Swot Analysis Of Sears

Strengths The company Sears belongs to the parent company, Sears Holdings Corporation who is also the parent company of Kmart Holding Corporation and Roebuck and Co. The company was founded in 1886, making it one of the oldest retail companies to exist. The locations Sears operates are in the United States as well as parts of Canada and Mexico. As stated in the 10-K form by sec.gov: “Full-line Stores—894 broad line stores, of which 842 are full-line stores located across all 50 states and Puerto Rico. These stores are primarily mall-based locations averaging 133,000 square feet”.
Along with having a large amount of stores, Sears also have numerous subsidiaries and brand-names. “Full-line stores offer a wide array of products and service
The company has since continued to decline in sales over the years. In fact, according to the Fortune.com article by Phil Wahba, Eddie Lampert's Incredible Shrinking Sears Empire: “Sears has been burning through cash hurt by net losses of $7.1 billion in its last four full fiscal years. Last year, Sears sold off big assets like the Lands’ End clothing brand and shares held by Sears in Sears Canada, transactions that followed earlier sales of its Sears Hometown & Outlet stores, all to raise $2.3 billion and pad its cushion. And despite that, Sears had $250 million in cash at the start of the new fiscal year (vs $1 billion a year earlier), along with $800 million in credit”.
In an effort to gain money, Sears has sold off some of their stores as an attempt to make profit. “In fact, Sears is still trying to extract whatever money it can from its assets. It now expects to spin off up to 300 of its stores into a separate real estate investment trust by June; a move it projects would raise $2 billion. It has also been subleasing space at some stores, saying the Sears of the future will need less space in
One method is the program Shop Your Way in which a customer finds their favorite brand in the SYWEverywhere.com website and purchase items to gain points that can be redeem through Shop Your Way, Sears, and K-mart stores. As mentioned in the 10-K form: “We launched our Shop Your Way Rewards program late in 2009 and continued to grow membership and capabilities in 2010. The Shop Your Way Rewards program is intended to transition Sears Holdings from serving customers to building relationships with members. We believe that Shop Your Way Rewards will allow us to learn more about our individual customers and therefore position us to better meet their needs”. The online Sears Marketplace has over 17 million items for sale with international shipping along with an expansion of brand names. The site also offers a wide variety of categories, such as appliances, electronics, cookware, clothing, and toys. Records from the BMO Capital Markets have shown that Sears Canada has gain a profit of $505 million in sales last year due to Sears Canada’s online