Five years after their merger, how are Sears and Kmart faring? Not so well. The company faces deteriorating stores in near-abandoned malls, fierce competition in nearly every category, locations that were prime retail space in about 1974, and snarky consumer bloggers that mock the company at every turn. Oh.
The 2005 merger was supposed to bring together the best parts of two venerable but faltering American brands. Five years later, the recession has affected business at both Sears and Kmart badly enough that executives are starting to notice that something is wrong.
What keeps customers away? Lower prices elsewhere, poor service, and the intangible feeling of dankness and despair in most Kmart and Sears stores. That last problem is the most expensive to fix, so they’re going to back-burner it for now. David Friedman, senior vice president and president of marketing, told the New York Times in an interview:
“The in-store experience is one of those that matters a lot, and we believe that the physical plant is one piece of it, but we believe the associates and the products drive the in-store experience.”
Good luck with that. What would Sears have to change or offer in order to earn your money and/or loyalty?
A Tough Sell at Sears [New York Times] (Thanks, Howard!)
FURTHER READING:
Sears Still Has Customers, Can’t Manage To Sell Them Actual Merchandise
10 Confessions Of A Kmart Manager
Sears Has Your Mower And Doesn’t Feel Like Answering The Phone
Sears Epic Pricing Error Leaves Hundreds With Canceled Snowblower Orders
These Martha Stewart/Kmart Lounge Chairs Keep Cutting Off Fingertips
Sears Chairman Unleashes 15-Page Manifesto About Um, Everything
Sears, Don’t Make Me Give My Dad A Box Of Air Filters For Christmas
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The trouble with Sears & K-mart is due to a couple of problems:
First is a lack of focus due to market trends. The dichotomy of hardware and clothing/home goods trends towards lack of selection in both areas. People these days prefer to go to more specialized stores for their needs. My wife prefers Kohl’s and Macy’s for clothing and bedding shopping. I prefer going to Home Depot/Lowe’s for general hardware shopping and Auto Zone/Advanced auto parts for automotive hardware.
More importantly, at least within the city of Pittsburgh, Sears and K-mart have failed to expand or move into the different popular shopping locations that have grown in the last several years. Over 10 years ago, the best general shopping areas for me in the Pittsburgh area were Edgewood and Monroeville (we’ll ignore the smaller mom & pop type stores that people ought to go to, but I digress). Now, the places I tend to go to are the Waterfront and East Liberty. Between the two of them, I can go to Home Depot, Lowe’s, Target, Best Buy, Macy’s, Old Navy, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s etc, as well as a wonderful wide variety of restaurants. If K-mart or Sears were in either of these locations, they might see quite a lot of business. But they’re just not there. I have to go OUT of my way to go to either of these stores, and for what they carry, it’s simply not worth it. In my opinion, this is clearly a failure at the executive level.
Buh bye.
On a positive note, it’s a good place to shop if you dislike crowds and people.
The K-Mart here is clean and airy. I’d love to shop there, but 1) they rarely stock the items in their sales flyers, 2) their prices are out of line with the quality of their merchandise.
Sears? Never again! From not honoring their warranties to demanding my social security number for a cash purchase, they long ago buried any hope that I’ll ever buy from them again.
sears still has the best tools. unbeatable quality and warranty
I went into the local Sears {at the mall in Auburn, Massachusetts, no redaction here} last fall to buy another can of their paint that the previous owner of my house had used practically everywhere. Every few years I picked up a fresh can to have on hand for touchups, repairs, etc.
Walk in, nobody in the paint department. Wander over into hardware, ask at the register. Register guy points to another guy standing nearby doing nothing, and tells me, “he’s the paint guy, but you’ll have to wait about five minutes because he’s on his break.” Whaaaa? And Paint Guy proceeds to hang out at the register and chat with the cashier, completely ignoring me, with nobody making any move on my behalf. I walked out, went home and made a color sample of the remaining bit of Sears paint I had on a hunk of drywall, and took it to Home Depot, where they color matched it perfectly and sold me a quart.
Thanks for the help, Sears! Your lazy employees are your doom.
“The 2005 merger was supposed to bring together the best parts of two venerable but faltering American brands. Five years later, the recession has affected business at both Sears and Kmart badly enough that executives are starting to notice that something is wrong.”
Finally? The merger itself was a bad idea, and having a guy who doesn’t know anything about retail as chairman of the board was even worse.
