I haven’t worked here for long and was promised that we would spin off on our own but that doesn’t seem to be happening. Now we have had layoffs I’m worried about a career here, can SYW sink with sears?
24 replies (most recent on top)
4pyv - OMG don't you understand how business works? Where do you think that click revenue comes from? the click gods? It's driven by the value of the consumer and what the retailer is willing to pay for those eyeballs. My point stands, the retailer funds this, it's a discounting mechanism, thus has little to no brand value. as SHLD shrinks, so does SYW.
So for every click SHc make money. What happens as stores close down and sales plummet more and SHC goes belly up. Whose clicking now, who can use SYW points at a store that doesn't exist or that is out of stock or that you have to do an in store pickup at a store 300 miles away. Or better yet, how about all the problems with exclusions and the reputation of SYW? Just asking because I do know how you make click money and I do under stand optimizing a web site or domain name. What i dont understand is how SYW can continue.
@3ohmYou don’t get it either. At SYW we get paid for every click, every time. Not just one time.
OMG- don’t ANY of you understand how the internet generates revenue??????
3plc - where do you think the money comes from for that discount??? from the retailer. It is simply a discounting promotional tool, that's it. Other companies sign on to get access to the SHLD users, and once they become customers, the discounts disappear. Once SHLD retail disappears, the value of SYW plummets. To zero. They'll get a couple of bucks for the data, but not much since everything they sell is sold elsewhere in higher volumes, which means that data is worth more.
@UaNimcy-3mms: I agree. It's like asking someone else to take care of Sears' dirty laundry.
@UaNimcy-3plc: "....SYW will just go to a cash payment or find another retailer for customers to liquidate their payments to...." Other retailers (i.e., Walmart, Target, Amazon, etc.) are not obliged nor can they be coerced to pick up the tab for liquidated payments. Why would any competing retailer, for that matter, pledge to take financial responsibility for something of Sears Holdings' own doing? I don't believe they have any control or sphere of influence as you might tend to believe.
Every retailer has its own rewards programs now. For its time SYW was a great idea. But as with everything this company touches they did not put enough money, technology or branch out to other avenues. Like Amazon, SHC got left behind on its own idea. Now everyone has it and SYW is only good for buying goods at Sears/Kmart and no one shops there anymore.
The data base is useless because of multiple accounts for one person, fake accounts and fraud accounts. Just look at Pebble to see all the problems with SYW.
Op - you’re fine. Please ignore the dolts on here most of who clearly do not understand how SYW makes money.
I buy gas and pay with gasbuddy, I get a 15 cents a gallon, SYW gets more. I buy something from Best Buy but I click thru SYW I get 5 cents per dollar but SYW gets more, a lot more.
SYW is highly profitable. It is one of the few parts of SHLD that is. You are fine, if sears closes (and they won’t) SYW will just go to a cash payment or find another retailer for customers to liquidate their payments to.
Money is made on every click and then more ls made from the data sale. Don’t think SYW is valuable? Ask google, ask Facebook and ask the Russians and Donald Trump.
The syw database is where he'll make his money
SYW without SHC is nothing. Points can be earned from other retailers, restaurants, gas stations etc. But they can only be redeemed at a Sears or Kmart. That is the downfall of the program. As sales fall in stores and stores close the less SYW is worth or used.
WDL is spot on in his analysis. The truth of the matter s that the leaders have to lie to you, and pretend that it is business as usual, even up to the point of filing a bankruptcy, because they can't torpedo the business by being honest, and since all unsecured creditors (vendors, lenders, customers with program-rewards, employees, and anyone else with a financial stake), have to be treated equally with regard to recovery.
If Eddie were to try to be honest, and declare bankruptcy now, before all of the assets are depleted, then all of the unsecured creditors have a better chance of receiving some, or all, of what is owed. But we are beyond that, with debts far exceeding assets, even hard to value assets, like SYW.
But if Eddie does declare bankruptcy, then he loses control of the company to the courts, who will ensure that all of the creditors are treated fairly. He isn't interest in fairness. He just wants to squeeze every dime he can get out of the company. He will delay bankruptcy as long as possible, to the point that nothing is left.
Understand that EVERYONE, from VP's and executives all the way down to a lowly cashier at Kmart and EVERYONE in between only has a job to keep this charade going until all of the good assets are liquidated. The only difference is that everybody below the VP's and executives WILL NOT have the golden parachutes. A chance of getting any kind of severance towards the end is less than zero.
If you look around, there isn't a whole lot left to sell. Time is running out. The retail operation exists for some cash flow until then. You gotta have cash flow until it's over. Any cash flow is good, even if it's not exactly bringing in profit, since the losses can be absorbed in multiple ways. Understand that there is NO INTENTION WHATSOEVER to continue on as a retailer. Do not let the elaborate effort in operations fool you, it is only an act and a means to bring in cash flow. Remember that it is business as usual until it's no longer in business, so a concerted effort must be in place to assuage concerns, hence the reason why you have a few people who believe that Sears and Kmart are doing well or believe that the company is "going through a rough patch" but will come back stronger than ever, even people who are employed by SHC. That is the goal.
Nobody can pinpoint when SHC fizzles out for good, but SHC will cease to exist. All that needs to be done now: Eddie needs to sell Kenmore and DIeHard (or get the green light to buy it himself). Buyers for SYW and A&E Home Service need to be found. A few more properties need to be sold off, and then it's all over. All that's left are the outdated mold/asbestos-plagued stores in crappy locations, so Eddie will let those go for cheap at BK liquidation just as intended. After that, Sears Holdings will no longer have a reason to exist.
It's possible that it might live on as an online-only retailer, but the intellectual property of Sears.com and Kmart.com might be sold off too, and even if it isn't, the workforce would be a tiny fraction of the 80,000 (and shrinking) employees it now has on payroll. Sears and Kmart is not even on the radar in the minds of online shoppers and is doomed to stay that way, so it would be a pretty small operation.
Speaking of corporate layoffs, I wonder whatever happened to the tax break that Illinois gave SHC on the condition that they provided at least 4000 full-time jobs to Illinoisans. They're certainly not at the 4000 required to keep the tax break these days with all of the layoffs.
@vju true. If it is the same person posting that on these boards over and over you have to give them credit for their dedication
I work there too and morale is rock bottom because everyone knows it is sinking too. Being new you’re starting to see reality. We launch new partnerships which generate nothing for us or them. The good leaders have all left and we are led by the most awkward head of Marketing I have ever met. We lost people a couple of weeks ago and will continue to see that. SYW doesn’t need the volume of people it currently has.
The drain the swamp line is getting quite old by now.....
Shop Your Way only has value as collected data. It might be sold, but the people probably won't go with it, if there is a buyer. Sears probably places too much value on it, just like every other asset it is trying to sell, so it may go unsold.
I would jump ship, especially if you don't have a long tenure. Landing a job in this climate should not be that tough.
My Kmart does about 15,000 a day in sales and we redeem about $1500 in SYW points a day. And we want to know why we don't make any money lol
"......can SYW sink with sears?...."
Are you serious???
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I'm sure someone will want the customer database.
Maybe it will spin off, but that's pretty doubtful. I imagine most people that use SYW just put bogus info and such in anyway to get free sh-- so not sure how useful it really is for data mining companies. Have a backup plan.
I cant believe you are even asking that. How do you think SYW can survive without sears? It cant! Get out and get a job with a real company that is thriving.
Really?
What other possibility could there be? Without Sears, SYW has no value. Try using your points at McDonalds and see how that goes.
Drain the swamp