I have been told by my SGM what the company has said about the wishbook and what it will do for the company. I QUOTE " they are trying to bring back in the older loyal members" are you kidding me that person is between 60 and death, that customer base is dying off and or just wont shop at sears any longer ! This proves how far they have their heads up their butts with turning around this company. Revamp the stores get in new product with style not this outdated crap my dead grandma used to buy. Get in the younger crowd, not the older people that are on a fixed income.
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Update from @5hgy... unsurprisingly, turns out the whole 'limited invitation' to pick up a wishbook is a load of bs... my store had a couple dozen of them at the tools cashwrap, and anyone could have one (or more) if they asked.
@3wbl: Looks like they won't be spending much on mailing, at least... got an email this morning saying copies are available at the jewelry counter, while supplies last, only by showing that you received the wishbook invite email. I don't even remember the old ones, but might pick one up this time since it'll probably be the last.
Wish-book and the '10 to 50 percent off everything in the store' is just another 'hail-mary' pass by Hoffman Estates upper management and sounds to me like a liquidation sale just before Chapter 7 or 11. Our gross margins are terrible now this is only going to make it worse, we'll see a slight up-tick in sales volume but we will be losing even more cash this holiday season.
1aej- My whole thing about the wish book is.. How much did this cost the company? The planning, the editing, the printing, the mailing? That money could be spent better on anything but a catalog that only people over 50 will remember or even care about and half of them are fed up with Sears
Most of the products in the catalog are not in stock or "backordered" (yes, I have seen the wish book) and the rest are old, tired, stuff we have carried for years. Not gonna make a dent in sales or bringing people back. Just a waste of time, money and manpower
I used to love the holiday catalogs, both Sears and JC Penney among other smaller ones like Figis and Hickory Farms etc. Shows my age. However I have heard nothing about this years Wish Catalog, I no longer work for Sears and I do not shop in the store enough to even see it on display. As a Sears "member" how would i even know it existed? Most people won't know a thing about it.
When Lampert bought Sears, they had training classes.
Doesn't anyone remember "sowing the seeds of our culture " ?
We were told by managers, that had to attend the classes,
before we were provided the same classes, that Lamperts "Vision" for Sears,
was to be an INTERNET ONLY Company.
He didn't want to "waste" money on Building maintenance and taxes, employee health care and retirement and paying out a salary to employees. He wanted to lease out his brands to other companies and let "their" employees sell, Sears goods.
As to the customer service.... when you get hired into one job position and later they merge it with another job position and then again with yet another position... and when people drop like flies... those that are left, have to do the job of 3 or 4 people....there is NO time left for customer service.
if your not doing the ad set, your supposed to do the markdowns, or cleaning fitting rooms, or locating over stock or putting new receipts out on the floor or Rad/Ran, or setting the typical, or being a cashier, because the cashier that was supposed to be on got disgusted and called out or quit.
Then if you have slobby customers and its very busy in the store. .. after the store closes, the cashiers are supposed to help with Ran. But some of them don't want to help, because they find out, it takes a lot to do your job. It's not as easy as it looks and they want to get out at a certain time.
One of the Biggest mistakes made, was in merging all the positions...
AND they should of made sure they had twice as many FT cashiers and MCA's.
No one wants to keep enough people and they wonder why the ones that stay,
feel over worked, complain and wind up eventually leaving.
Well My Sears closed in Aug and the nearest Kmart, is slated to close just before thanksgiving...
we also heard the next nearest sears, would start liquidation a week after Christmas...
Just after the Kmart closes....
I don't know about everyone here, but it kinda sounds like, it's not a matter of a list of stores that are closing... but it seems to be a "rolling" closure... of Sears and Kmart stores...
Lampert hasn't had much success in getting customers "On Board" with internet only Sears.
Also, most older customers, I met during my employment with Sears, they stated that they didn't get on line often or didn't have a computer or just didn't know how to get on line.
AND most people want to look at things or try them on.
Pictures look nice... but when you get it in the mail... it won't fit or it could be a piece of "junk".
With all the "rolling closures, one could think that Lampert has bet Sears will go bankrupt and he would make more money if that happened. Look at Sears Canada... not good. :-(
I heard last week Wishbook distribution is by invitation only.
Let's say, hypothetically, that the Wishbook actually contains tons of desirable products and attracts tons of potential customers. When they try to actually purchase their desired products and find out half are out of stock due to vendor issues, they'll be leaving in disgust.
Nostalgia is a wonderful way to tap into the brand affinity from those who have been most loyal - 60 or 16. But, the biggest problem with it isn't the audience, isn't the idea that it's an online version, but that the products in it actually s---. We liked it as kids because they sold cool sh--. They sold hot toys, badass dad stuff, pretty home stuff for mom. Most of it's terrible now. Combine this with the horrible return policy and it shapes up to be a very sad holiday for everyone. Even the OG's like my dad are annoyed with Sears. He hates the emails, said he can't stand how annoying they are and only shops there for the specific items he has shopped for in the past...if at all.
