbing
of farm equipment, cream separators supplies, electrical supplies, kitchen cabinets,
 Free Spirit – Bicycles building supplies
 Gold Bond – Footwear  J. C. Higgins – Sporting goods, camping[114]
 Goolagong – Clothing  Kenmore – Appliances (Sold to Eddie Lampert)
 Harmony House – Interior decorating products  Kromedge – Sawblades, dadoes, moldering heads,
 Hearthside – Rug looms and quilting frames router bits
 LXI – Stereo audio components and systems
 Oxford Records
sears exclusive brands 89

Former Brands
 Sears Video Arcade – In-house version of Atari in
the early 1980s; discontinued in favor of the
actual Atari systems
 Seventeen – Young women's clothing. Part of a
license deal with the magazine of the same name
in 2014. As of 2017, only items on sale are on
clearance.
 Silvertone – Stereos, televisions, musical
instruments
 Silvertone Records
 Supertone Records
 Ted Williams Brand – Sporting goods
 Tower – Cameras, photo supplies, office
equipment
sears exclusive brands 90

Craftsman

Craftsman is a line of tools, lawn and garden equipment, and work wear. Originally owned by Sears, the brand is
now controlled by Stanley Black & Decker. Craftsman tools were first sold in 1927. They were not manufactured
by Sears, but by various other companies under contract. The tools were sold in Sears, sister retailer Kmart, and
several other retailers. In March 2017, Stanley Black & Decker acquired the Craftsman brand from Sears
Holdings. Sears maintains the right to manufacture and sell tools using existing supply channels under the
Craftsman name for 15 years after the deal closed. In April 2018, Lowe's began selling Craftsman tools.
sears exclusive brands 91

Craftsman

The Craftsman trademark was registered by Sears on May 20, 1927. Arthur Barrows, head of the
company's hardware department, liked the name Craftsman and reportedly bought the rights to use it
from the Marion-Craftsman Tool Company for $500. The brand's early customers were mostly farmers.
Barrows' successor, Tom Dunlap, upgraded the quality of the tools and added chrome plating to them
as America moved into the automobile age.

Sears' tool line, like many of its other product lines, uses a "good, better, best" pricing structure, with
the "Craftsman" brand as the middle tier and "Craftsman Professional" or "Craftsman Industrial" as
the highest tier. Craftsman Professional and Craftsman Industrial are marketed as being comparable
to brands like Cornwell Quality Tools, SK, Snap on, Proto, Mac, and Matco. The standard Craftsman line
is marketed as being comparable in quality to other mid-price brands including UltraPro (NAPA),
Westward, Gray, Husky, and Kobalt. Sears also marketed a "Sears Best" line of hand tools for a time.

The lowest tier was originally branded "Sears". The company also used the "Dunlap" name for its
lesser quality tools from the late 1930s until the late 1950s. The Sears tool line was discontinued in the
late 1980s and replaced by the "Companion" tool line. The Companion tool line was itself discontinued
and replaced by the "Evolv" tool line in 2008, with a focus on homeowners and DIYers. Evolv tools also
have a lifetime warranty but require that the customer have the original dated receipt to make a claim.
sears exclusive brands 92

Craftsman

Since 1991, Sears has run the Craftsman Club customer loyalty program, one of the oldest such programs by a
retailer. Craftsman tools are sold in Sears and sister store Kmart, as well as US military Army and Air Force
Exchange Service stores, Navy Exchange stores, Summit Racing Equipment, Blain's Farm & Fleet, Menards, W. W.
Grainger, Ace Hardware, Montgomery Ward, and Orchard Supply Hardware.

On January 5, 2017, Stanley Black & Decker announced its intent to acquire the Craftsman brand in a deal with a
total value of $900 million (with an up-front payment of $525 million, and a payment of $250 million after three
years). Sears will hold a royalty-free license to the Craftsman brand for a 15-year period after the completion of
the sale, and will receive a royalty on all new Craftsman sales over this period. Afterwards, Sears will pay Stanley
Black & Decker a 3% licensing fee. The deal was closed on March 9, 2017. Sears maintains the right to
manufacture and sell tools using existing supply channels under the Craftsman name for 15 years.
sears exclusive brands 93

Craftsman

“If for any reason your Craftsman hand tool ever fails to provide complete satisfaction, return it
to any Sears store or other Craftsman outlet in the United States for free repair or
replacement. This warranty gives you specific legal rights and you may also have other rights
which vary from state to state.”

Most Craftsman hand tools are advertised as having an unlimited lifetime warranty. This lifetime warranty
program was instituted by Sears when they began selling the Craftsman line in 1927. This warranty program
requires no receipt or dated proof of purchase. If the owner takes the item into a local retail store, it may be
replaced or repaired free of charge. In some cases, such as ratchets, the customer may be offered a repair kit
with which to repair the item or an already refurbished item.

As of 2017, many Sears stores do not offer the kits to consumers, instead they will either rebuild the customer's
ratchet or provide one that they have already rebuilt. Ratchet kits for the US made ratchets are different than
those for the Asian made ratchets, although some repair kits for the US made ratchets are now made in China
(but again, will not interchange with the kits for the Asian ratchets). As of 2018, some stores will supply the
customer the rebuild kits for them to rebuild on their own, others will require the customer to have the store
employees rebuild the ratchet for them.
sears exclusive brands 94

Kenmore
Kenmore is a brand of household appliances sold by
Sears, Roebuck and Co. The brand first appeared on a
four-drawer drop feed sewing machine sold from 1913 to
1919. The first Kenmore washing machine was introduced
in 1927. The first Kenmore vacuum cleaners were
introduced in 1932. Kenmore's upscale line of appliances
is known as the Elite line. Kenmore also has a professional
line of appliances called Kenmore Pro. In 1976, Sears
expanded the Kenmore name to its line of refrigerators,
freezers, air conditioners, and dehumidifiers, which were
previously branded as Coldspot.

List of common manufacturers

 Whirlpool Corporation
 LG Corporation
 Electrolux
 Panasonic
 Cleva North America
 Daewoo Electronics
sears exclusive brands 95

Kenmore
Products
 Stainless Steel cleaner  Heat pumps
 Water softeners  Gas furnaces
 BBQ grills  Window air
 Refrigerators conditioners
 Washing machines  Dehumidifiers
 Dryers  Humidifiers
 Dishwashers  Water heaters
 Microwave ovens  Toasters
 Ranges  Coffee makers
 Cooktops  Toaster ovens
 Wall ovens  Range hoods
 Vacuums  Water filters
 Vacuum cleaner bags  Freezers
 Air Purifiers  Heaters
 Fans  Televisions
 Central air
conditioning
sears exclusive brands 96

Kenmore
sears exclusive brands 97

Kenmore
sears exclusive brands 98

Kenmore
sears exclusive brands 99

Kenmore
sears exclusive brands 100

Kenmore
sears exclusive brands 101

Kenmore
sears exclusive brands 102

Kenmore
sears exclusive brands 103

Kenmore
sears exclusive brands 104

Kenmore
sears exclusive brands 105

Kenmore x amazon

Sears Launches Kenmore Products On [Link], Including Alexa-Enabled Smart Appliances

Agreement with [Link] expands the reach of the Kenmore brand. Customers can now
control their Kenmore Smart home appliances with Amazon Alexa. Kenmore Smart air conditioners
integrated with Alexa are now available on [Link]

The Kenmore Smart skill for Amazon Alexa enables customers to control their Kenmore Smart
home appliances by simply asking Alexa, such as changing the temperature on their air conditioner
without leaving the sofa by saying: "Alexa, tell Kenmore Smart to set my air conditioner to 70
degrees." Customers can enable the Kenmore Smart skill in the Alexa Skill Store, link their account
and then begin asking Alexa to interact with their Kenmore Smart appliances.

