K-Mart Mission and Vision

Kroger’s corporate strategy consists of continuously innovating and creating new ways of bring value to the customer. They were pioneers for many of the things that we now consider norms in grocery stores. In the past, Kroger had rapidly expanded to many store locations to gain market share. This expansion strategy caused them to lose profits in

Kevin Mansell, Kohl’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, said the company’s multi-year “Greatness Agenda,” launched in 2014, is “working as evidenced by our achievement of five consecutive quarters of positive comparable sales increases. I am particularly encouraged by the 4 percent increase we saw between Thanksgiving and Christmas. At the most competitive time in retail, customers were choosing Kohl’s.”

This chain is one of the 20 largest retail stores in the United States. Kohl’s is also listed in Fortune 500 in 2012. This retail store has more than 1100 locations around the globe. It also has a strong reputation and distribution. Also, their revenue performance and financial stability is high. Kohl’s also offers most of the essential products like clothing, furniture and etc.

Since 1962 and the beginning of the discount retailer market Wal-Mart has been ahead of the retail game. By 1967 there were 24 Wal-Marts that had grossed 12.6 million dollars. In just 7 years Wal-mart had spread into 9 states. By 1979 Wal-Mart was the fastest store to reach a billion dollars in sales. In 2005 Wal-Mart has 3,800 domestic stores along with 3,800 stores internationally, and had made over 312 billion dollars. As you can see the Wal-Mart empire has grown monumentally. To move into this segment of the market would be tough.

CEO, Kevin Mansell, has laid out a plan to give customers a better shopping experience and is reemphasizing its national brand offerings. (National brands have higher selling prices than Kohl’s private and exclusive labels).5 Kohl’s currently swims in the Red Ocean because they share the retail industry with Macy’s, Target, JC Penney, T.J. Maxx, Nordstrom’s, etc. making the retail industry highly competitive. Kohl’s is attempting to change the playing field with their three-year initiative called the Greatest Agenda. Kohl’s would like to seize a greater share of the retail industry and increase profit and growth. With their Greatest Agenda, Kohl’s goal is to outperform their rivals. Whether Kohl’s can create a blue ocean and revolutionize the retail industry is not yet certain. Kohl’s can’t use traditional retail strategies to compete if they want to transform the way they interact with their

Subsequently, in 1999 Kroger merged with Fred Meyer in a 13 billion dollar buyout. Fred Meyer itself was currently operating under many banners: Ralph's, Fry's, King's, QFC, and Smiths. Fred Meyer came with warehouses, its own food processing plants, dairy, bakery and ice creams pants and the largest trucking fleet, second largest jewelry store in the nation not to mention its absolute domination in the Northwest, with its 165,000 square feet store format. Fred Meyer shared the Kroger philosophy with one stop shopping on an even larger scale with its multi-department stores (The Kroger Co., 2012).

American retailer Kohl’s has become a prevalent fixture for the purchase of discounted clothing and home goods in the mid-west for over twenty-five years. The history of the company however has roots much more modest than present day market dominance would suggest. Dating back to a Wisconsin supermarket in 1946, founder Max Kohl grew his small business to the most successful chain of supermarkets in the Milwaukee area (12). By 1962 Kohl opened his first department store in Brookfield, Wisconsin where an eclectic selection of merchandise, from sporting goods, motor oil and candy, was sold (11). In 1972, the Kohl’s Company which by then consisted of 50 grocery stores, six department stores, three drug

Acquisitions have also been important in the history of Kroger. In 1983, an acquisition of Dillon Companies Inc. allowed it to become a retailer of food, drug, and convenience stores from coast to coast. The biggest merger occurred in 1999 with the 13 billion dollar acquisition of Fred Meyer Inc. making Kroger the largest supermarket chain in terms of geographic coverage. The company was also the first to test

Kroger has six values providing guidance to its employees about how they do what they do every day to accomplish its mission. These values are:

Sears Holdings is a relatively new company, having only been created in November of 2004 (Barbash & Barbaro, 2004). At that time, Kmart Holdings purchased Sears, Roebuck, and Co. The corporation decided it would operate stores under both names, and the merger was officially completed in March of 2005. The shareholders voted to close the deal, or it would not have been able to take place. Now the company is called Sears Holdings, and it operates both Sears and Kmart stores (Barbash & Barbaro, 2004). The company also markets both brands without blending them or favoring one over the other. There were several reasons why the companies chose to combine.

Sears Holding Corporation is the fourth largest retailer in the United States and Canada. Its subsidiaries include Sears, Roebuck and Co. as well as K-Mart. The closing of the merger between Sears and K-Mart took place on March 24, 2005. Sears has more than 4,000 retail stores across the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Guam. Sears offers products and services through over 2,700 branded and affiliated stores. Sears operates 894 broad-line stores and 1,354 specialty stores. Sears’ broad-line stores are mall-based locations. The specialty stores include Sears Hometown Stores that are mostly independently owned, Sears Home Appliance Showrooms, Sears Hardware Stores, Sears Auto Centers,

that made the first Kroger store successful in 1883 – service, selection and value – continue to

Sears Holdings Corporation is a company that came from two very well known organizations, Sears and Kmart. Both companies go back even farther than the 1900s and unfortunately both companies experienced financial difficulty at one point. With the merger Sears Holdings Corporation has the experience of both organizations as well as their different style of operating. Along with an improved customer base and a new outlook Sears Holdings Corporation is experiencing financial growth.

The Home Depot bought more than 18 stores and Sears bought 45 for about $524 million. In that same year, Kmart Holding Corporation completed transactions to become a part of Sears, Roebuck and Company now known as Sears Holdings Corporation. Sears Holdings is listed on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol SHLD. As of 2004 Kmart had 1,422 discount stores, 58 Kmart Supercenters totaling 1,480 stores. 1,323 of those stores were leased and 157 are company owned. Following the takeover, about 400 of Kmart's nearly 1,500 stores will be converted to Sears's outlets over the next three years.

Wal-Mart spent only 0.5 percent of every sales dollar on advertising, compared to 2.5 percent for Kmart. The savings further helped the company to reduce prices on its merchandise.