Summary
Sears hasn't shown much retailing leadership for years, but may be there is still one good retailer left in the company. Here's more.
Analysis
It would take a lot to change my mind about Sears Holding's retail prowess, but I must say their latest focus on pre-Christmas sales suggests there may be some hope yet for this company to be a retailer again.
Just who at Sears is thinking like a retailer isn’t clear, but its good Lampert is listening. Savvy merchants have always known consumers start making Christmas buying decisions as early as August. In fact, about 40% of shoppers have already made their choice of product and retailer by the end of October for many types of gifts. Granted they won’t actually begin buying many of the items until after Thanksgiving, but the choice is made nonetheless.
Still, consumers don’t want to be greeted with Christmas songs and Nutcracker dolls in August, so it’s important to attract consumers without ringing Christmas bells. Now, if Sears could find it’s merchants hat, who knows how much they might sell, especially since the rest of retailing is in full retreat.
On another front, Sears has done a remarkable job of improving its e-commerce offer. Unfortunately, they don’t talk about it much. I don’t believe web sales will ever be as strategic as the Sears catalog was in their distribution mix, but their investment shows in terms of offer and functionality. It’s still unfriendly however, but not as unfriendly as the current store environment.
Recessions like this one can bring out the worst in a company and the best too. Let’s hope for Sears sake, it’s the best. Who knows, they might be one of the few large retailer ringing up the big sales this year.