"Working with Amazon is perfectly aligned with our omni-channel strategy to unleash the power
and service of Kenmore and support the brand's growth," said Tom Park, President of Kenmore,
Craftsman and DieHard brands at Sears Holdings. "This collaboration is the first of its kind for
Kenmore, broadening its accessibility to the next generation of American families outside of Sears
branded retail channels."
sears exclusive brands 106

Diehard

It took nine years of intense research and more than 1 million dollars for Sears to develop a
revolutionary new automobile battery, the DieHard. Sears designed the DieHard to produce 35
percent more usable starting power than other similar batteries.

The new design, introduced in 1967, included a revolutionary tough, thin-walled case of translucent
polypropylene plastic, 50 percent thinner than conventional black rubber-type battery enclosures.
The extra room meant bigger plates and more acid, which provided extra starting power. In addition
to the space-saving and visibility advantages, the polypropylene case was stronger.

The development of tools to manufacture the clear plastic container was a major undertaking. That
project alone took some of the country’s finest toolmakers more than a year and a half to build. The
machines they developed represented a substantial advance in precision ejection-molding. The first,
mammoth ejection molding press for the DieHard weighed 600 tons and required 500 metric tons
to clamp shut. By itself, the mold for the container weighed four and a half tons.
sears exclusive brands 107

Diehard

The name DieHard came about after the battery underwent intensive testing without failure.
Technicians did not report a single failure in more than 26,000 starts at temperatures ranging
from sub-zero to more than 100 degrees. Sears marketed DieHard through a series of innovative
advertisements ranging from batteries frozen in ice, to batteries in Baja racecars.

In the 1990s, the DieHard brand expanded to include flashlights, flashlight batteries, rechargeable
batteries, gel cel batteries, and recently, work boots.

Today, Sears builds DieHard automobile batteries with a variety of innovative features. These
include batteries with reserve starting power, batteries with anti-theft features, and batteries
designed for specific geographical regions.

The brand line was kept and expanded; it now includes medium-priced, medium-duty batteries as
well as the premium-priced, heavy-duty line with which it was begun, and in recent years has been
expanded to include other non-automotive batteries as well. It is used on batteries for motorcycles,
boats, golf carts, garden tractors, and snowmobiles.
sears exclusive brands 108

Diehard

Some of the batteries themselves are manufactured by Johnson Controls, which also manufacture
Duralast, Varta, AC Delco, as well as 20 other brands. For a time, DieHard batteries were also
manufactured by Exide. In March 2001, Exide pled guilty to fraud conspiracy charges and agreed to
pay a fine of $27.5 million to end a federal criminal investigation into auto battery sales to
customers of Sears, Roebuck & Company. The case arose from investigations and accusations that
Exide conspired with Sears to sell used batteries as new to Sears customers and that Exide officials
had paid bribes to conceal the fraud. Manufacture has since switched back to Johnson Controls. The
DieHard Platinum line is made by EnerSys, which also makes its own line of premium Odyssey
batteries manufactured in the United States.

The DieHard brand is also used on battery chargers, booster cables, power inverters, alkaline
batteries, tires, work boots, and more recently the batteries for Craftsman power tools. In 2017,
Sears launched a pilot location in San Antonio for a DieHard-branded auto service franchise,
DieHard Auto Center driven by Sears Auto. The brand is intended to operate as a standalone
version of the Sears Auto Center locations attached to Sears department stores; the location was
chosen because it was in proximity to a Sears location that had closed.
sears exclusive brands 109

Discover

Discover is a credit card brand issued primarily in the United States. It was introduced by Sears in 1985. When
launched, Discover did not charge an annual fee and offered a higher-than-normal credit limit, features that
were disruptive to the existing credit card industry. A subsequent innovation was "Cashback Bonus" on
purchases.
sears exclusive brands 110

Discover

Most cards with the Discover brand are

issued by Discover Bank, formerly the
Greenwood Trust Company. Discover
transactions are processed through the
Discover Network payment network. In 2005,
Discover Financial Services acquired Pulse, an
electronic funds transfer network, allowing it
to market and issue debit and ATM cards. In
February 2006, Discover Financial Services
announced that it would begin offering
Discover Debit cards to other financial
institutions, made possible by the acquisition
of Pulse. Discover is the fourth largest credit
card brand in the U.S., behind Visa,
MasterCard and American Express, with
nearly 44 million cardholders.
sears exclusive brands 111

Discover

History
At the time Discover was introduced, Sears was the largest retailer in the United States. It had
purchased the Dean Witter Reynolds brokerage organization and Coldwell, Banker & Company (real
estate) in 1981 as an attempt to add financial services to its portfolio of customer services.

Ray Kennedy, Sr, father of country singer Ray Kennedy and the credit manager for Sears, conceived
the card. The actual launch was pushed through by Philip J. Purcell and Mitchell M. Merin, the
company's senior vice president for corporate administration and manager of financial analysis,
respectively. Together with the Discover Card (and its issuing bank, the Greenwood Trust Company,
owned by Sears), this was named the Sears Financial Network. Early Discover cards bore a small
embossed symbol representing the Sears Tower, then the company's headquarters.

Discover was part of Dean Witter, and then Morgan Stanley, until 2007, when Discover Financial
Services became an independent company. Novus was once the major processing center that
partnered with the company. The Novus logo was retired, replaced by the Discover Network logo.
sears exclusive brands 112

Discover

In compare to other credit cards

Unlike other attempts at creating a credit card to rival MasterCard and Visa, such as Citibank's
Choice card, Discover gained a large national consumer base. It carried no annual fee, which was
uncommon at the time, and offered a typically higher credit limit than similar cards.
Cardholders could also earn a "Cashback Bonus," in which a percentage of the amount spent would
be refunded to the account (from 1% to 5%), depending on how much the card was used. A 1989
study found that Discover had strong consumer adoption in the U.S.; the number of households
with Discover cards increased by 2.1 million, or 14 percent, in 1989.

Accessibility
Discover was also noteworthy for being the only credit card accepted by the U.S. Customs Service to
pay customs duty, effective Feb. 19, 1987. Since it did not charge a percentage fee to retailers,
unlike Visa, MasterCard, and American Express, Discover was also the only credit card accepted at
Sam's Club; the retailer has since started to accept MasterCard and American Express.
sears exclusive brands 113

Discover
Fail to be a one-stop-financial services
The plan to create a one-stop financial-services center in Sears
stores was not as successful as Sears had hoped, and its promotion
of Discover was thought both to hurt Sears turnover and to restrict
the card's potential. Other retailers resisted it, as they believed they
would be helping their competitor.

Sears began to face difficulties in the late 1980s in light of these

developments, and with strong competition both from Walmart
and from so-called category killers such as Toys "R" Us. Discover’s
introduction was costly; Sears’s Discover credit card operations
accounted for a loss of $22 million in the fourth quarter of 1986,
and a loss of $25.8 million in the first quarter of 1987. Sears sold its
financial businesses in 1993 and began to accept MasterCard and
Visa in addition to its store credit card and Discover.

Discover became part of the Dean Witter financial services firm.

Dean Witter Discover merged with Morgan Stanley in 1997.
sears exclusive brands 114

Discover
Global alliance
Starting around 2005, to increase acceptance around the world,
Discover has formed several agreements with other payment
networks internationally. This allows Discover cardholders to
perform transactions while traveling abroad. Some major
examples include:

 Diners Club International worldwide

 BC Card in South Korea
 JCB in Japan
 RuPay in India
 TROY in Turkey
 UnionPay in China
 Verve in Nigeria

In 2015, due to the growth of Chinese card processor UnionPay,

Discover became the world's most widely accepted card.
sears exclusive brands 115

Shop your way – The network

Shop Your Way® is a free social shopping destination and rewards program offering millions of products,
personalized services, and advice. Through a network of retail partners and service providers, members can
shop, compare, purchase items and earn points to use on future purchases. Members also enjoy special pricing,
exclusive sales, events, access to celebrity brands and sweepstakes.

