It's been a continuing story at Sears. One quarter follows another and sales just continue to drop. The chain, which has been criticized for not doing enough to get its business turned around, thinks it may have found at least one answer to help it reverse its downward spiral.
Sears is banking on its Lands' End store-within-a-store concept (approx. 10,000-square-foot departments) to help it attract shoppers like Jennifer Leonard of Millstone, New Jersey to its stores to buy clothes even though they've never bought any apparel from the chain before.
Ms. Leonard told the Asbury Park Press why she went clothes shopping at Sears for the very first time. "I came specifically for the Lands' End brand," she said. "I knew it was good-quality stuff. I knew that bathing suits in particular would be a good price and better than anything I can find in Lord & Taylor's and Macy's."
Lands' End spokesperson Michele Casper, said, "We are actually able to attract new customers as well as bring a higher level of customer service to a retail format. If people are great Lands' End shoppers, they can now experience that great customer service and assortment within a store setting."
Eric Romero, a Sears' store manager in Freehold, New Jersey, told the Asbury Park Press, that the Lands' End store-within-a-store "has been a great success."
Ms. Casper said that consumers that see the Lands' End department as a destination are discovering Sears in the process. "If they haven't been a Sears shopper... it is also opening their eyes to the Sears retail floor as well," she said.
Discussion Questions: Will a significant commitment to Lands' End bring in a whole new group of consumers to Sears? Will it introduce them to other aspects of Sears in the process?