Another store format for Sears

Sears Essentials could be the very future of the US-based Sears Holding, the firm created by the merger of Kmart and Sears, as the company tries to rejuvenate sales in some marginal Kmart locations by merging some aspects of Sears’ powerful brands with Kmart’s traditional lines.
The first Sears Essentials store holds its grand opening in the Chicago suburb of Palatine, Illinois, on 18 June, although it has remained open during the transformation. It is a store of approximately 9 300 m², with an inventory that now includes the powerful Craftsman brand of hand and power tools, lawn and garden equipment, and Kenmore appliances, together with DieHard car batteries and other auto care needs, plus Weatherbeater and Easy Living paints.
However, its “Home Improvement” department, jam-packed with Craftsman products and Sears’ paints, is tucked in the far right corner of the store, against the back wall. Its 800 m² of space does not include as many hardware, plumbing or electrical items as a typical Kmart store - certainly not enough to satisfy any weekend or after-work DIY project needs. Another 280 m² is devoted to lawn & garden - mowers etc., and this area adjoins an outdoor garden area.
Compared to a typical Kmart, it has substituted a huge Craftsman assortment for the skimpy Stanley and Black & Decker assortments of Kmart, and has sharply cut back on the range and space devoted to hardware, electrical and plumbing.
From a soft goods standpoint, Sears Essentials will probably rely on the appeal of Sears’ basic categories, coupled with Martha Stewart’s styles to bolster sales in those categories.
Despite some face-lifting, the newly opened store is bland, with no exciting merchandising innovations. It lacks the style of Target and the mass merchandise appeal of Wal-Mart. If it hopes to attract males with its powerful Craftsman products, it lacks the inventory assortment to make it a strong competitor against Home Depot, Lowe’s or even local hardware stores and has positioned these products at the very rear of the store.
In many respects it is similar to the merchandising assortment and inventory strategy used in another Sears’ test unit, Sears Grand, because it includes a fairly extensive range of boxed and canned food products.
Early press announcements reported that the Sears’ management felt it could open up to 400 Sears Essentials in former Kmart locations over the next four years. A Sears’ employee involved in the conversion process says management has upped that number to as many as 900 conversion locations. But even that number pales by comparison with the thousands of locations of its two mass merchandise competitors and the two big home centre chains - Home Depot and Lowe’s.
Meanwhile, at the same time as the first Sears Essentials is opening, management also is adding Craftsman brands and major appliances to another Chicago-area Kmart store, this one in the Norridge section of Chicago on South Harlem St. near Montrose - the second stage of its integration of the two companies.
Both the remodelled Kmart and the new Sears Essentials sport new colour schemes. Kmart has ditched the bright red and blue that identified the chain for years. Blue is still evident, but is more of a pastel blue - very similar, in fact, to the shade used by Lowe’s, one of its home centre competitors. And, surprisingly, the second colour is also a familiar one - an orange similar to that of Home Depot. Perhaps it will only be industry professionals who will notice that the “new look” of orange and blue is reminiscent of the colour schemes of Home Depot and Lowe’s!
How much business does Sears expect to transact in this first Sears Essentials? It is interesting to note that it has only 7 checkouts, whereas the revamped Kmart has 14. Is that a sign of diminished expectations?