Sears Roebuck and Co.

Sears made history in 1974 when it completed the 110-story Sears Tower in Chicago.

Phase III

Initially the business was selling watches through mail order catalogs. By 1894, the Sears catalog had grown to 322 pages, featuring sewing machines, bicycles, sporting goods, automobiles.A Year later clothing, dolls, refrigerators, stoves and groceries had been added to the catalog.

The first Sears retail store opened in Chicago on February 2, 1925. They continued expansion by opening stores in urban areas from 1925-1950. Then in the 1950s, the company expanded into suburban markets, and malls in the 1960s and 1970s.

Iconic Heritage

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1. Added Allstate Insurance Company in 1931.

2. Over the decades it established major national brands, such as Kenmore, Craftsman, DieHard, Silvertone, Supertone, and Toughskins.

3. Introduced the Discover credit card in 1985.

4. In March 2009, Sears purchased the social search engine Delver.

Growth Through Diversifying

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● Although the brand was well re-knowned , many rural dwellers who had no access to Sears retail stores at the time used the Sears brand as a euphemism for toilet paper because of them being mass-mailed.

● In the 90's Sear's excessive divesting into many non-retail entities resulted in great loses to the company's bottom line.

● In 1993, Sears stopped production of its general merchandise catalog because of sinking sales and profits. Sears Holdings continues to produce specialty catalogs though.

Past Hurdles

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Alan Lacy, Sears’ CEO, realized that Sears’ marketing strategies should be based on an understanding of how consumers select department stores while shopping for specific needs.

Few people are betting on a revitalization of the retail arm of Sears; not even the company itself. In 2010, Sears announced that it would sell its coveted Craftsman and Kenmore brands in other retail stores like Costco.

Even though consumers aren’t selecting Sears very often, the brands web platform and home services have a strong backing. Sears Holdings is the nation’s largest provider of home services, with more than 11 million service calls made annually.

Future of Sears

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Media experts heavily criticize the Sears brand, describing it as a hedge fund with money being diverted from the maintenance and improvement of stores to non-retail financial investments.

My belief is that Sears can survive by investing money into becoming a leading online retailer, but many investors believe that monetizing their many real estate holdings and building their brands outside of their retail stores is their best hope.

Future Cont.

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● Problems causing company to fall behind: ● Struggling in CRM ● Struggling with supply chain management, resulted in

miscalculated inventories and high shrinkage● Problem between company leaders over issues dealing

with how business runs.● Spent millions of dollars to reposition themselves.● CEOs blaming past` CEOs of poor management.

Barriers

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The company needs to influence the consumers selection criteria:● Public Awareness

● Value

● Price

● Reputation

● Location

Reassessment of the advertising campaign● Relocation

● Specialize in fewer areas

Barriers

Goal is to attract the younger consumer, the biggest barrier is the brick and mortar operations

Sears needs to engage and retain new customers. It is seen more as an electronic, appliance, and auto retailer. It hasn’t been able to engage younger consumers even through its Kardashian Kollection.

This venture flopped due to poor advertising and due diligence when they were forced to pull a number of products because of copyright infringement from designers Vera Wang, Alexis Bittar, and Monica Botiker

Cont.

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Online – over 20 million unique visitors monthly

● Consumer input is very prominent because of Sear’s very strong web presence.

● Originally limited to older house moms and seniors, their breadth has broadened over recent months.. Due to their strong web presence, younger consumers have increased activity with the Sears brand through digital portals.

● Sears also offers interactive promotions, like "People's Pick," which lets customers vote for a discount from a pre-selected list. The product with the most votes is put on sale the following weekend.’

● A Sears team also responds to customer complaints on Facebook and Twitter.

Digital Landscape

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Sears creating a Yelp-like site called MySears.com where people can comment on products and talk about the service they received.

Reviews can be accessed on a smart phone and product number at the retail store to merge the offline and online brand identities.

Sears aims to use social media to promote transparency and customer satisfaction.

Overall, digital can improve the brand image and has helped in engaging new customers but restructuring is necessary to sway the younger consumer to enter a Sears retail location especially for non- electronic needs

Social Media

Sears social media ranks 3rd behind Kraft Foods 1st, and McDonalds 2nd.

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1. Clymer, Floyd. Treasury of Early American Automobiles, 1877–1925. (New York: Bonanza, 1950), p.90.

2. http://www.searsarchives.com/history/3. Book: Historic Sears, Roebuck and Co. Catalog Plant ISBN 0-7385-3977-54. The Washington Post, Risky Side of Sears: Retailer Is Recast As a Hedge

Fund, As Sales and Stores Decline, Chairman Focuses on Investment, March 11, 2007.

5. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/history-future-sears-212356783.html6. Marketresearch.com7. http://www.realitytea.com/2011/11/10/kardashians-accused-of-copying-

designs-for-their-kardashian-kollection-for-sears-plus-vera-wang-angry-at-kim/

8. http://www.marketingvox.com/sears-and-kmart-try-the-social-media-my-044015/

9. http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20111231/ISSUE02/31231998510. http://siteanalytics.compete.com/sears.com/

References