Sears, 3 Other Retailers, Suffering From Holiday Depression

Retail has always been a tough industry, but with ecommerce, price slashing promotions and competition, the waters are rough for many once successful companies, according to News telegram.com.

Sears was once a great institution and a go-to name for shoppers, but it has certainly seen better days. CEO Eddie Lampert’s rescue of KMart from bankruptcy was an acquisition that has yet to pay off, and Sears keeps losing out to competitors. Its revenue was down 13% in the last quarter, and so far this year it has shed $1.6 billion. Lampert has had to cut to keep Sears afloat. He is shuttering stores at a fast pace, a total of 235 this year. Brian Sozzi, analyst at Belus Capital Advisors, thinks that by 2016, Sears could have only half its current store count.

Remember RadioShack? It has tried to survive with parts for cell phones and smart devices, but many people can find the stuff other places. In any case, the name Radio Shack sounds hackneyed in the ears of people today, and it is not surprising that management announced it will close 1, 100 stores.

Teens are hard to sell to, given their notorious reputation for accepting trends at a whim, but Aeropostale has failed where others have succeeded. Management continues to blame the kids and their ever changing moods. CEO Julian Geiger said, “I still believe that while teens strive for individuality, there’s still a uniform they wear that makes them cool and fit in.” It is closing over a hundred stores.

J.C. Penney suffered from CEO Ron Johnson’s getting rid of the very reason people shopped there in the first place: promotions. Mike Ullman has been brought back as CEO, and the company might have hope of a turnaround.  Ullman hopes to see $14.5 billion in sales by 2017, which is far below its historic high of $17 billion. Ullman has closed only 33 stores and hopes a turnaround will prevent further losses.