And through the unique social community on [Link] members can research and browse products,
create wish lists, poll friends and family and even get advice from experts to help choose the products and
services that best meet their needs. There is no minimum purchase required for Shop Your Way® members to
redeem points and points can be used toward purchases across countless product categories.
sears exclusive brands 116

Allstate – insurance company

The Allstate Corporation is one of the largest insurance providers in the United States and one of
the largest that is publicly held. The company also has personal lines insurance operations in
Canada. Allstate was founded in 1931 as part of Sears, Roebuck and Co., and was spun off in 1993.
The company has had its headquarters in Northfield Township, Illinois, near Northbrook since 1967.
Allstate ranked No. 79 in the 2018 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total
revenue. Its current advertising campaign, in use since 2004, asks, "Are you in good hands?"
sears exclusive brands 117

Allstate – insurance company

Origin
The idea for Allstate Insurance Company came during a
bridge game on a commuter train in 1930, when
insurance broker Carl L. Odell proposed to Wood, his
neighbor, the idea of selling auto insurance by direct
mail. The idea appealed to Wood, and he passed the
proposal to the Sears board of directors, which
approved it. Allstate Insurance Company, named after
Sears’ tire brand, went into business on April 17, 1931,
offering auto insurance by direct mail and through the
Sears catalog. This was in line with one of the
objectives of a company to sell automobile insurance in
the same manner as Sears sold its merchandise.

In 1933, at the Century of Progress World’s Fair in

Chicago, Allstate’s Richard E. Roskam sold insurance at
a booth in the Sears pavilion. In 1934, Allstate opened
its first permanent sales office in a Chicago Sears store.
sears exclusive brands 118

Allstate – insurance company

Opportunity
In 1941, only about a quarter of US drivers had auto
liability insurance. This led to the state of New York
passing a law which established the financial
responsibility of drivers for damage or injuries resulting
from auto mishaps. That law inspired legislation in other
states, and by the mid-1950s nearly every state had some
sort of financial responsibility law on its books.

Allstate Building
In 1949 the Allstate Headquarters Building was
completed at 3245 W. Arthington Street in Chicago. The
mid-rise building is currently vacant (as of 2013) and in
danger of demolition. The building is noted for its early
post-war mid-rise construction. This location was vacated
when the company relocated in the post-war years.
sears exclusive brands 119

Allstate – insurance company

1985
Allstate began to move agents out of Sears stores and locate agents in neighborhood offices. In June
1993, 19.8% of Allstate became public through a stock offering. Allstate became completely
independent in June 1995, when Sears spun off the remaining 80% stake in the company, distributing
350.5 million shares of Allstate stock to its stockholders.

1993
Allstate went public when Sears sold 19.8% of the company.[14] At the time, it was the largest IPO to
date.

1996
their website [Link] was launched

1999
Allstate unveiled a new business model that created a single contract for exclusive, independent
agents selling Allstate insurance. It also created a network of call centers.
Allstate purchased the personal lines division of CNA Financia and subsequently renamed it to
Encompass Insurance Company which is written by independent insurance agents, as opposed to the
direct writing that constitutes the core part of its business.
sears exclusive brands 120

Allstate – insurance company

2003
Actor Dennis Haysbert became Allstate’s spokesman, using the tagline "That’s Allstate’s stand."

2010
Actor Dean Winters became a part of Allstate’s campaign "Mayhem" “personifying the pitfalls, like
collisions and storm damage, that can befall drivers”.

2012
Allstate Solutions Private Limited (also called Allstate India) was inaugurated in Bangalore which is a
technology and operations centre to provides software development and business process
outsourcing services to its US parent.[18] Allstate's Bangalore operation is focused on the areas of
business intelligence, analytics, testing and mobility.

2018
Allstate collaborated with Red Cross to distribute disaster kits across the states
sears exclusive brands 121

Allstate – insurance company

Allstate is the largest publicly traded property casualty insurance company in the US. Products include

Insurance products
Asset protection: auto insurance, homeowners insurance, condominium, renters,
scheduled personal property, business umbrella, commercial auto, commercial inland
marine, small business owner, customizer and business package policy, landlord package,
manufactured home, mobile home, motor home, motorcycle, boat, personal umbrella,
comprehensive personal liability, recreational vehicle, off-road vehicle, motor club, loan
protection and flood protection.
Wealth transfer
Estate planning products, business succession planning products, fixed survivorship life,
and variable survivorship life family protection insurance, term life, universal life, variable
universal life, long-term care and supplemental health
Financial products
Asset management and accumulation, life insurance and retirement
sears stores 122

Sears World Trade, Inc. (Arms and Military Equipment)

This was Sears's troubled import-export unit that catered to the international arms trade chaired by
Dep. Sec. of Defense, Frank Carlucci. It operated from 1982-1986. Sears admitted to the effort in
December 1986, initially stating they "only gave advice in the defense contracting area." When the
operation ended, the 300-strong worker division folded back into the merchandise procurement
division.

“It hasn`t been an easy process for any of them. After its founding in March, 1982, Sears World
Trade tackled international trading in a conquer-the- world fashion, boasting that it would help
Indonesia develop its timber resources and China to develop its pulp industry with Indonesian logs.

Grand plans, drawn up under Roderick M. Hills, its first chairman and former Securities and
Exchange Commission chief, called for Sears World Trade to hit the ground running, mounting a full-
fledged challenge to the worldwide domination of Japanese trading companies. The financing,
development, manufacturing and sale of a huge variety of goods was started from scratch.”

- Chicagotribune, 1985
 123

stores
The first store 124

The first Sears retail store opened in Chicago on February 2, 1925 in the Merchandise building. This store
included an optical shop and a soda fountain. In 1933 Sears tore down the old Becker-Ryan Company store in
Englewood, and built the first windowless department store, inspired by the 1932 Chicago worlds fair.

In March of 1932, Sears opened its first downtown department store in Chicago on State Street. Sears located
the store in an eight-story building, built in 1893 by Levi Z. Leiter, which for years housed the Stegel-Cooper
department [Link] Leiter Building, designed by famous skyscraper architect William LeBaron Jenny, included
walls of New England granite.

Opening day for the State Street store took place deep in the Great Depression. Local newspapers reported that
15,000 shoppers visited the new store and several thousand people flooded the store’s employment office.
Sears did everything it could to help put people to work, employing 750 Chicago workers for four months during
the renovation and staffing the new store with over 1,000 people.

Within the store the sale of tombstones, farm tractors, and ready-made milking stalls caught customer’s
attention. The sporting goods department featured a model-hunting lodge. Other attractions included a candy
shop, soda fountain, lunch counters, a shoe repair shop, a pet shop, dentists, chiropodists, a first aid station
with a trained nurse, a children’s playground, and a department for demonstrating kitchen utensils
sears store number in the us (2009 – 2018) 125
sears store number in the us (2009 – 2018) 126
sears stores types list 127

 Sears (Full-Line)  Sears Essentials

 A&E Factory Service  National Tire and Battery (NTB) & National Tire
 Sears Grand Warehouse (NTW)
 Sears Optical  Sears Brand Central
 Sears PartsDirect  Sears Catalog Sales Stores
 Sears Portrait Studio  Sears Authorized Catalog Sales Merchant
 Sears Travel  Sears Appliance Stores
 Sears Outlet  Sears Rent-a-Car
 Sears Appliance Outlet  Sears HomeLife
 Sears Fashion Outlet  Sears Neighborhood
 Sears Appliance & Hardware  The Great Indoors
 Sears Home Services  Orchard Supply Hardware
 Sears Hometown Stores  Sears World Trade, Inc. (Arms and Military
 Sears Home Appliance Showrooms Equipment)
sears stores 128

A&E Factory Service

This is the newest name for Sears' longstanding on-site
repair service, servicing larger items such as home
appliances, electronics, and garden equipment. The A&E
brand name was purchased from Montgomery Ward, which
used it for their home service unit, and is a joint venture held
by Whirlpool and Sears Holdings.A&E Factory Service is a
network of mobile service vans with a long history of
performing appliance repairs.

