Showing posts with label Sears. Show all posts
Sears is planning to sell stores to raise around $800 million this year but the problem lies in the fact, they will be forced to part ways with their most profitable stores. Tough times ahead.
In a Gamble for Cash, Sears Plans to Sell Stores
Sears Holdings moved on Thursday to allay fears that it could run low on cash this year, announcing plans to sell stores in transactions that the company says could raise nearly $800 million.
But the deals also highlight the major challenges that Sears faces as it tries to stop a multiyear slump in its operations, analysts said.
Sears may be giving up its most profitable stores in exchange for a quick cash infusion today. In one of the transactions, Sears also expects current shareholders to foot the bill, potentially leaving them more exposed to the troubled retailer.
Wal-Mart, Target, Sears et al are lobbying legislators to change sales-tax laws in more than a dozen states including Texas and California that will force Internet Retailers to collect Sales Taxes from companies like Amazon.
Retailers Push Amazon on Taxes
The big-box stores are backing a coalition called the Alliance for Main Street Fairness, which is leading efforts to change sales-tax laws in more than a dozen states including Texas and California.
Until now, the group has been largely associated with mom-and-pop stores, spotlighting stories of small toy shops and booksellers who argue Internet merchants that aren't legally required to collect sales taxes enjoy an unfair advantage with shoppers.
Amazon has feverishly fought efforts to compel it to collect sales taxes. The Seattle-based online retailer says it complies with the law. Under a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, only merchants who have a physical presence, such as stores, in a state have to collect sales taxes. Amazon currently gathers those taxes in just five states: Kansas, Kentucky, North Dakota, its home base of Washington, and New York.
But retailers pushed for passage of a new law in Illinois last week that forces Amazon to collect sales taxes if it employs marketing affiliates in the state—a measure similar to a New York law that retailers want to replicate nationally—and their drumbeat may soon spur federal action.
Just in time for 2011 Consumer Electronics Show, Sears has launched a new social media initiative called the Sears Blue Blogger Crew. From the Sears blog.
What is the Sears Blue Blogger Crew?
The Sears Blue Blogger Crew is an opportunity for our peers (i.e. fellow gadget geeks) to share their knowledge and experience in the technology space with their readers and followers, as well as our customers. The Sears Blue Blogger Crew is a group of experts who will write about technology, trends and products that we carry here in the Sears Consumer Electronics Department! (NOTE/DISCLOSURE: For CES, Sears Electronics is covering travel costs + expenses for the bloggers in attendance, as well as providing each a small video camera.)
Currently the crew consists of five bloggers, Jenna Hatfield, lead blogger at Stop, Drop and Blog; Kris Cain, lead blogger for LittleTechGirl, Andru Edwards, CEO of Gear Live Media and lead blogger for Gear Live, Kelly Clay, a veteran blogger, works for Lockergnome, Barbara Rozgonyi, founder of the Chicago chapter of the Social Media Club, blogs at WiredPRWorks.
Great initiative as long as these bloggers remain neutral and not become the PR for Sears.
Sears Holdings today announced the launch of AdYourWay, a revolutionary new shopping tool that gets to know customers and personalizes the shopping offers that they receive. By combining the powerful marketplace product selection with personalized content and customized recommendations, AdYourWay helps customers manage their lives to save both time and money.
"We're living in a customer-controlled retail environment and it is imperative that we continue to reinvent the company through technology and innovation to improve our relevance with our customers," said David Friedman, SVP and president, Marketing, Sears Holdings. "AdYourWay is a unique shopping tool that puts control back into the hands of our customers, allowing them to manage and organize both the products and the offers that interest them."
From a single personalized page on Sears.com, and soon to come to Kmart.com, AdYourWay allows customers to receive personalized product recommendations based on previous purchases and product searches. Once a customer is logged into Sears.com or Kmart.com, AdYourWay technology works to provide customers with deals and offers on products of interest and those that are relevant to their lifestyle.
Looks basic to me, something effective testing should have caught. Result, you lose 4-5 million customers, some forever.
Sears' Web Goof: 5 Million Customers Blocked
When Sears upgraded its E-Commerce site's infrastructure in late August, it inadvertently blocked all visitors who don't accept cookies, a move that the $44 billion chain is now attempting to fix.
Although both industry and Sears sources estimate that only 1.2 to 3 percent of U.S. shoppers block cookies these days, it could still prevent almost 5 million U.S. shoppers from giving any of their e-dollars to Sears. And it's another reminder of the unintended consequences of Web and mobile site infrastructure changes.
Target, Toys R Us, Sears and Kmart are just a few of the big retailers that have launched mega-sales in recent weeks to tempt increasingly cost-conscious shoppers to their stores. This phenomenon -- known as the seasonal sales shift, or "Christmas creep" -- is not new. But in today's uncertain economic climate, it has bigger implications than ever, both for the retail sector's growth strategies and for consumer spending habits, say Wharton and other business experts.