Sorry for all the typos...you get the gyst of it
The Eishbook is a waste of miney but your notion that those who recall ate near death is childish. People live and spend money shopping well into their nineties. My favorite "regular" is 92 and he used to purchase a lot at Sears. The problem is that Sears wasn't known for discounts: it was loved for quality and customer service, both of which top management has eradicted. The LARGE pipulation of 50's - 90's shoppers have left SOLELY due to those reasons.
Retail has plenty if room for both online AND brick and mortar that appeals to all age groups. They are just very wrong in assuming we all want everyone to be a Walmart.
@iexs I think a lot of associates posting on this site are thinking that someone in corporate said that the Wish Book was going to be the answer to everything. No one has said that. If you choose not to look at it, that is each individual person's right. Some will like it. Some won't. We don't need to have an all out discussion as to whether or not this will turn around Sears Holdings as no one thought it would.
I don't think this "wishbook's" will do much. I got a B&H book full of products didn't even bother just saw it and tossed it in my recycle bin. I get that Sears wants to target older folks, but some of them are pretty much done with Sears. Some have had bad experiences which makes them not want to give Sears a chance. You don't want to lose your customers you want to keep them in the long run.
Sears lost my mother over the 30 day return policy. She was a week past it & the cashier & manager would not yield. She told me about it afterward. The item she wanted to return was an unworn, tags attached, currently in stock blouse btw.
We shopped Sears growing up, Sears was my 1st credit card when I turned 18 and although less so over the years, my parents still shopped there.
The return policy was flexible for many many more years than the newer 30 day one. The old policy is the one ingrained in heads of the older crowd. Target & others have 90 days which is a good middle ground IMO.
My now retiree-age mother gave up on Sears in the late 80's after buying not 1, not 2, not even 3 but 4 POS Kenmore appliances over a couple month period. All replaced Kenmore's she'd bought in the early 70's that worked but physically wore out (things like broken shelves in the fridge and the like.) What's worse is Sears couldn't fix them but instead blamed her for the various issues each had. Independent appliance repair company fixed some of the problems at her expense, other machines were replaced with non-Sears in a few years. She hasn't really been back since then.
Dad, now gone, gave up on Sears in the late 90's after hassles with warranty on a number of Craftsman tools. Some couldn't be replaced because they were no longer made, some they hassled him because by then they were only available in sets, and of course the quality was declining so replacements became more common. He started buying a lot of stuff at estate sales.
They passed those experiences on to us. Guess where we don't shop?
Too little to late. My parents who are in their 60s avoid sears after a few bad dealings with them over the past few years. Even my dad who still has a flip phone and doesn't own a computer is done them. He says sears isn't what it used to be they used be and sold out.
As a Sears retiree who is "between 60 and death" I find this thread very interesting. I agree with the opinion expressed by the majority here that the resurrection of the Sears Wishbook will not attract any new business for Sears. Even though the Wishbook has nostalgic meaning from my childhood, it is of no interest to me now. I do disagree with those who believe seniors are not active shoppers; life requires goods and services no matter what your age. I don't shop Sears because with all the store closings the nearest one is now over 25 miles away. Like most shoppers, I expect a good selection of merchandise, very attractive prices and convenience. I do the majority of my shopping at Amazon, Costco online, Dollar General and at several area food/general merchandise discount stores. I have friends in their 80s that regularly shop online. For seniors that refrain from driving shopping online is a huge convenience. However, I've never heard them mention shopping Sears online. I find the Sears website clunky to use and the prices uncompetitive even with my discount.
....for vab...Amen, well said. Why would any employee want to shop at Sears? Loyalty? Pulling my associate discount didn't feel loyal to me.
I agree with you. After all the layoffs and the way they treat their employees they’ve forgotten that the employees were their best customers.
Maybe they need to try and gain back all of the employees who no longer shop with Sears and Kmart due to work force reduction and store closings. And their families. That's quite a few customers right there.
Old people like simple products. Simple products are usually the cheapest. Not only that, most the loyal customers are dead or resentful for other reasons. Not a smart plan. Unfortunately they don't have the cash to rebrand for a more modern appeal.
@uoy do you really think trying to get these old folks back into our stores will help the company in the long haul when they are all dead in 5-10 years, focus on the younger people that will be around for 30+ years its simple math in my eyes unless they are just trying to last 2 more years like being talked about out in the money world of the stock exchange.
Or just long enough for Eddie to get all his ducks in a row
Not stupid at all.....those consumers have a lot of disposable income and used to shop at Sears. Some may be on a fixed income but many are still helping to support their families and worked when there were still pensions at companies. Those consumers have more money in their retirement than any of us will have in the future.
Yeah that is just pretty stupid. Even the older crowd doesn't give a sh-- about Sears so what the hell are they even trying that?