Sears (Full-Line)
This is a chain of department stores that are usually located
in shopping malls, however, some freestanding stores exist;
they carry clothing, accessories, jewelry, home appliances,
household hardware, lawn and garden supplies, lawn
mowers, paint, sporting goods, automobile repair, and
electronics, as well as a portrait studio (in some locations),
optical center, and dental center. Sears stores are usually
multi-level, averaging 139,000 sq ft (12,900 m2). As of August
13, 2018, there were 482 full-size Sears stores in the United
States. There are also 94 in Mexico.
sears stores 129

Sears Grand stores

These are typically located away from shopping malls (with the
exception of Gurnee Mills, Gurnee, Illinois, which closed in
September 2018, and formerly Pittsburgh Mills, Tarentum,
Pennsylvania, which closed in January 2015). Many Sears Grand
locations are retrofit remodels of existing Kmart supercenter
stores.

They carry everything a Sears department store carries, plus

health and beauty products, a pharmacy (in former Kmart
locations), toys, baby care, cleaning supplies, home décor, pet
food, cards and party supplies, books, magazines, music, Little
Caesars Pizza Station (in former Kmart locations), movies, and
a selection of groceries which is limited mostly to dry goods.

Sears Grand stores range from 165,000 to 210,000 square feet

(15,300 to 19,500 m2). The first Sears Grand opened at Jordan
Landing in West Jordan, Utah in 2003. At 225,000 square feet
(20,900 m2), the Jordan Landing store was the largest in the
chain until it was remodeled, downsized, and converted to a
regular Sears in 2017. Some other Sears Grands have
downsized and converted to regular Sears locations.
sears stores 130

Sears Optical
This is a chain of off-mall optical shops which
carries all the same products and services as
the optical center at regular Sears stores.

Sears PartsDirect
This is a chain of lawn & garden equipment
and appliance parts stores. Some locations,
branded as Sears Parts and Repair Centers,
feature a carry-in point for customers to bring-
in merchandise which needs to be repaired,
either in or out of warranty.
sears stores 131

Sears Portrait Studio

This is a full service portrait studio with locations in Sears stores and
formerly standalone locations as well. It was run by CPI Corporation until
all Sears Portrait Studios ceased operations on April 6, 2013.[67] CPI
Corporation, in a statement on its website, said it closed all of its U.S.
studios "after many years of providing family portrait photography." The
St. Louis-based company didn't explain the hasty closure, and calls to
CPI went unanswered. However, the company has struggled financially,
hurt by the rise of digital photography. Sears Portrait Studio was later
revived in August 2016 in a few in-store locations through an affiliation
with Picture People.

Sears Travel
This is a licensed business partner of Sears Holdings, founded in
February 2012 in conjunction with International Cruise & Excursions, Inc.
Sears Vacations functions as an online travel agency that provides online
and telephone-based booking services for Sears customers through the
[Link] website. Sears Vacations offers cruises, resorts,
hotels, tours, guided vacations, car rental, airline tickets, shore
excursions, vacation rentals, and travel insurance.
sears stores 132

Sears Outlet
This is an outlet version of Sears department stores located in various retail locations across the
United States. The stores carry new, one-of-a-kind, out of carton, discontinued, used, scratched and
dented merchandise at 20–60% off regular retail price. While a wide variety of products are
available, appliances make up a large majority of available merchandise. Sears Outlet stores were
once known as Sears Surplus. Many former Kmarts have been converted to serve as Sears Outlets,
though these often take up less than half the floorspace. Each store, on average, is larger than
18,000 square feet in size. Sears Outlet was part of a spin-off with Sears Hometown Stores and
Sears Appliance and Hardware Stores
This has become Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores in September 2012. Sears Appliance Outlet is
an appliance-only version of Sears Outlet. One exists at Arizona Mills in Tempe, Arizona; a second
Sears Appliance Outlet at Great Mall of the Bay Area in Milpitas, California is now a regular Sears
Outlet.
Sears Fashion Outlet
This was a fashion-only version of Sears Outlet. One existed at Sugarloaf Mills in Lawrenceville,
Georgia, that is now a regular Sears Outlet.
sears stores 133

Sears Appliance & Hardware

This is a chain of hardware stores that carry the whole line of Sears hardware and are usually free-
standing. At one point, there were more than 110 Sears Appliance & Hardware stores averaging
28,000 square feet (2,600 m2) serving customers nationwide; there are now 19 of them. Stores were
expanded to include Sears' full line of appliances in 2005. Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores took
on Sears Appliance & Hardware in a Spin-off from Sears Holdings in 2012.
Sears Home Services
This was a division of Sears that specializes in appliance repair, lawn and garden services, HVAC
service, as well as most in home services. Sears Home Services can also do repair on small
appliances in-store. Sold to [Link] in 2018.
Sears Hometown Stores
(formerly known as Sears Authorized Dealer Stores)
This was formerly part of the retail operation of Sears Holdings and is a small-store (averaging 8,500
square feet) version of Sears full-line department stores. Sears Hometown Stores, established in
1993, is a franchise formula. The stores are usually located away from shopping malls and serve
local communities across the United States and Puerto Rico. Sears Hometown Stores was part of a
spin-off with Sears Outlet and Sears Appliance and Hardware in September 2012.
sears stores 134

Sears Home Appliance Showrooms

is a store that offers home appliances and related services in-store. The stores have an internet
kiosk where customers are able to view similar products, price match, and order products not
available in the store. primarily located in strip malls and centers of metropolitan areas. Averaging
5,000 square feet with a primarily appliance showroom design. These stores carry Kenmore and
other national brands of home appliances.

Lands' End
Sears officially spun off Lands' End in April 2014 amid Sears Holdings continuing financial distress,
including a US$1.4 billion loss in 2013. Many Sears domestic full-line locations also include a Lands'
End "store within a store" inside. Sears Holdings prior to the spin off, also operated Lands' End
stores that exclusively carry Lands' End clothing and various fashion accessories, footwear and
home goods. These stores which average 9,300 square feet are located separate from Sears
department stores, usually in outlet malls and regular malls. Lands' End continues to sell various
types of clothing for men, women and children as well as various fashion accessories, footwear and
home goods both through its web site and an increasing number of stand alone stores.
sears stores 135

Sears Essentials
was a chain of discount stores that were common retrofit remodels of existing Kmart stores. Their
product lines were similar to that of Sears Grand stores. In 2006, Sears dropped the brand as it tried to
turn Kmart stores into free standing Sears stores. Most of 50 buildings bearing its name were turned into
Sears Grand Stores or reverted to Kmarts.
National Tire and Battery (NTB) & National Tire Warehouse (NTW)
This is an American brand of auto service centers. It was formerly owned by Sears until it was spun off in
2003. Sears created the brand in 1997 by consolidating the Tire America (TA) and National Tire Warehouse
(NTW) brands, adding the "B" to include its DieHard brand of batteries. Sears sold the brand, which
consisted mostly of stores set apart from its name brand stores, in 2003 to TBC Corporation. A Sears
spokesman said "Because of the separate branding and the lack of proximity to our retail operations, we
weren't able to drive growth like a TBC could".[79] The chain of 226 stores was reported to have brought
in $425 million in revenue and $60 million in profit in 2002.
Sears Brand Central
This was an electronics store. The appliances departments in Sears are now known and referred to
internally as Brand Central, although they are not marketed to consumers as such, except for a few
locations in Puerto Rico.
sears stores 136

Sears Catalog Sales Stores

These were located in small towns. These stores were very small, even smaller than Sears' current
Hometown Dealer stores. At catalog stores, some items could be ordered from the floor, such as
appliances; other items could be ordered from catalogs at the store. These stores were often placed in
rural markets which were far from full-line Sears stores, allowing for customers to purchase Sears
products more easily. These stores were closed in 1993 when Sears closed its catalog business.

