Posted on 05/28/2016 11:27:48 AM PDT by PROCON
The slow, painful demise of Sears continues.
The struggling retailer, which also owns equally troubled Kmart, reported a loss of $471 million in the first quarter, worse than a year ago. Sales fell more than 8%.
Sears (SHLD) also announced that it may sell three of its iconic brands -- Kenmore, Craftsman and DieHard. The company said it is looking at strategic alternatives for its Home Services installation and repair businesses as well.
These three brands -- dubbed KCD by the company -- are still well-known and popular.
In a pre-recorded call for analysts and investors, CFO Rob Schriesheim said the Kenmore, Craftsman and DieHard brands are "beloved by the American consumer" (I own a Crafstman tool box. Don't you? And who hasn't had a Kenmore washer or dryer?)
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
A sad story.
Sears was the "go to place for everything" for much of my lifetime and I do still own many Craftsman tools.
Instead of selling off those brands, maybe they should either close the stores, or make them much smaller places to sell them, and drop everything else.
I have had a number of Kenmore products over the decades and have been very satisfied with them.
Craftsman hand tools were and still are a reasonably priced alternative to the primo stuff like Snap-On. I used to rely on Sears for tools when I lived near a store. None around now and I dislike the Chinese crap Lowes and Homo Depot sell.
Sears quality fell off when they went cheap...
They used to carry quality men’s clothing and Craftsman tools had a lifetime guarantee...
The J C Higgins sporting goods was mid quality and they had a large selection to choose from...
My Kenmore washer and dryer are still going strong after 5 years of heavy use. Wish I could say the same for my GE appliances.
I was at Ace Hardware yesterday, first time in many years, and noticed that they sell Craftsman.
I worked for Sears about 10 years ago...
I am sure the same issues that I faced as an employee are probably worse or the same...
every system from POS to inventory was antiquated and caused serious customer issues...
They are a dinosaur retailer.
At some point they will go extinct...
Sears needs to concentrate on padding the upper managements resumes by getting them all MBAs and 6 sigma certified. Streamlining their logistics to bring their customers quality goods and services at affordable prices is just so old fashioned.
I cant believe it but I actually ordered a couple things online from sears in the last month. Order wasnt screwed up and got to me okay.
First time in years I bought from them. Maybe beefing up their online presence would be another area for them to strengthen and increase sales.
If corporate management had a clue about management, this election season would provide a clear strategic path. Anti-American is not the way to go.
yeah ... me too
The only thing I've done is replace one belt and two timers
They used to carry quality mens clothing and Craftsman tools had a lifetime guarantee...
Many years ago my dad had a Craftsman framing hammer that I broke one of the claws off busting slag off a weld I had made on one of our tractors. My dad told me to take it back to Sears and they would replace it with a new one. I couldn’t believe it when they actually did it.
Unfortunately, a week later I went to a lumber mill auction and bought a bunch of old 3 phase electrical equipment. On the way back something broke on the flatbed truck I was using and I had to get under the truck and bang on it with the hammer and hay wire it back together. When I got back I realized that I had left my shiny new hammer under the truck. I drove 50 miles back to where I had the trouble, but someone had already found the hammer.
Craftsman doesn’t mean what it used to. I bought an impact driver from Sears a couple years ago; it was made in China. The battery would drive about three lag bolts before it was through. After two weeks it quit working altogether. I assume it was defective from the start but didn’t have time to waste making sure. I took it back and bought a Harbor Freight tool for half the price which works much better and has served me well for the past couple of years.
They rely on a customer base that is pre-internet. As they die off...the younger set just looks at Sears as someplace their grandparents shopped at.
I remember the first time I went into a Sears store as a homeowner. “My god,” I thought. “I’m home.”
But that was long ago,
and now my consolation,
is shopping Amazon.
I would definitely hold on to Craftsman and Kenmore -- maybe part ways with Diehard. Diehard's a good product, but selling car batteries without installation would be a hard sell to most consumers.
In a few years, you could reposition the company to compete with Amazon.
Maybe they should try selling stuff people want to buy at prices they can pay?.............just an idea..........
What would be left?
Yup, that’s why Amazon is prospering.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.