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Sears Strategies
Sears: Business Strategy and Analysis
Sears, officially names Sears, Roebuck and Company, is an American chain of department stores which began its journey to success in the field of mail-order product distribution and has grown to one of the largest and most successful department store chains in the United States. Sears business model has long been attributed to a focus on customer service and satisfaction, and in recent years, Sears has begun work to change how its customers interact with the company in stores and online. In utilizing strategies to upgrade web technology, become a facet of goodwill and community giving, and in structuring itself under the business model of customer service and continued improvements to customer affordability and financing, Sears remains a top contender in the U.S. department store field.
Upgrading Web Technology and Increasing Web Presence
In an effort to keep up with competitors and the field of technology within the retail market, Sears has continuously made improvements to its technological aspects, including its website, web-marketing division and presence in the blogosphere. Sears has further implemented a strategy for its 2011 holiday season in order to generate business, web-presence and a rising over competitors. By reducing the number of elements on its web site, Sears has improved both the performance and variability of the destination, according to Keynote Systems, Inc., which ranked number one in Keynote's mobile ranking index (Tsirulnik, 2011, p. 1).
Sears has not only implemented its streamlining strategy, but has set to improve its web-based features for its customers in terms of privacy and reliability, by setting new standards for web-privacy and customer identity and financial data protection as well as minimizing facets of the old website that were deemed bulky and time-consuming. In allowing customers...
Goodwill and Community Giving
Sears' additional strategy for improving media and public-presence through community goodwill programs and giving have also played a significant role in the company's successes in recent years and continues to be one of Sears' most notable attributes. Sears has long-noted its own position as one of the nation's largest and broadest retailers with a presence in thousands of communities across the country. Because of this fact, Sears continues to recognize that the members of these communities are essentially the people who keep Sears in business, and the company has endeavored to continuously give back to these individuals in any way possible in an effort to earn customer trust and build lifetime relationships (Sears, 2011, p.1).
Sears has long imposed its strategies for community giving in areas as public as its sponsorship of programming such as "Extreme Home Makeover: Home Edition," which stocks homes with Sears products and affords them free services. In addition to a community presence in this area, Sears has focused significant community engagement efforts on its Supporting or Heroes and Communities program (SHC), which provides financing and resources to individuals who face adversity and display the courage to overcome challenges further aids communities and neighborhoods through volunteerism, monetary donations and merchandise donations (Sears, 2011, p.1). Such strategy…
References
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Dizard, J. (2009 July 20). Prospects for consumer spending look promising. London Financial Times. Web. Retrieved from: ProQuest Database.
Sears. (2011). Sears holdings community relations. Web. Retrieved from:
http://www.searsholdings.com/communityrelations / on 1 November 2011.
Tsirulnik, G. (2011 September 29). Sears tweaks to mobile site improve performance in time for holiday rush. Mobile Commerce Daily. Web. Retrieved from: http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/2011/09/29/sears-tweaks-to-mobile-site-improve-performance-in-time-for-holiday-rush on 1 November 2011.
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