Sears Holdings declares bankruptcy prior to end of calendar year 2017. Any asset with value (Kenmore Branding, Home Services, Etc.) sold at a low value compared to historical averages. Store format shifted to online (see Montgomery Wards model) with members purchasing products online similar to Amazon. Many layoffs/reduction in workforce will occur. Some will transition to new models, many will be let go after a short transition process. If you are one of the few to make it through the transition (less than 10%) consider yourself fortunate. That is what many consider the master plan, and how they can sell it in the face of so much negativity.
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Monkey Ward didn't "get shifted to online." They went bankrupt and an online company of dubious lineage bought the name and slapped in on a web site.
You are right that the typical Sears shopper probably wont shop online. And yes the marketplace sellers have been tricky on Sears.com
I don't think the typical Sears customer that shops in my store wants to shop online for the types of items Sears sells. Or they already would.
That's the fundamental problem with the asset light idea. People who shop online don't shop @ Sears and those that shop @ Sears don't shop online.
For the most part anyway. Don't even get me started on the unregulated sellers @ Sears.com.
We don't have sales figures for online Montgomery Wards, since it's not a public company. But I would bet it's in the low millions annually, a tiny fraction of what the company did in its glory days. Online Wards has already changed hands once since the stores went out of business. Sears online will go the same way. The only people who really care about the Sears names tend to be older and not internet savvy, so they aren't going to be customers of the new format. For all practical purposes, Sears is dead when the stores go out of the business in the next year or two.
Name and brand purchased by a family owned business in Wisconsin (I believe). Either way still generating profits, but not a lot of jobs compared to its history.
" shifted to online (see Montgomery Wards model) "
I bet thats working out REAL well for Wards --- NOT