Kmart Is Back in the Game

The internal environment of any company forms the premise or basis for internal analysis. Internal analysis actually sees manager or business leaders basing their organization's pursuit of "...market opportunities not only on the existence of external opportunities but also on a very sound awareness of their firm's competitive advantages arising from the firm's internal resources, capabilities, and skills" (p.148). Hence, internal analysis sees a close look being taken at the components of a company's internal environment with the aim of improving its competitive edge. The components of a company's internal environment are based on the approach taken to internal analysis. Among the approaches used to identify and analyze the elements

In the letter to the shareholders, Kmart Chairman Edward Lampert and President and CEO of Kmart Julian Day established other goals of the organization: "to focus our initiatives, merchandise assortment and associate goals on the four key areas of stores, markets, customers and profitability" (www.kmart.com). After Mr. Lambert took control after Chapter 11 proceedings, Kmart slashed inventory, squelched capital spending, reorganized the overall organization, and sold Kmart 's best locations for the cash to maximize profitability (http://epnet.com).

Ex- Chief Executive Officer Ron Johnson appointment to reinvent the failing retail monster JCPenney’s was short lived. JCPenney’s having a great run as the pinnacle of shopping destinations for the Baby Boomer and the X-generations was now on the decline. Likewise, both the retailer Sears, and JCPenney have been slow to recognize the changing retail market and adjust to the “point and click” shopping habits of the internet savvy Y-generation millennials.

JC Penney in the early 2000s represented a “brick & mortar” retail powerhouse known for its large diverse selection and competed well with similar retailers such as Kmart and Sears. In 2011 JC Penney was exposed by The New York Times in an internet search scandal involving the tampering with rankings on search engine results. Yet, this was not the only shortcoming in the marketing of their stores. JC Penney had also been caught dishonestly pricing their merchandise so that their sales would appear more appealing. Since then JC Penney has undergone many important shifts in focus on how they would attempt to market their products. Now, in 2016 with their new CEO Marvin Ellison they have managed to rebound their sales closer to what they were and have bolstered their stock price for the time being. To understand what had been done to kindle this new fire four key areas should be looked at. These four components are: price, product, place, and promotion. The four P’s allow a segmented view of what changes have been made and how they have been affecting the consumer market.

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

The intensity of rivalry and the threat of substitutes are strong components for J.C. Penney to consider as they continue to strive for increased revenue and market share. Their two primary competitors are Macy’s and Kohl’s, both of whom have fiercely competitive strategies to be strong retail operations. For instance, while Macy’s offers a multitude of promotional deals and is working hard to choose products based upon demographics and geographic segmentation, Kohl’s is attempting to reduce their inventory levels and improve their marketing strategies in order to become a stronger competitor in the department store segment of the retail industry. In order to compete with their competitors, J.C. Penney aims to focus on their previously successful promotions and home department segmentations by bringing in new reputable designers in order to attract a larger customer base. Due to the fact that the intensity of rivalry and threat of substitutes are both moderately strong in the retail department store industry, J.C. Penney ought to be diligent in their implementation of strategies in order to achieve success in the retail business.

Kmart is a huge vintage company that had peeked at one time and now is

The article “Is Kmart closing? Sears says no” by Paul Monica is about the recent rumors of the Kmart stores closing down. With Sears stock down 35% many would’ve thought they’d cut the Kmart franchise. However, Eddie Lambert, the Sears CEO, states, “there are no plans and there have never been any plans to close the Kmart format” (Monica 1). This came as a surprise as most have noticed the disappearance of Sears and Kmart’s due to poor sales. Monica believes keeping the Kmart’s open may be a bad idea since we’re surrounded by Amazon and Walmart sales.

Walk through a Kmart store and you 'll discover designers like Jaclyn Smith in the low-budget ambience of a warehouse. They carry Kenmore appliances, which may require high-touch sales assistance that many Sears customers expect and many Kmart stores lack. In short, Kmart has not established an identifiable way to play that reflects both customers ' needs and its own capabilities. Harry Cunningham, the founder of Kmart, allegedly admitted that Sam Walton (the founder of Walmart) "not only copied our concepts, he strengthened them."

In 1899, Sebastian Spering Kresge opened a five-and-dime store in downtown Detroit. The low prices appealed to consumers and allowed Kresge to expand to eighty-five store by 1912 with annual sales surpassing $10 million. When war and financial depression struck America, Kresge still offered products at affordable prices and gave people jobs to support their families. Over time prices increased, but the business philosophy of being a discount store remained constant. By the mid-20’s, the S.S. Kresge Company opened locations with items being one dollar or less.

There were also proprietary brands that were held by both Kmart and Sears, and with the merger it would be easier to get those brands out to the target demographics. Making each

Prior the 1980’s, Sears Holding Corporation (SHLD) managed to generate revenue and compete among the top retailers in America (Kim, 2014). SHLD’s current financial status reveals that they are failing to maintain profitability. Having worked with SHLD for over two years, I have noticed a slow decline in profits. The main reasons for SHLD mishaps are due to a lack of a satisfactory mission statement (Sears Holding Corp, 2014), increased competition, insufficient marketing tools and lack of bargaining power. All of these elements play a part in SHLD loss of profits.

Before reading this book, I had no idea about the story of Walmart or who its founder was or anything like that. All I knew was that Walmarts are huge and everywhere you go. After reading this book, I learned that Walmart really did start from the bottom and came out of nowhere. In addition, I learned that a reason Walmart was successful was because Sam Walton wasn’t a risky man like most greedy business owners who want to make as much money as fast as possible “Sam never did anything in size or volume until he actually had to. He played it close to the belt”(Walton 89). He was careful with his money and considered all his options before making any decision. Another thing that really stood out to me was his policy on giving back to his employees

Sears and Kmart, two of America’s oldest and most distinguished retailers became part of Sears Holdings in 2005 after they experienced years of deteriorating sales and profits. Sears catalog and mail order firm was established in 1893 and six years later in 1899, Kmart opened its doors (Sears Archives, 2015). Sears initial target market was the farmer and other rural dwellers who only had access to a limited number of goods in the local general store of which most were overpriced. They began their catalog as a way to provide a variety of goods of good quality at a reasonable price selling everything from clothing to buggies, kitchenware to farm equipment, and hunting supplies to patent medicines virtually everything needed for life in the

Keller, a 34 year old Harvard Business School graduate was the managing director. When he joined the company, it was losing $2 million a year on sales of $80 million. Three years later, he increased the Greek subsidiary’s earning to $5 million on $100 million revenues. His effort involved changing the market strategy, hiring a new top management group, restructuring the sales force and acquiring the fourth brewery in Salonika.