Word: kmart
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...talk about scale, $300 million in annual cost savings and sizable purchasing power, the merger isn't so much an attempt to take on a behemoth like Wal-Mart as it is to survive in spite of it. Even with a combined $55 billion in annual sales, Sears and Kmart will be just one-fifth the size of Wal-Mart, which "is so overwhelming in terms of market share, logistics and efficiency that going up against them would be futile," as Michael Appel, managing director of Quest Turnaround Advisers, puts...
...moment, at least, Sears and Kmart will operate as separate chains under one corporate umbrella, Sears Holdings, and each will probably offer a smattering of the other's trademark brands. But all indications are that as time goes by, Sears, the more productive store operator and the more respected brand, will subsume Kmart and try to carve out a successful niche as a middle-market power retailer focused on fashion and the home, with more attitude and style than JCPenney could ever hope to have. "We are the trade up," Sears CEO Alan Lacy said almost defiantly at the announcement...
...shotgun marriage between Sears and Kmart is the brainchild of Kmart chairman and maverick investor Edward Lampert. A billionaire finance whiz who counts David Geffen and Michael Dell as clients and Warren Buffett as his idol, Lampert took control of Kmart when it came out of bankruptcy 18 months ago. Since then Lampert, 42, who also happened to be Sears' largest single shareholder through his ESL Investments, has turned Kmart into a cash cow, albeit a shrinking one. Although critics describe his moves as short-term fixes, he reduced inventory, slashed costs, limited discounts and sold off some of Kmart...
...unwillingness to throw money at updating stores without clear evidence of a return, and a firm refusal to play the short-term, quarterly-earnings game that Wall Street so often demands. In April, he brought in a design team led by former Gap executives to freshen up Kmart's clothing lines. "Eddie is relentless and a harder-nosed operator than most people want to believe," says Henry Miller, a leading business-restructuring adviser who worked with Kmart during its bankruptcy. "In point of fact, he is a retailer, in his mind. He will fight for a nickel, and mind every...
Over the past couple of decades, both Sears and Kmart have become mere shadows of themselves, plagued by aging, poorly stocked stores; management turmoil; outdated merchandise; and a lack of sophisticated IT systems--or, for that matter, a clear identity. Whereas Kmart has failed miserably to compete on price with Wal-Mart or on style with Target, Sears has found it harder and harder to stay relevant at its aging 870 mall locations, about the same number of stores it had back in 1970. It has tried everything from financial services (its "socks and stocks" period) to home improvement...