“…intangible feeling of dankness and despair in most Kmart and Sears stores.”
Call GHOSTBUSTERS. We’re ready to believe you.
Here’s why I don’t shop at Sears. Hubby and I are in the market for a 50 inch plasma HDTV. We heard about the Panasonic lawsuit and decided a Samsung was probably the best bang for our buck. So we headed down to Sears (in our very small town) to just check out the quality of pictures ourselves. We were interested in seeing the differences in quality between manufacturers and between LCD vs. Plasma. Turns out this Sears has one of the models we’ve been casing in stock and on sale for $899, which was a great price. My husband starts chatting with a salesman, and as soon as the guy realizes that we are well informed customers who have done TONS of research he shrugs and pretty much just walks away!!! We continue to look around, just wanting to see picture quality before we go home and order via internet. We notice that NONE of the tV’s on the sale floor have any sort of direct HD feed, just a loop of ugly Sears ads and some tv show and movie clips as filler. We ask a different salesman if there’s any way to hook up a Blu-Ray player or show us a direct HD feed. The poor guy had no clue. He admits that the one floor model plasma tv that is actually hooked up to a Blu-Ray is broken, and no one can get it to work. He admits that the only signal they are allowed to show on the tv’s is just a digital feed from corporate. We tell him again, if he could find a working Blu-Ray player and hook it up to one of the tv’s we’d probably walk out with the $899 Samsung. He states that he cannot help us. We leave and go home very unsatisfied, and very certain that we will NEVER buy anything from Sears. Not only did our preparedness and knowledge of the product outright scare the salesman away from us, but when we asked for a simple and honest look at the quality of the tv picture, we were told they couldn’t help us.
They obviously aren’t in business to sell things.
Targets are actually moving into malls now.
I won’t shop there simply b/c of all of the horror stories I keep hearing about how they aren’t shipping out items that people have paid for, etc… No way am I frequenting a store that operates that way.
We just bought a new refrigerator to replace one that we bought at Sears in 2001.
No way in hell I was going to get it at Sears— I read The Consumerist, after all!!
We went to HHGregg.
AWESOME! Fantastic salesman, great delivery, A+++. Will buy again.
Our KMart store is clean, bright, and well organized, but their items cost more than WalMart a few hundred yards away. I only go there a few times a year to look through the clothing clearance items. Even the detergents, etc., unless it’s a true loss leader, are more expensive on sale than normal prices at our local chain grocery store in the same strip mall.
As for Sears, I love getting the gift cards for my Dad as he loves Craftsman tools, and I’d buy appliances or Craftsman items, but I never think of them for anything else.
My local Sears is actually a pretty great store. Since I bought my home a year ago I’ve bought many Craftsman tools there, including a mower. Never had trouble with buying online and picking up in-store, it’s always been in stock. I bought my truck tires there years ago and they’ve serviced them and my vehicle many times since, always promptly. There are always too many employees asking if I need help, but I’d rather have that then no one at all. The prices aren’t always great, but that’s why you shop around first.
KMart on the other hand, talk about depressing. I hate going in that store. The only reason I’ve gone there recently is that, surprisingly, they have a pretty nice garden center, compared to the Lowe’s and Home Depot in my area.
I bought shoes from Sear’s website online because they were having a killer sale…but when they arrived, they had an anti-theft tag on them. I went to one local Sears to have the stupid thing removed and they didn’t have the right tag type at that store so I had to drive across town to another store to have them taken off. After that, I am done with anything related to Sears.
Hearing all the sad tales of K-marts out there, I’m almost glad that they closed both stores in my town during their restructuring a couple years ago.
Sears is still in the mall here, the last thing I bought there was a Vizio TV set 3 years ago, I had been looking around for one to replace my bedroom TV set, and it just happened to be on sale when I went there. The sales associate was nice and friendly until he asked if I wanted to buy the protection plan, when I said no, the look on his face grew so cold it would have frozen alcohol.
Well after reading alot of the comments I don’t feel so bad now. Our local Sears Essentials (a renamed K-Mart) which is in a high end area is like going back in time to my child hood, I swear the inside of the store hasn’t been updated since it opened (at least 15 years ago) and yes it really shows. I really thought Sears would upgrade it when they renamed it but no they didn’t.
