Word: brennans
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...streets from San Francisco's Union Square to Manhattan's Fifth Avenue. An estimated 30% increase in store traffic as compared with last year has created three-deep layers of customers around display cases and has made parking spaces as scarce as Cabbage Patch dolls. Said Edward Brennan, chairman of the Sears merchandise group, after touring a company store in Oak Brook, Ill.: "It was wall-to-wall people. It made me feel great...
...Brennan stationed market researchers outside Sears stores to poll customers about the company's strengths and weaknesses. Studies showed that Sears' emphasis on big-ticket items like appliances meant that customers went there to buy, not to browse. They were not purchasing high-profit impulse items like clothing. In addition, consumers went shopping at Sears less often because it was not considered...
Nonetheless, Brennan uncovered 1 some Sears strengths. Since the chain's buyers specialize in single ., lines such as shirts or pajamas rather than whole departments, when Sears decided to change its merchandise mix its buyers knew the hot sellers and top values. Sears' geographical spread also allowed it to test different merchandise displays around the country. The experiments demonstrated that imaginative presentation can boost sales of even the most mundane items. A test store in Indianapolis that remodeled its displays, for example, sold 44% more small appliances and 45% more light bulbs...
...electrical department used to include fans, heaters, lighting fixtures and small table appliances. These items have been dispersed around the store. For example, kerosene and electric heaters are now grouped together. Says Brennan: "We're really changing the face of the store, not the soul. We want people to say, 'This is Sears, but it's different...
...firm has 24 million active credit-card holders (more than American Express) and an additional 12 million catalogue customers. Sears wants to entice current customers to buy more once they are in the store. So far the company thinks it has succeeded. In the new stores, according to Brennan, "the average transaction per customer is substantially higher. In towels, washcloths, carpeting, toilet covers, for instance, people are picking up armfuls." At new stores in King of Prussia, Pa., and Valley Stream, N.Y., sales per sq. ft. are projected to be 50% higher than at newly opened traditional stores...