More and more retailers are adopting Facebook “Like” button. Facebook Like button provides an easy mechanism to share content you like with your friends on Facebook. Retailers like Best Buy, Sears, eBay are actively using Like button on their websites.
In recent weeks, a growing array of shopping sites have placed "Like" buttons on their pages, too, including those of eBay Inc., Best Buy Inc. and Gilt Groupe Inc., expanding Facebook's influence into a $140 billion industry in the U.S. that drives both online advertising and a growing portion of retail sales.
For e-commerce sites, adding a "Like" button lets shoppers quickly share a product or deal with their Facebook connections, potentially encouraging them to buy the product themselves.
"Customers are looking to other friends in their social network to figure out what product is right to buy," said Tracy Benson, senior director of mobility customer solutions at Best Buy.
While the Like button can increase traffic, there is not established case study/research which shows increase in conversions for traffic originating out of Like button.
Daniel Mandell, a director of business development at Wenner Media, the owner of Us Magazine, said the celebrity website soon will roll out the Facebook "Like" button after years of allowing its visitors to share content on Facebook through other sharing buttons.
Visitors from Facebook are valuable because they "are an extremely engaged audience," spending an average of three minutes on the US site, about 20% higher than visitors from search engines, he said.
For shopping sites, though, the key measure of success is sales, not traffic. After Gilt introduced "Like" onto its "flash sales" pages at the end of June, the site saw a 50% leap in sales coming from Facebook after the first week. "We are watching to see if it continues, beyond an initial bump because it is new," said Jag Bath, the company's vice president of product management.
"Everyone is hoping that the endorsement of a 'Like' button will be the thing that gets consumers from browsing to actually buying," said Fiona Dias, executive vice president of strategy and marketing at GSI Commerce Inc., which runs about 100 retail websites. But among her clients who have implemented "Like," there has been no direct correlation between top-selling and most-"Liked" items.
Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703787904575403512335975240.html#ixzz0wKpmOExb
eMarketer reported last month a good increase in Retailers adopting Facebook Like button and other Social Plugins.
Mashable ran a story few days back showing How Online Retailers Can Leverage Facebook’s Open Graph. Good Read.
Retailers adopting analytics to target loyal customers
by Deepak Sharma on Friday, November 28, 2008
Retailers are adopting new strategies in targeting its loyal customers (WSJ, Registration reqd) by using Analytics and advertising promotions on an individual basis. This is a shift from earlier times when Retailers would send similar email promotion to all. Retailers like Sears, Gap, Target are using analytics to tap their most profitable customers and shying away from TV commercials
It's an adage of the business: Persuading a satisfied customer to return is cheaper than attracting a new one. Now, in the struggle to do more with less, that concept is becoming even more important.
Acquiring a new customer costs about five to seven times as much as maintaining a profitable relationship with an existing customer, says Marc Fleishhacker, managing director at WPP's Ogilvy Consulting, which designed the campaign for Sears.
…
Sears and Ogilvy have developed a system to identify the categories of merchandise Sears customers have purchased in the past and to measure the chance that they will buy those sorts of items again this season. That helps Sears determine the type of emails and point-of-sale offers to aim at individual customers.
When customers buy an item online, Sears confirms the purchase with an email including a promotion tied to that product. A person who buys a new appliance at Sears.com might get an email offering a deal on the store's extended-warranty program.
Sears selling using interactive experience on it’s website.
Shop Talk » Blog Archive » Sears to offer virtual dressing room | Blogs | Reuters.co.in
Sears, Roebuck, looking to engage shoppers in new ways, is embracing a 3-D Web technology that will allow shoppers to try on clothes virtually from its Web site in an effort to replicate the in-store dressing room experience.
The retailer this week said it is partnering with IBM and My Virtual Model , a Montreal creator of virtual identity products, to revamp its Sears.com site so that consumers can search for clothing items by clicking on images and try on garments virtually.
From Sears.com, customers will be able to create an interactive model of themselves by giving info on weight, height and other features. They can then dress that model by clicking on blouses, pants and accessories. The technology enables buyers to mix and match outfits and change garment colors.
“We’re doing this to really drive an interactive experience with our customers,” said Rob Mills, vice president for Sears’ online business unit. “We’re trying to offer a lot of personalization.”
He said the virtual search function will be available on Sears.com in late October.
Sandy Carter, a vice president with IBM, said she expects this technology to eventually become the norm for online shopping.
“Today it’s being applied to apparel,” she said. “Tomorrow we see it being used with appliances and other types of merchandise.”
Kohl's, Sears Build Brands As Children Clothe Their Avatars Online [WSJ, Registration required]
Retailer Kohl's Corp. this month launched a new line of apparel, but the plaid skirts and printed T-shirts won't be sold in its 957 stores. Instead, it's selling them on Stardoll.com, a virtual community for teens and tweens where kids can fork over "Stardollars" -- purchased online at a nominal sum -- to buy apparel for their online characters.