Sears Authorized Catalog Sales Merchant

This was an independent business person who provided many of the same services as the Sears Catalog
Sales Store. Similar operations were also found in Canada with Sears Canada as Sears Pickup Location or
Sears Catalogue Sales Merchant.

Sears Appliance Stores

These were small stores usually between 7,000 and 10,000 square feet. Sears Appliance Stores displayed
and sold (at Retail Store prices) appliances, carpeting, etc. and, in addition, provided a catalog sales
department through which catalog items could be ordered. Sears Holdings has opened a Sears
Appliances store in Colorado in 2016 with plans to add more throughout the country.
sears stores 137

Sears Neighborhood
This was a chain similar to Sears Hometown stores, except that Neighborhood stores were located
in urban markets. These stores were also independently owned and operated. The concept was
introduced in Atlanta in 1998, and another similar store was located in Cincinnati. The
Neighborhood stores closed in the early 2000s.

The Great Indoors

This was a chain of free-standing home decor stores that carry high-end home appliances, bedding,
and kitchen and bath fixtures. The Great Indoors also offered custom kitchen and bathroom design
services. Stores were approximately 140,000 square feet each. Nearly 300 employees were hired for
each store. While it was a success originally, it succumbed to the housing crash. Sears Holdings
announced the closing of all remaining stores in 2012.
sears stores 138

Orchard Supply Hardware

This was a chain of free-standing hardware stores, spun off by Sears in 2012. The retailer declared bankruptcy
was sold to competitor Lowe's Home Improvement in June 2013, less than two years after it separated from
Sears. On August 22, 2018, Lowe's announced it would cease operations of all Orchard Supply Hardware stores
in early 2019.
sears Home services 139

REPAIR SERVICES
For generations, people have relied on Sears for their appliance purchases, service, protection and parts. With
more than 7 million repairs performed annually and thousands of professional technicians employed
nationwide, Sears is the #1 appliance repair service in the country, delivering guaranteed quality and
workmanship.

 Refrigerator
 Freezer
 Oven and cooktop
 Dishwasher
 Washer
 Dryer
 Riding mower
 Snow blower
 Fitness equipment
 Heating and cooling systems
Sears home services 140

HOME IMPROVEMENT
Sears Home Services has been making homes more comfortable and attractive for more than 30 years. We can
refresh the interior of your home with a small change — like refaced cabinets or a new countertop — or with a
big update like a remodeled bathroom or kitchen. Sears Home Services also does expert exterior home
improvements, like new siding and windows. And we do free in-home consultations, provide a project
coordinator who oversees all phases of the work and guarantee your satisfaction. The experts from Sears Home
Services offer these home improvements:
 Garage door and entry door installation
 Roofing
 Siding installation
 Window replacement
 Painting and coating (in select markets)
 Heating & cooling system replacement
 Bathroom remodeling
 Kitchen remodeling
 Cabinet replacement and refacing
 Flooring installation
 Countertop installation
sears home services 141

HOME CLEANING AND REPAIRS

Sears Home Services has a variety of cleaning services to keep your house fresh, bright and healthy:

 Carpet cleaning, stain removal and stain protection

 Upholstery cleaning, stain removal and stain protection
 Air duct cleaning
 Dryer vent cleaning
 Tile and grout cleaning
 Air filtration and cleaning systems

In some areas, Sears Maid Service is available to clean your home or office. Sears maids can dust, clean floors,
sanitize the bathroom and kitchen, make beds, wipe off fingerprints and more — choose the cleaning services
you need. Sears maids are licensed, bonded, and insured, so you can trust them in your home.
Sears home 142

services franchise
Beside providing services in-store, Sears has a
business of home services franchise consists
of:
 Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning
 Air Duct Cleaning
 Garage Solutions
 Maid Services
 Handyman Solutions
Sears home services franchise 143

Franchisees Benefits
Purchasing POWER MARKETING AND ADVERTISING
 Cleaning equipment & solutions  Consulting advice on marketing strategy
 Garage doors, openers & parts  Internet websites with local pages to inform consumers
 Supplies and drive sales - see [Link],
 Uniforms [Link], [Link] and
 Vehicles [Link]
 Advertising  Finished advertising creative
 Online advertising programs - paid search and Organic
search
OPERATIONAL BENEFITS  Customer retention programs
 Each franchise is assigned a Franchise Business  National email blasts
Consultant  National group rates for various direct-to-customer
 Organizational structure planning advertising vehicles such as direct mail, newspaper
 Business planning inserts & Yellow Pages
 Customer Service  Access to Sears credit card customer database for your
 Recruitment, Hiring, retention and development market.
 Lead Referral Programs
 Internet Yellow Pages listings
Sears home 144

services franchise
Franchisees Benefits

TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT

 New Franchise Owners School
 Customer Service Representative Training
 Technician Training
 Ongoing Training Webinars
 Comprehensive Operations Manual
 In-Field Franchise Owner Support
 Marketing Assistance
 National Convention
 Network of Franchisees to Share "Best Practices"
 Information Technology Support
Sears home services franchise 145

When a person want to join the home services franchise network, he/she has to pay a total initial
investment based on the business he/she wants to follow:
 Sears home services franchise 146

The process of joining a home services franchise business as follows:

Elapsed
# Step Notes Method Time Forms
Time
1 Application You fill out the Franchise Application Email 1 day 3-5 days Franchise Application
You review the Sears Franchise Disclosure Document
(FDD). Discuss roles of Sears and the Franchise Partner. Sign FDD Receipt, Sign Non-
2 Review Call 1 hr 1 day
Discuss and eliminate any potential barriers regarding Disclosure Agreement (NDA)
next steps
Funding Application, Letter of
3 Validation You complete a Funding Application a Letter of Intent Call 1 hr 4-7 days Intent (LOI), Credit and
Background Check
Introduction to the Sears brand facilitated by Franchise
Development Team. Learn what it takes to be a Sears Webinar 8 hrs 1 đay
Franchisee
You travel to Ohio and meet with members of the
Senior Leadership Team, Functional Department Heads
4 Discovery Visit 8 hrs 2 days
and Opportunity to ask questions. Final determination
made regarding partnership
Final Application and Agreement Issued and Signed, Final Application and Franchise
5 Approval Email 8 hrs 3-7 days
payment received. You are part of the Sears family Agreement Signed
Total 4-6 weeks
sears auto center 147
 148

M&A
& partnership
Sears international 149

Sears Canada

Sears Canada began its operations as Simpsons-Sears Limited, a catalogue and mid-market
suburban retailer, as a joint-venture between the Simpsons Limited (the Robert Simpson Company
Limited), a Canadian department store chain, and Sears, Roebuck and Co. of the United States. In
1952, General Robert E. Wood, the Chairman of U.S. retailer Sears, sent a letter to Edgar G. Burton,
President of the Robert Simpson Company of Toronto, proposing a partnership between their two
companies in order to serve the Canadian market.

The deal to create Simpsons-Sears Limited, a Canadian catalogue and department store chain
separate from the Simpson's chain, was signed on September 18, 1952 and the terms were 50-50.
Each company invested $20 million and had equal representation on the new company's Board of
Directors. The new company was to have two main objectives. The first was to expand Simpson's
mail order business, which was sold to the new company. The second goal was to build a string of
stores modelled on Sears, Roebuck's format across the country.
Sears canada 150

The agreement also contained a provision that would

prove to be a major challenge in later years. Under its
terms, Simpsons-Sears could not open a retail store within
25 miles of Simpson's existing stores in Toronto, Montreal,
Halifax, Regina and London. In return, Simpson's
promised not to build any stores outside of those five
cities. Simpsons-Sears mail order business, however, was
free to operate anywhere in Canada as was the new
Simpsons-Sears Acceptance Company, the credit arm of
the operation.

