Posted on 01/21/2016 8:10:52 PM PST by jeannineinsd
The retailer sees a big opportunity in the appliance business, and in Sears' problems.
For the first time in 33 years, the department store will be selling home appliances like refrigerators and washing machines by General Electric, Hotpoint, LG and Samsung, at 22 of its roughly 1,000 stores. If all goes well with the pilot, which begins Feb. 1 in stores in the San Antonio, San Diego and Tampa metro areas, Penney could roll out the home appliance offerings to hundreds more stores by October.
The return to home appliances is the first major new initiative by former Home Depot senior executive Marvin Ellison since he took the reins as chief executive officer last August, and one he is betting will help Penney build on its promising recent comeback. Penney's comparable sales during the 2015 holiday season rose 3.9%, putting it on track for its ninth straight quarter of growth. Notably, Penney's holiday results were a clear outperformance of department store rival Macy's, which saw a big drop in sales.
Penney is gradually clawing back after a disastrous reinvention in 2012 that alienated its frugal core customers and cost it a third of its revenues. But for all of Penney's progress, Wall Street only expects the retailer to clock in sales of $12.6 billion for the fiscal year ending this month. That is still more than $4 billion below their level four years ago.
- snip - And stealing customers from Sears will be no slam dunk. Last year, Sears opened a new technology center in Seattle that (among other things) will mine data gleaned from the tens of millions of appliance service calls made by Sears technicians over the years; that move is intended to boost appliance sales by improving customer service.
(Excerpt) Read more at fortune.com ...
My Herter’s U9 agrees.
No doubt .. unfortunately with Sears, they started making some of the Craftsmen tools in China ... bad move
I agree. I now buy appliances locally from smaller merchants. I may not get the absolute best price but the Customer Service makes up for it.
Last stove I bought from HD was dropped by the animals they hire to deliver it. The damaged was concealed until I went to install it finding that the legs were driven up into the bottom and destroyed.
Then it was thirty phone calls to get it straightened out. I gave up and repaired it myself. It was for an apartment and needed it in and working right away.
Never again
Horrendous move. Craftsman was known for being the top of the line. Then they blew it.
Maybe they’ll see the light as they need to.
I saw an article yesterday that GE Is selling their appliance division.
I hope ... both Sears and Penney’s have been victims of horrible CEO’s as of late ... the share holders finally said enough ... I think Penny’s saw the light , but i’m not sure about Sears
They are now making Craftsman brand tools in China? That is sad. There seems to be a race to the bottom. Make everything as cheaply as possible. Take what used to be quality tools but make them cheap to compete against other cheap tools. See who can be a penny cheaper - that seems to be all that matters.
The stock on that gun is beautiful.
As the owners of a few apartment units, we buy more appliances in 5 years then most people buy in a lifetime.
We agree on flooring -- local company, we have our own preferred installer. I wouldn't recommend adhesive on concrete -- how do you get it off when it wears out?
However, on appliances, the local "Hometown" Sears is our preferred supplier. For reefers, dishwashers and ranges, they almost always have a mid-level model on sale at a price barely above the low-end versions. They beat Home Depot and the other all other local suppliers by at least 20% if you want the one on sale.
For our purposes, Kenmore is as good as any other brand since I am confident parts will be available for a long time, although we get whatever brand is the best deal at the time we need it. Service is a non-issue. I install them myself, and if I can't fix a problem, the unit is considered "beyond economic repair."
I bought a full set of appliances -— glass-top range, microwave, dishwasher, clothes washer, clothes dryer from Best Buy. Sears and Penney’s, along with Montgomery Ward, are so last century.
Mens clothes at JCP are very good quality at excellent prices if you wait for sales combined with $10 off a $25 purchase. Buy almost all of my clothes there. The rest, I buy at Costco.
I saw that too. I gave up on their stuff a long time ago anyway. I don’t think there’s any such thing as good appliances these days. The South Korean ones are all overpriced junk.
And to Haier no less.
Not a moment too soon for me.
As far as I can tell, the primary function of our GE washer is harboring black mold in the door seal. And the companion GE drier seems to have lost the ability to get anything dry. After only 8 years the dampness sensor always shuts it off while clothes are still damp.
The next ones are going to be from Costco. Whatever they are selling that month. I have really come to like those guys. I have never bought anything with their store brand (Kirkland) on it that was not first quality and a reasonable price to boot. And the other things they sell seem to all be good quality as well.
My first gun. I still own it. My grandchildren shoot it.
Not really top of the line, but good enough for most things, and lifetime warranty w/o receipt if broken.
I used Craftsman for most mechanic's tools, but for a few things that really mattered (line wrenches, screw drivers, 5/16" combination wrench) the upgrade to MAC/Snap-On was worth the extra few (hundred) bucks (IMO).
Mechanics I knew all used Snap-On. They told me that the difference is in the balance of the tools. Craftsman made fine and rugged tools but if you were going to have a wrench in your hand all day long you wanted it to balance properly or you would wear yourself out working with it.
I still have a Penncrest socket set I bought when Penney’s still sold tools.
I remember when JCP sold appliances in competition with Sears. Sears was usually a bit better at it, tho, and eventually pushed JCP out...(JCP was generally better at clothing, bedding, drapery, ... soft goods....but never succeeded in pushing Sears out of those lines)
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