The closest K-Mark is on the corner of two major roads but hasn’t had a major re-model in atleast 20 years (no I am not joking). The roof leaks and I doubt any ceiling tiles are ever replaced unless they fall down. The lay-a-way is a wooden enclosure built with 2x4s and wall paneling. And the toy dept was moved into the old garden center after the 2004 hurricanes, and in a classy sort of way they had half windows up by the ceiling which they literally boarded up on the outside with plywood. The plywood on the outside has since been painted but you can still see it clearly on the inside along with the sun which comes through the windows around the edges of the boards. Yeah and the floor could use some updating or even a good cleaning.
I see several red flags that mirror the deaths of other major retailers including Montgomery Ward and A&P:
* Few (if any) new store openings over the past several years; existing stores are usually in less than desirable, lower-income areas.
* Reducing (Sears) or eliminating (K-Mart) stores in many cities or regions.
* Aging stores, fixtures and parking lots suffering from poor maintainence.
* Allowing other retailers to carry a flagship store brand. Ace Hardware now sells Craftsman Tools; A&P started wholesaling its “Eight O’Clock” brand coffee to competing supermarkets during its implosion in the 1980s.
My predictions:
* Sears’ few remaining “The Great Indoors” locations will shutter within the next year.
* The “Kenmore” name will be sold to an appliance manufacturer (likely Whirlpool) and start showing up in Lowe’s or Home Depot.
* K-Mart will cease to exist as a storefront name within 5 years; the few profitable locations left will get a low-grade remodeling and be re-branded under the “Sears Essentials” banner.
* Within 10 years, all the big-box and mall stores will be history. If the Sears name lives on at all it will be through their franchised “Sears Hardware” locations located mainly in smaller towns.
Sears was one of the oldest, most well-known, best, and trusted brands in America. Then they cut out the “Big Book” catalog, and started their decline. Continue along with selling reused or dead “DieHard” car batteries, not performing work on cars that they said they had, blowing off delivery appointments, not taking back Craftsman tools because of ANY reason, oh, and then merging with that ultimate shit hole of schlock – KMart.
Yep, add it all up and you have a total shithole that no one wants to go into. Screw Sears – I tell everyone I know to avoid that damn place like the plague. You can get 100% less hassle going to Home Depot, and they can be fairly snarky at times. Or just, you know- order online and have it shipped in. Or go to a local shop and forget Sears. Or if you’re looking for appliances, go to ABT. Clothes: Anywhere else.
The sooner these no-talent ass clowns go out of business, the better. Old man Sears and old man Roebuck must be turning over in their graves.
I have always received Craftsman Tools since I was a Pre-Teen but this year I didn’t want anything from Sears for a number of reasons. Below are just a few.
1. Customer Service Non Existent.
2. Craftsman is no longer a USA Product with a 100% backed up Forever Warranty. Just look allot is Made in China now which is JUNK.
3. Selection is now Sub-Par IMO.
4. Used to they would discontinue a few specialty tools every so often but to discontinue tape measures & change the warranty was last draw for me.
5. Did I say allot of Craftsman is made in China now? I couldn’t believe it but it is true they want us to pay top dollar for China Junk.
Several comments above mentioned Craftsman tools as one of the few reasons to go to Sears. I just bought a Craftsman tool yesterday at my local Ace Hardware! So much for that valuable customer draw.
I do go to Sears occasionally. I just bought a 52 in. LED LCD TV from them. I researched online first — their website’s product comparison is pretty good — and found what I wanted in the newest model at the same price that everyone else was charging for one model older. Walked into the store, bought it in person (even though it wasn’t on the floor), and walked out with it an hour after deciding to go there. Even package pickup was efficient and had good loading help. It was great. I was surprised and pleased. Of course, I wouldn’t have been surprised if Sears was consistently good,
Not that I’d buy anything textile there. Their buyers need a sense of style.
Kmart is another story. Dirty floors, dirty staff, shelves/racks in disarray, and always at least a decade out of date. You can use the latter to your advantage: I needed a VCR tape a couple months ago, and Kmart was the only one around that not only had them, but had a selection, for cheap. I otherwise go there in an emergency only because it’s a quick stop 1/3 mile from my house. But it’s a mess: For any serious shopping, it’s worth another 20-30 minute round trip to shop Target or Meijer. Even Walmart, which I hate and won’t enter, is way better than Kmart.