The business operations of Simpsons-Sears began when

the first Simpsons-Sears Spring/Summer Catalogue was
printed by Photo-Engravers and Electrotypers, Ltd. and
delivered to 300,000 Canadian homes in early 1953.
Sears canada 151

1972
Simpsons and Simpsons-Sears agreed to end the 25-mile restriction and permit
Simpsons and Simpsons-Sears stores anywhere. To avoid confusing customers used to
Simpsons, new stores were opened under the "Sears" banner. All existing Simpsons-
Sears stores were rebranded to the Sears banner as well. However, the name of the
company remained Simpsons-Sears Limited.

1973
Sears achieved its first billion-dollar sales year.

1974
Simpsons-Sears opened a Sears store at Hillcrest Mall in Richmond Hill,
Ontario, its first location in a mall that had a Simpsons store.
Sears canada 152

1963
Simpsons-Sears opened its first full-line store in Quebec, in Quebec City’s Fleur de Lys
complex.

1968
Simpsons-Sears became the first Canadian retailer to begin buying products from
Mainland China.

1971
Simpsons-Sears opened a new head office building in downtown Toronto.
Sears canada 153

 Craftsman
 Silvertone
 Kenmore
 Coldspot
 Jessica
 Attitude
(Later grouped into)
 Sears Woman
 Sears Man
 Sears Kids
 Sears Home Labels
 Indigo Books and Music
 Corbeil Appliances
kmart 154

Kmart, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sears Holdings

Corporation (NASDAQ: SHLD), is a mass
merchandising company and part of Shop Your
Way®, a social shopping experience where members
have the ability to earn points and receive benefits
across a wide variety of physical and digital formats
through [Link].

The Kmart name has once the symbol of Americans,

standing for quality products at low prices. More
than one hundred years ago, Sebastian Spering
Kresge opened a modest five-and-dime store in
downtown Detroit and changed the entire landscape
of retailing. The store that Kresge built has evolved
into an empire of more than 1,500 stores and an
Internet presence that reaches millions of customers.
kmart 155

1899: When Kresge opened his first store in, he sold everything for 5 and 10 cents. The low prices
appealed to shoppers and allowed him to expand to 85 stores in 1912, with annual sales of more
than $10 million.

War and financial depressions hit America hard over the next decades, but Kresge stores were
always there to offer families products at prices they could afford. They also offered people what
other businesses at the time could not -- jobs to support their families. As time went on, prices may
have changed, but the business philosophy stayed the same -- offer consumers products they need
at prices they can afford -- and they'll keep coming back.

Mid-1920s: The S.S. Kresge Company was opening locations that sold items for $1 or less, a
precursor to the current discount store. These ''green-front'' stores often were right next to the
traditional red-front five-and-dime Kresge stores.

1937: Kresge opened a store in the country's first suburban shopping center -- Country Club Plaza in
Kansas City, Missouri.
kmart 156

The retail environment was getting more

competitive, and again Kresge blazed the trail
for future retailers by launching a newspaper
advertising program to entice shoppers to its
stores.
Those print ads were the precursor to radio
promotions, which followed 20 years later,
and then TV commercials, which began to air
in 1968. Kmart is still the leading print
promotional retailer, with weekly circulars
reaching millions of households each week
Kmart stores 157

Kmart is a chain of discount department

stores that are usually free-standing or
located in strip malls. They carry compact
discs (CDs), DVDs, TV shows on DVD,
electronics, bedding, household hardware,
sporting goods, clothing, toys, jewelry, office
supplies, health and beauty products, over-
the-counter medications, home decor, and
a limited selection of food items.

Many also have a garden center, a Jackson

Hewitt tax center, a pharmacy, and a K-Cafe
or a deli serving Nathan's Hot Dogs and
pizza. Kmart stores range from 80,000–
110,000 sq ft (7,400–10,200 m2). Most of
them were either converted to or rebranded
as Big Kmart while some were converted
into Super Kmart stores.
Kmart stores 158

Big Kmart
 Big Kmart is a chain of discount department stores
that carries everything a regular Kmart carries, but
emphasizes home decor, children's clothing, and
more food items such as meat and poultry, baked
goods, frozen foods and an extended, but limited
section of garden produce. Big Kmart stores range
from 84,000–120,000 sq ft (7,800–11,100 m2).

 Big Kmart stores also feature a garden center, a

pharmacy, a branch of a local bank, a Jackson
Hewitt tax center, an Olan Mills portrait studio, an
arcade, a K-Café or Little Caesars Pizza Station, and
sometimes a Kmart Express gas station. As noted
above, Kmart introduced the Big Kmart brand
company-wide when it was introduced in 1997.
Some Big Kmart locations were either closed or
converted to normal Kmart stores.
Kmart stores 159

BlueLight Special
The original Blue Light Special, first introduced
in 1965, was retired in 1991. The company
brought back the Blue Light Special in 2001,
but again discontinued it in 2002.
The concept was briefly revived in 2005,
though Kmart at that time had no plans to use
the concept long-term. Blue Light Specials
were revived again in 2009 on Saturdays,
offering surprise hour-long sales on selected
merchandise, but were discontinued again.
Blue Light Specials were revived once again in
November 2015.
Kmart – sears merger 160

2004
Kmart's management announced its intention to purchase Sears for $11 billion. As part of the merger,
the Kmart Holding Corporation (the company that owns Kmart) would be transferred to the new Sears
Holdings Corporation and Sears would be purchased by the new Sears Holdings Corporation. The new
corporation announced that it would continue to operate stores under both the Sears and Kmart
brands. Around this time, Kmart changed its logo from a red K with the script "mart" inside, to the
same K with the chain's name in lowercase letters below it.

2005
Sears Holdings Corporation introduced the Sears Essentials store format, which was supposed be like a
Sears store and a Kmart store mixed together. Sears Essentials stores were freestanding (not located at
a shopping mall) stores. In 2006, the company discontinued the Sears Essentials name, and renamed all
of the Sears Essentials stores as Sears Grand stores.

2012
Kmart's headquarters were relocated to Hoffman Estates, Illinois, and in 2012 the sprawling
headquarters complex in Troy, Michigan, was acquired by the Forbes Company, which owns the nearby
upscale mall, Somerset Collection. No concrete plans for redevelopment of the site had been
announced.
WLS RAdio 161

One of America’s most unique broadcast outlets

with an envious history would not have existed
without Sears, Roebuck & Company in the 1920’s.

In those days, visionaries existed within the

company. They were aware that the country’s
rural population could benefit from radio and,
since Sears had been mailing catalogs for years,
farmers were already a big part of their customer
base.
In 1923, Julius Rosenwald, the renowned
philanthropist president of Sears started the
Sears-Roebuck Agricultural Foundation which
was headquartered at a store on the west side of
Chicago. A group of hand-picked Sears experts
provided research and services and answered
questions, free of charge, to the farm community.
WLS RAdio 162

Under Mr. Rosenwald’s leadership, Sears was

granted a license for a 500 watt radio station
with a small makeshift studio in the Sears Tower
at Homan and Arthington.

Sears, Rosebuck & Company had labeled itself as

the World’s Largest Store and, after the arrival of
the radio station, they had a nifty little logo to go
with it which was used on some of the products
they sold. On April 12, 1924, WLS Radio was born

WLS was sold a few years later, and it was a good

fit with “Prairie Farmer Magazine” under the
helmsmanship of Burridge D. Butler. Butler
continued the idea Sears started: to serve the
public in rural America
Prodigy – joint venture with ibm 163

Prodigy was founded on February 13, 1984, as

Trintex, a joint venture between CBS, computer
manufacturer IBM, and retailer Sears, Roebuck
and Company.

The company was headed by Theodore Papes, a

career IBM executive, until his retirement in
1992. The company's service was launched
regionally in 1988 in Atlanta, Hartford, and San
Francisco under the name Prodigy. The
marketing roll-out plan closely followed IBM's
Systems Network Architecture (SNA) network
backbone. A nationwide launch developed by ad
agency J. Walter Thompson and sister company
JWT Direct (New York) followed on September 6,
1990.
Prodigy – joint venture with ibm 164

Thanks to an aggressive media marketing

campaign, bundling with various consumer-
oriented computers such as IBM's PS/1 and PS/2,
as well as various clones and Hayes modems, the
Prodigy service soon had more than a million
subscribers.

