Has Sears discovered how to profit from its softer side?
Source: Sears Holdings

Has Sears discovered how to profit from its softer side?

Some may remember when apparel was considered a strength of Sears’ business. Whenever that was, it was some time ago. That’s what makes the news that Sears is debuting a new shop-within-a-shop clothing concept in five stores in New York’s Westchester County and Northern New Jersey as an anomaly.

The “Showcase at Sears” concept has been billed at giving the retailer’s customers “an exclusive opportunity” to shop the lines of 10 European and Latin American clothing brands – most of which are being made available for purchase for the first time in the U.S.

The shops will occupy between 10,000 and 15,000 square feet and include men’s, women’s and children’s clothing, and women’s footwear and accessories. Each Showcase shop will have dedicated staff assisting customers with styles ranging from professional outfits to sportswear. Prices will range from $10 to $175.

“These curated collections are a perfect complement to our existing apparel assortment and offer exposure to brands you’d otherwise have to travel internationally to try on,” said Joelle Maher, president and chief member officer for Sears, in a statement. “Not only will our members love the fashion and selection, they’ll love the unique space we’re building out in each store. It will be inviting, high energy, and staffed with knowledgeable associates dedicated to serving members who shop the Showcase.”

Brands included in the Showcase shops include:

Brand                               Country of Origin Category
Biography United Kingdom/Mexico Women’s lifestyle
Fiorentina Mexico Women’s intimates
Hawes & Curtis United Kingdom Men’s apparel
Ilusión Mexico Women’s intimates
Jack & Jones Denmark Men’s apparel
LMENTAL Mexico Men’s apparel
Mango Spain Women’s lifestyle
MaryPaz Spain Women’s shoes
Punt Roma Spain Women’s lifestyle, including plus-size
3 Pommes France Children’s apparel
Zatchels United Kingdom Handbags

 

BrainTrust

"This idea sounds more like Macy’s — without the coupon — than Sears. It’s hardly a game-changer for an irrelevant brand."

Bob Phibbs

President/CEO, The Retail Doctor


"I do think the change is welcome and necessary, if only to find out if they will ever have success in the clothing area again. "

Ed Rosenbaum

CEO, The Customer Service Rainmaker, Rainmaker Solutions


"If Sears were fashion-forward and their customers were the kind to get excited about new, unknown designers, then this would be a win..."

Lee Kent

Principal, Your Retail Authority, LLC


Discussion Questions

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Will Showcase by Sears give the department store chain’s clothing business a sales lift where it is deployed? Do you think Sears will expand the concept beyond the New York metro market?

Poll

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Bob Phibbs
Trusted Member
7 years ago

The first rule of retail: know your customer. This idea sounds more like Macy’s — without the coupon — than Sears. It’s hardly a game-changer for an irrelevant brand. And what is a “member” in an aging department store chain?

Max Goldberg
7 years ago

If the shop-within-a-shop is well advertised, and if it is well staffed as promised with knowledgeable sales people, this could be a real plus for Sears. I say “if” because many consumers, myself included, will not set foot in Sears due to poor staffing, out-of-stocks, bad customer service and messy stores.

Chris Petersen, PhD.
Member
7 years ago

To paraphrase Sam Walton: “Do something Amazon is not doing.” The key to success in the showcase concept is twofold:

  1. A truly curated assortments of unique items that are not found everywhere else, and especially not on Amazon USA;
  2. A truly appealing store environment focused on the first-hand customer experience via the “knowledgeable” associates.

Even if Sears can deliver on those two critical differentiators, they still need to get consumers to the stores to convert. An effective omnichannel strategy could be a powerful multiplier for success.

Ori Marom
Ori Marom
7 years ago

The key here is exclusivity. If these brands are both new and attractive for U.S. consumers then Sears could certainly benefit from their exclusive sale. However, I seriously doubt that is the case. Mango, for example, certainly isn’t new to New Yorkers and its products are widely available.

More generally, holding exclusivity for brands and models has proven to be an effective way to combat online competition. For example, JD Sports has done very well in the UK by contracting with brands (e.g., Nike) for the exclusive sale of certain models. The problem is that with the growth of e-commerce fewer successful brands are inclined to offer such exclusivity deals. I suspect that even fewer would offer them to Sears given its current state.

Ian Percy
Member
7 years ago

Clothing may be the most difficult category to use as a differentiator … i.e., finding or doing something Amazon doesn’t have or do as Chris suggests. I don’t care what designer you’re talking about, a man’s shirt is a man’s shirt. It’s got buttons down the front, two sleeves and a collar. For the most part the most boring apparel known to man second only to blue suits. In the picture above there’s a plaid shirt over a t-shirt on a mannequin. Boy, I haven’t seen that before! What international designer did that come from?

Unless you’re looking for a $300 dry-clean only shirt woven from virgin llama in the Himalayas by a 98-year-old master tailor, you might as well buy a shirt from the big pile at Costco ’cause you’ll not find anything much different at Sears, Kohl’s, Target, Macy’s, Walmart, Jos. A. Bank, etc.