I’m in a situation right now and am pulling my hair out. Ordered three wrench sets in November for Christmas gifts, only one came in the package. Have contacted them eight times now about it. I keep answering the same questions about the condition of the package-was it damaged, etc. No, No, No, No. The packer failed to read the number and put only one in the box. Every time I call, I get someone new who doesn’t have a clue. My e-mails are either ignored or answered from a computer that says “We are here for you.”
I’d really like to know what to do about this. Packing slip says three were sent, the credit card bill is waiting to be paid.
Last Sears I saw is, well, in a near abandoned mall.
I would think that nobody in their right mind expects to speak to genuinely knowledgeable sales staff at ANY retail location. I mean, WHEN in your memory has that EVER happened? I find exactly what I expect to find at retail: clueless drones making sure that people don’t walk out with the stuff. I have NEVER expected to speak to anyone who knows their ass from a hole in the ceiling at retail, and I never do.
No, the ONE thing that could be solved at Kmart which would make it more likely for me to shop there in the future is this: HAVE MORE THAN *ONE* CHECKOUT LINE OPEN.
That’s ALL I want anymore: the ability to get the hell out of KMart in a reasonably timely fashion once I’m done with the already dull and boring shopping.
I’ve always been happy with Sears appliance purchases. But, Sears has lost my business due to a bad experience at my local Sears automotive center. I called from work, said I needed them to check a tire (it was leaking), I was leaving tomorrow for a long drive, could they do it? They said sure, bring the car in. I went after work, got there about 5:30, left after 8:00, with the tire unrepaired. The staff kept putting me off, saying that there had been an accident on the repair floor, they were short-staffed, it would be done in half an hour (they said this over the entire 3 hours that I was there). It became obvious to me that they were prioritizing all of the bigger jobs. I finally couldn’t wait any longer. It was clear they weren’t going to take me before they closed at 9:00.
I wrote to the sears.com forum, got a form response from a forum moderator: “I’ll write a message to the manager of that Sears auto shop, and they will be in touch with you.” Of course, they did not get in touch with me, and anyway, I had had my car repaired somewhere else by then.
To all our valued Sears customers.
My name is Scott and I’m part of the Sears Social Media Support Team within corporate. Please excuse my blanket post here, but due to the magnitude of response from this comment & forum on this site, I wanted to reach as many of you as possible. I’m terribly sorry for the frustration, trouble & inconvenience each of you has encountered. It is true we do face many operational hurdles in each of our avenues of business (Store, online, auto centers & home services), but customer service should not be compromised or sacrificed. We’d like to look into your issues and offer assistance. Please email us at smsupport@searshc.com for help. We do look forward to hopefully hearing from you.
Thank you,
Scott J.
Sears Social Media Support
Their customer base is disappearing because of age. The people who are left who are loyal to Sears like them based on the way they were in the 70′s and 80′s. These days their stores are tired, prices too high and warranties useless. In the old days they stood behind everything they sold and their service department was wonderful. Not anymore.
Sears will sell you a warranty on a 15 year old Dishwasher even if they know darn well that they can’t get the parts for it if it breaks. For me the warranty experience was the killer. I have a Kenmore vacuum that has been problematic. They just kept wasting my time sending it back and forth without fixing it. Finally a woman at Sears told me that the Powerhead Mini was useless in my household because I have long hair and pets. She then proceeded to pull out a screwdriver and demonstrate to me how I could take it apart and try to fix it myself next week when it died (which of course would void my warranty). She even said they were not going to fix it anymore for me. Of course she would be happy to sell me a new Kenmore vacuum complete with another Powerhead Mini and warranty. I bought a Dyson (from another store) and the Kenmore went out to the garage minus the Powerhead Mini which went in the garbage.
SEARS: Kitchen appliances, outdoor appliances (mowers, etc.) electronics, and furniture.
**Brand new stores away from dying malls. Keep your neighborhood stores in the rural areas stocked with electronics, outdoor appliances, and tools.
The store that needs the real reinvention is Kmart. No more direct challenges to Walmart and Target–those days are done. Kmart should instead move downmarket, with newer, smaller stores (50,000 sq. ft ‘Quick K’ instead of the 100,000+ ‘Big K’) that rival the likes of Dollar General, Freds, Family Dollar, etc. You’re going to beat these stores in groceries selection, discount clothing (ONLY the staples), small electronics, and tools. Basically, you’re going back to the medium-size roots that you had before the rise of hypermarkets. And you’ll do it towns that haven’t had (or never got a Kmart) during the 1990s expansion times.