In 2013, Sears Holdings had sales/revenue of $39.85B.
In 2017, that number is $22.14B
($900 million of that, selling off Craftsman)
There isn't much more for Whirlpool to lose from Sears.
In comparison, though Best Buy has been dropping in sales, 2017 was $39.4B, almost the same that Sears had 4 years ago.
The last few years, while appliance sales have been increasing, Sears and Kmart appliance sales have been dropping by double digits each year.
Sears, as little as 5 years ago, was the number 1 appliance retailer. Now number 3. Surpaced by Lowes and Home Depot.
Thanks for that bit of info and the possible reason it may not have much real impact on Whirlpool. I can remember choosing to “fire” potential customers based on how we priced their project and the hassle factor of dealing with them. Today, I counsel clients about how to evaluate customers for revenue and profit so they don’t take business that has no real return for them.
Mostly my concern about the Tulsa plant is the economic development element for the larger community.
I have bought many appliances at Home Depot, after I quit buying at Sears. Home Depot at least acted like they wanted to sell them to me.
Sears and other big names of the past forgot customer service. Customer service is rare anywhere these days but those companies built their business on it, so it was expected by their customer base.