Swot Analysis Of Sears ' An American Chain Of Department Stores

Lowe's is one of the biggest big box retailers in the world today. As a result, the company faces competition from various companies, both directly and indirectly. Two of Lowes’ biggest direct competitors include Home Depot and Wolseley PLC, both of which carry similar products in the home improvement category. Each of these retailer On the other hand, an indirect competitor of Lowe’s is any small construction/repair company. These smaller repair companies are classified as indirect competitors because Lowe’s is known as a retailer for “do-it-yourself” home improvement projects. If a repair company is hired to complete a service, Lowe’s is facing indirect competition.

Our recommendation is to take Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) private through a private equity buyout. After doing so, we recommend implementing a centralized management structure and recruiting retail-savvy executives for the upper management team. We then recommend focusing on increasing value by capitalizing on SHLD’s real estate holdings through leasing agreements and increasing partnerships with complementary enterprises. Also, we recommend improving employee retention rates and retaining exclusive rights to private brands. Finally, we recommend focusing on a long-term strategy to continue to maximize SHLD’s ecommerce platforms. We believe these recommendations will lead to long-term stability through increases in customer base and

Over the last few years, it has been predominantly evident that Sears Canada has been not performing relevant to the standards present within the competitive industry. The market of retail department stores has dramatically changed since the time the corporate entity first began. To stay relevant within today’s retail industry, Sears Canada has to change their current operations. In today's market, the power of value-driven consumer products has been dominating the industry due to their affordable prices and emphasized popularity. Sears Canada has failed to distinguish themselves within the industry as either an affordable or a high quality department store. With emerging high-end retailers like Nordstrom, Holt Renfrew, the Hudson's Bay Company, and the rise of online discount retailers like Amazon and eBay, Sears can not afford to flood both market segments. This has become a major issue that Sears Canada is facing, as the company will need to differentiate themselves from their competitors by focusing their resources in the home improvement industry.

How can Sears evolve in a meaningful way? What fundamental initiatives and assets should we keep/lose?

Analyzing information used from the SWOT analysis of Tesco shows industries of this nature do expand especially as neighborhood markets. Tesco holds a 13 percent share in the retail market with a multiformat sector showing the increased gained capacity in food sharing and space contribution. Tesco is the number one online grocery market and operates over 270 stores. The weakness of the company is its dependency on the UK market but is only classified as a small weakness. The company offsets this weakness with a large enterprise value of 23 billion, vast product range and justifiable acquisitions. The main danger is becoming a known serial acquirer since this reduces earnings and quality. Company opportunities lie with

Sears Holdings Corporation, parent of Kmart and Sears, Roebuck and Co., is the third largest broad line retailer in the US. Sears Holdings is a leading supplier of tools, lawn and garden, home electronics, and automotive repair and maintenance. It supplies the Craftsman range of garage door openers.

The following pages focus on providing a strategic analysis of Sears Holding Corporation. The introduction reveals the issues that the paper addresses. The Company Presentation section reveals important facts in Sears' evolution. The Strategy Debates Section discusses theoretical issues applied to the situation of Sears. This is followed by the Strategic Decisions section that provides a series of recommendations that can help Sears improve its situation. The Implementation Challenges section provides important issues that can be considered challenges of strategic implementation.

Wal-Mart operates fewer stores than Sears but is ahead in terms of total selling area by a ratio of 3.4:1. Between 1995 and 1997, Sears’ retail store revenue per selling square foot was not only lower than that of Wal-Mart but in decline.

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,

The Kroger brand was born in 1883, Bernard 'Barney ' Kroger took his life savings of $372 to open his first store in downtown Cincinnati. This location is by I-71 that passes the Great American Ballpark. Barney Kroger, the son of a merchant, had a simple "Be particular. Never sell anything you would not want yourself." This was the credo that would serve The Kroger Co. well over the next 130 years as the supermarket business evolved into a variety of formats aimed towards satisfying the needs of their shoppers in as many aspects as possible. With nearly 3,619 stores in 34 states under 24 different names, such as Kroger, Dillons, Turkey Hill Minit Markets, Ralphs, Tom Thumb Food Stores, QuikStop, Fred Meyer Jewelers, and Littman Jewelers with an annual revenue of more than $70 billion. Kroger today ranks as one of the nation’s largest retailers.

Walmart and Amazon have become global, household names in the US and for good reason: both of these companies have revolutionized the way in which we shop. Amazon offers a convenient experience, and an ever-expanding selection of products whereas Walmart has a wide network of store locations and famously low prices. As investments, these companies highlight the dichotomous nature of the retail industry – brick-and-mortar vs e-commerce; high growth vs steady growth; US vs International; actual vs market expectations. This report provides an in depth comparative analysis between Walmart and Amazon. We will first summarize the industry and these companies, followed by an analysis of market position and financials, and finally an

The report first opens up with a description of all the brands and holdings Sears Company is in control of. This section then diverges into a thorough breakdown of how the company operates, including a description of employees, competition, risk factors in the market, and a glimpse at the internal structure of the corporate offices. Part II opens with an analysis of common stock price in the four quarters of 2011 and shows how the stock performance has continued to rise for S7P 500 Index, S&P Retailing Index, and S&P 500 Department Store Index from a major dip that was experienced in 2009. However, Sears Holdings stock has continued to show poor performance in the 2011 fiscal year. Then, Part II begins to evaluate selected financial data, with a thorough analysis of the summary of operations and crucial financial data for the fiscal year of 2011. First, there is a general overview of the entire company performance, and then the report goes to break down the individual segments and brand names in terms of how they faired financially during the 2011 fiscal year. The report then goes on to illustrate how management and corporate executives aim to internally control the organization both now and in the future.

Wal-Mart was founded in 1962 and has the ROE of 20%. Wal-Mart also offers store Credit Card, but unlike Sears, it is Chase Manhattan Bank rather than its own credit company. Wal-Mart also boosts the annual sale by diversifying products as Sears does, but Wal-Mart also has different stores to target at the customers of various market segments, such as Wal-Mart Discount Store, Wal-Mart Supercenters and Sam’s Clubs.

Sears became the nation’s biggest retailer because they were an all-purpose store. Sears was known as the store that had a wide variety of items from clothes to appliances. Rather than going to Macy’s for clothes then Best Buy for a dishwasher and Home Depot for a set of tools, I could just go to Sears and get everything done at one store. All of the premier brands wanted to have their products in Sears, and vice versa. When you combine the variety of items, and competitive pricing it is easy to see how Sears became the conglomerate it was at its peak.