Now, if you’re talking about “showcasing” Craftsman tools …

Ed Rosenbaum
Ed Rosenbaum
Member
7 years ago

I looked at the brands Sears will carry in the “showcase” and can honestly say I have not heard of any of them. That probably means I am not an astute shopper and I agree. But are Sears’s typical customers that astute that they will know and be impressed with those brands?

I do think the change is welcome and necessary, if only to find out if they will ever have success in the clothing area again. Time and a change in the customer base means you have to educate the new customers on who you are. Sears might find that difficult.

Lee Kent
Lee Kent
Member
7 years ago

If Sears were fashion-forward and their customers were the kind to get excited about new, unknown designers, then this would be a win. But they aren’t!

I haven’t looked at the Sears customer demographics lately but methinks they aren’t fashion strong at all.

But that’s just my 2 cents.

Peter Charness
Trusted Member
7 years ago

So Sears stores become a “mall” featuring specialty apparel boutiques. If these brands can’t stand on their own then I doubt putting them inside Sears Real Estate, where they are immediately tarnished with the Sears umbrella, isn going to help much either.

Kai Clarke
Kai Clarke
Active Member
7 years ago

This is an odd position for Sears. Instead of expanding or better addressing their most successful lines (like tools, appliances, etc.) they are trying to create a new appeal, from a new concept, which will cost more money to promote and gain interest from consumers. Sears has too many basic issues which need addressing including bad stores, out-of-stocks, insufficient employee head count, etc. This only costs more to do and promises no solution to the essential issues which Sears is facing as the department store concept continues to demonstrate it is not the store for future customers.

Peter Sobotta
Reply to  Kai Clarke
7 years ago

Well stated Kai. Sears needs to find their North Star and iterate from there. No easy solution.

David Livingston
7 years ago

Easy answers: no and no.

Steve Montgomery
Steve Montgomery
Member
7 years ago

Interesting idea and might work for some other retailer, but highly unlikely for Sears for all the reasons others have mentioned. This includes the mismatch between the concept and the current Sears customer profile, the likelihood that those who might be interested in the clothes would ever consider shopping in Sears, and their ability to provide a good shopping experience for anyone.

My last trip into a Sears location was not untypical of what other have discussed on RetailWire before. Please forgive me for the length of this saga.

I went to get a simple filter for a vacuum cleaner used to clean our cars. Once I located it I went to the counter to pay. The only counter that was staffed the clerk was tied up with a customer and it became obvious that this was something that would be continuing for some time. The closest other checkout had one person waiting already.

After a few minutes I went back to the first counter and asked if the clerk could ask someone to come and ring the two of us out. We were joined by third person shortly thereafter we waited again for a few minutes. I again went and asked if we could not get someone to ring the three of us out.

Again, waited for 5+ minutes and determined no one was ever going to come. By now there were four of us. I said I am leaving and sat my purchase down as did the other three. Went home, ordered a Craftsman filter from ACE and picked it up in the store a couple days later.

Craig Sundstrom
Craig Sundstrom
Noble Member
7 years ago

“Some may remember when apparel was considered a strength of Sears’ business.”

Must have been some parallel universe, ‘cuz it wasn’t something in mine (oh, sure, they sold dependable clothing — my choice of “dependable” tells you what it was like — and probably lots of it, but it wasn’t something I particularly associated with the name.)

But back to the present. It might be a swell idea — which Sears may or may not bungle — or maybe it’s not, hard to tell from the minimal info, but is there really anyone (in any universe) who thinks this will be a turning point, or that Sears can even have “a turning point” any more? Sears: the Forest Lawn for retail ideas.

James Tenser
Active Member
7 years ago

While not impossible, it will take some promotional magic for Sears to attract new traffic by offering these barely-known brands. Would BrainTrust-ers who live in those markets kindly keep an eye out for their print ads and newspaper inserts? I’d be curious to see how they introduce “Showcase” to the market.

OK, so if share of customers is a tough road, maybe Sears is aiming first for share of wallet? I don’t know much about current shoppers in the five metro New York locations, but Sears could be betting that the new offerings will persuade them to make incremental purchases and visit more often. I hope they did their research. (Or maybe these pilot locations ARE the research?)

For Sears’ sake, I hope its partner in this venture, SGN Group, has the know how to reach shoppers with the right message and merchandise. Buzz words like “boutique” and “curated collection” will only go so far to inspire acquisitive curiosity.

Doug Garnett
Active Member
7 years ago

Well… A very clever idea — leveraging for innovation the opportunity to give consumers access to clothing styles they can’t get any other way. So, on paper, I’ll give them kudos.

In reality? I am also concerned, like Bob Phibbs, that this is off-target for the Sears consumer. This will only be significant if their customers care about it.

Even worse, Sears is down inside a deep canyon. This is a clever idea. But I simply can’t see it being “enough.” They have huge mountains to scale and this sounds more like an 8′ ladder than a path through the mountains.