To handle the traffic, Prodigy built a national

network of POP (points of presence) sites that
made local access numbers available for most
homes in the US. This was a major factor in the
expansion of the service since subscribers did
not have to dial long distance to access the
service. The subscriber only paid for the local call
(usually free), while Prodigy paid for the long
distance call to its national data center in
Yorktown, New York.
Prodigy – joint venture with ibm 165

What do Prodigy Provide?

The initial result was that Prodigy pioneered the concept
of an online content portal—a single site offering:
 News, weather
 Sports
 Communication with other members
 Shopping for goods and services: groceries, general
merchandise, brokerage services, and airline
reservations.
 Lifestyle features: popular syndicated columnists,
Zagat restaurant surveys, Consumer Reports articles
and test reports, games for kids and adults, in-depth
original features called "Timely Topics", bulletin
boards moderated by subject matter experts, movie
reviews, and e-mail.
Working closely with Henry in the early stages of
Prodigy's design, Bob Bedard pioneered the business
model for electronic commerce. Additionally, Prodigy was
also the service that launched ESPN's online presence.
Prodigy – joint venture with ibm 166

What do Prodigy Provide?

Prodigy's initial business model relied more on
advertising and online shopping for cash flow than
monthly subscriptions. Subscribers were charged a flat
monthly fee that provided unlimited access.

Initially, a monthly rate was charged for an unlimited

usage time and 30 personal messages. Subscribers could
purchase additional messages for a fee. Later, Prodigy
would divide its service into "Core" and "Plus" sections.
Core section usage remained unlimited, but Plus sections
were limited by usage time. Subscribers were given a
monthly allotment of Plus time and if that time was
exceeded, the subscriber would incur additional charges
based on usage time.

Subscribers could easily tell what type of section they

were in by looking at a blue indicator in the bottom-right
corner of the screen.
Prodigy – joint venture with ibm 167

Development
Prodigy's shopping applications initially underperformed relative to expectations. Reasons for difficulty in
online shopping for Prodigy included the perception that online shoppers would pay a premium rather
than expect discounts for merchandise. Another reason for poor online merchandising was the nature of
the graphics presented due to inherent limitations of technology at the time. Using the early NAPLPS
graphic standard, it was not possible to render realistic images of products.

As such, while commercial clients with presence on the Prodigy Service might have realized a measure of
success with an electronic order blank supporting a print catalog, it was otherwise difficult and challenging
for online merchants to market products.

Despite these challenges, Prodigy was largely responsible for helping merchants such as PC Flowers
become some of the earliest e-commerce success stories. However, revenue from advertising was limited.

By 1993, Prodigy was developing a network architecture that would become known in the modern Internet
age as a content delivery network, where the network caches its most frequently accessed content as close
as possible to the users. The company sold private versions of this for use within a customer's private
corporate network.
Prodigy – joint venture with ibm 168

Development
Unlike many other competing services, Prodigy started out with flat-rate pricing. When Prodigy
moved to per-hour charging for its most popular services in June 1993, tens of thousands of users
left the service.

Prodigy was also one of the first online services to offer a user-friendly GUI when competing
services, such as CompuServe and GEnie, were still text-based. Prodigy used this graphical capability
to deploy advertising, which it expected would result in a significant revenue stream.

Prodigy offered online banking, stock trading, advertising and online shopping before the World
Wide Web became widely used, but was largely unable to capitalize on these "early mover"
advantages. Decades later, however, IBM continues to sell licenses for basic concepts of
ecommerce.

Prodigy was a forerunner in caching data on and near the users' personal computers to minimize
networking and server expenses while improving the experience for users.
Lands’ End 169

History

Lands' End began as a mail-order yachting supply company in 1963 in Chicago, Illinois. It was
founded by Gary Comer, along with his partners, 1963 Pan American Games gold medalist sailors
Richard Stearns and Robert Halperin, and two of Stearns' employees. As the business became
successful, it expanded into general clothing and home furnishings, and moved to Dodgeville,
Wisconsin in 1978. The company is named from its sailboat heritage, after Land's End, but the
misplaced apostrophe in the company name was a typographical error that Comer could not afford
to change, as promotional materials had already been printed.

Lands' End's catalog business expanded in the 1980s, riding a nationwide wave of mail-order
success. The company expanded its computer systems and customer service operations. In 1986 it
became a publicly traded company. The 1990s saw continued growth, as the company began
international expansion and became an early embracer of e-commerce, establishing a website and
"live chat" customer service. In 1992 Lands' End was named among "The 100 Best Companies to
Work for in America".
Lands’ End 170

Sears acquisition & spin-off

In 2002, Sears bought the company for USD $2 billion in [Link] addition to operating mail order
and online business and Lands' End Inlet stores, Sears offered a Lands' End clothing line in a large
number of its retail stores. In 2012, the company formed an "online partnership" with the UK's
Debenhams and House of Fraser department stores.

On December 6, 2013, Sears Holding Corp. announced that it would spin off Lands' End catalog
business as a separate company by distributing stock to the retailer's stockholders. Lands' End stock
began trading on the NASDAQ on April 7, 2014.

The clothing maker plans to open as many as 60 of its own stores in the next five years, up from a
current count of about 14 globally, to reduce its reliance on Sears (SHLD, +0.00%), its one-time sister
company whose sales are in free fall and finally goes bankrupt.
 171

culture
Sears radio theater 172

Sears Radio Theater was a radio drama anthology

series which ran weeknights on CBS Radio in 1979,
sponsored by the Sears chain. Often paired with The
CBS Radio Mystery Theater during its first season, the
program offered a different genre of drama for each
evening's broadcast.

In January 1980, the program moved to the Mutual

Broadcasting System and became the Mutual Radio
Theater. The Mutual series broadcast repeats from the
CBS run until September 1980, when a short season of
new dramas was presented. Sears continued as a
sponsor during the Mutual run. The program turned
out to be Mutual's final radio drama series. Mutual
continued to broadcast repeats of the program (along
with a few previously unaired episodes) until
December 1981.
Sears for CIVIL RIGHTS 173

A civil rights legacy

Decades earlier, another Sears executive

engaged in activism of a different sort. Julius
Rosenwald began promoting civil rights causes
while he was still president of Sears, before he
became its chairman in 1924, leading some to
call him the “first social justice philanthropist.” He
helped fund fellowships for black artists and
academics, including W.E.B. Du Bois and James
Baldwin. He worked with Booker T. Washington
to open more than 5,300 schools for black
children in the Jim Crow South. Some of them
were burned down by the Ku Klux Klan.
Sears for CIVIL RIGHTS 174

Rights for black people under jim crow era

If you were a black Southerner in 1900, finding another way to shop would have been a godsend. Enter the
Sears catalog. The catalog, which was introduced around 1891, undid the power of the storekeeper, the landlord
and, by extension, the racially marked consumerism of Jim Crow. All of a sudden, black families could buy
whatever they wanted without asking permission.

The Sears catalog, unlike the earlier Montgomery Ward catalog, also offered credit. With that credit, black
farmers could buy the same overalls and hats as white people, and even the same guns (and farm equipment).

Prices were lower, too. Indeed, the catalog was so successful in part because it brought low prices to the
countryside. And flipping through the catalog was like strolling through a department store in Chicago. For
sharecroppers who had often never have left the county in which they were born, the catalog was a window into
another, freer life.
Sears Charity 175

Volunteerism: Our stakeholders work at the grassroots level to strengthen every aspect
of community. Whether it’s coordinating fundraisers for charitable causes or installing
appliances, painting, or equipping homes for energy efficiency, these committed experts
are changing the lives of heroes and communities.
Merchandise and Monetary donations: Our wide array of products allows us to help
outfit and maintain homes, families and communities nationwide. By contributing to not-
for-profit organizations whose efforts align with the mission of Sears Holdings, we have
an impact on the greatest number of families. Our non-for-profit partners have the
expertise needed to assess and respond to local community needs.
Sears sell fine arts 176

Vincent Price pitches Picasso

The target Sears customer was the average American, not the uptown grande dame bedecked in
pearls and furs. But when the company opened an art gallery in 1966 in one of Chicago’s most
upscale retail districts, featuring works by Chagall, Picasso and Miró, both kinds of customer
showed up. On the first day, 100 pieces sold, including a $30,000 Andrew Wyeth oil painting. The
unlikely venture was an extension of a program started in 1962 and run by the actor Vincent Price,
known for his roles in horror films.

But Mr. Price was also a well-known art collector who counted his partnership with Sears among his
proudest contributions to American culture. Sears sold more than 50,000 pieces of fine art by 1971,
when it ended the program. Since then, other mass market retailers, like Costco, have explored
similar offerings.
 177

Decline
Sears decline 178

Most modern analysts blamed CEO Eddie Lampert and his apparent raiding of the combined
Sears/Kmart dynasty. A Bloomberg article says “Sears and Kmart have been slowly dismantled by
Lampert.” By 1990, Sears lost its perch completely, when Walmart stripped away the title of “World’s
largest retailer.” Of course, another startup company – Amazon – would soon join the race and
change the course of retail shopping altogether.
Sears decline 179

Sears was an early adopter of digital marketing. They were part owner in Prodigy,
one of the first online services. The Internet Archive (see above) began picking
them up in early 1997. 20 years later, the site had been saved over 11,000 times
by the Wayback Machine.
Sears decline 180

In contrast to Sears, Amazon didn’t garner enough attention to make the Internet
Archive until late 1998. Over the next 20 years, though, they were so active that
the Wayback machine saved almost 233,000 screenshots of the Amazon site.
Sears decline 181

Being online is not enough

If one is to reap the benefits from ecommerce, then it’s necessary to pursue a rigorous conversion
optimization protocol to seize that opportunity.

Most companies have yet to develop a competent conversion optimization strategy. Therefore, most
companies are severely underperforming in their ecommerce efforts.
Sears was one of the first companies to embrace ecommerce. Yet, management allowed the Fallacy
of Division to fool them into thinking being online was enough.

An online presence can actually hurt a company that isn’t utilizing the principles of user experience
(UX) and conversion rate optimization (CRO) to adjust the online presence to the chosen audience.
Those in charge of marketing strategy for Sears allowed complacency to lure them into thinking they
had covered all the ecommerce bases simply by being online.
Sears decline 182

Distracting expansion

In 1981, Sears, Roebuck & Co. made the first

strategic mistake – an aggressive expansion
outside its “core” retailing business, into financial
and real estate services… by purchasing the Dean
Witter Reynolds securities firm and the Coldwell
Banker real estate operation.
The problem was that these new business lines
had very few synergies with Sears’ core business.
Besides, the move offered the company’s
competitors -- like Macy’s Inc., Wal-Mart Stores
and Home Depot Inc. -- an opportunity to invade
the Sears market.
Sears decline 183

restructure
Restructuring its operations into several units, often run by people with little retailing experience. It should come
as no surprise that this policy was doomed to fail, as evidenced by the company’s financial results in recent
years.

“The operating business units will consist of the company's current lines of business such as home appliances,
electronics, and apparel.
 The support units will include the functions that provide operational and administrative support to the
operating businesses including marketing, store operations, customer strategy and finance.
 The brand units will be responsible for growing the value of Sears Holdings brand portfolio.
 The real estate business unit and an online business unit will focus on increasing the sales productivity of the
company's physical and virtual real estate.

Each business unit will have a designated leader and an advisory group comprised of senior Sears Holdings
executives who will provide direction and oversee the business unit's performance. The leadership of each unit
will have a separate, internal profit and loss statement to allow greater focus on managing the profitability of the
unit, and rapid decision making to capitalize on opportunities and mitigate risks.”

Sears Holdings Press Release, Jan 22, 2008

Sears decline 184

Losing advantages
Sears made its third strategic mistake – selling off brands like
Lands End, and company stores, losing the brand and scale
advantages the company once enjoyed. In the beginning, the
company was selling unprofitable stores to streamline its
operations, including 46 stores in just 2012 alone.
That changed in 2013, however. The company has been
selling some of its best stores in order to shore up its financial
situation. Sears plans to sell 200 additional stores to raise
more than $2.5 billion -- and lease them back through a new
real investment trust, Seritage Growth Properties.
While Sears has been selling off stores, it has failed to update
its retailing model, as one of my readers put it in response to
a previous piece.
Sears decline 185

Losing advantages

Sears Department Store t is a ghost store and always empty. Some of the same sales personnel are still in major
appliances. But the quality of merchandise is not the same and it looks more and more like a Walmart since the
merger with KMart.

Then comes the fourth, and most serious, mistake Sears has made: the way it has treated its employees, as
graphically described by a reader commenting on a previous piece here. “I have known many Sears sales staff
personally, and I understood their plight, given my decade of experience with sales. Sears sales people often feel
in constant threat of termination due to goals that seem arbitrary and contrary to a positive sales environment.
For example, data capture. Yes, it is important to develop a consumer base to contact. However, nearly every add
on requires a litany of information seeking. This kills the authentic feel of a sale, and the salesperson/consumer
connection. That connection is the lifeblood of a business.
 186

summary
Sears summary – the good old days 187

Valuable insights to capture opportunities Innovative distribution channel

 Sears first entered the US market in the rural areas  Mail Order – Catalog Sales was one the most innovative

– a wise move in the context of 1886. It all started channel of that time. “Sears taught American how to

with: shop” and made goods available everywhere at a fair

 Lack of goods for farmers with fair prices cost for everyone to access, even the Black under Jim

 Richard Sears’ insights about the struggle of Crow era

trading goods in the country at the time.  Chicago headquarter was a strategic position

Everyone could only get what they wanted  Placed along the transcontinental railroad and the

through middlemen. He was a middleman railroad network on the East Side

himself selling watches and jewelry  Near the port and also near the rural market
(States in the middle of the US)
Sears summary – the good old days 188

Excellent product assortment choices Advertising & Direct marketing at its finest
In the beginning, watches and jewelry helped Sears Sears pioneered for advertising writing (copywriter)
start its catalog system but the following products and paid ads placement in its marvelous catalogs.
made Sears the iconic American retailer. It started It also invented reference program (the most loyal
with Kenmore (Home Appliances) and Craftsman customers referred catalogs to their friends and
(Tools) to serve the needs of farmers and workers get rewards) and cash-back program which are
who were working at factory to build their own fundamental for Shop Your Way later in the
homes. Furthermore, Sears Homes – the historic Modern World.
idea that provide houses for many Americans.
Sears summary – transformation 189

From mail order to stores Expansion in industries and countries

As the America was changing, the accessibility to Later on, Sears no long wanted to carry others’
transportation and stores were easier, they are no products, they developed and produced by
long shop through mail. Sears caught the trend themselves. Die Hard – a battery brand is the
and transform to a mortar retailer with stores significance for this. They enter new industries by
around the country (some were transformed from acquiring many notable brands in Finance,
mail order plants). It became the Everything Store Insurance, Clothing,…etc. Sears has its stores in
that everyone wanted to go to. Canada and Mexico.
 Sears has become a full fledged giant in various
industries that support each other
Sears summary – decline 190

“sears should have been amazon” Ambiguous strategies and directions

The Prodigy was a breakthrough for Sears. Later Before filing for bankruptcy, Sears had a
they launched [Link] and many sites for collaboration with Amazon to develop Kenmore
selling goods but they cannot efficiently manage smart appliances using Alexa. They already
the system like Amazon did. The giant stumbled commercialized a smart air condition but it is not
and failed to keep up with the advancing enough to ‘wake Sears up’. Management team
technology. continuously sells its once-an-advantage divisions
and buys multiple businesses. Sears lost its sight of
its core business in retailing
191