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What’s Old Is New for Sears, Kmart

Sears and Kmart face tough competition and are launching new marketing campaigns to keep shoppers from jumping ship to rivals like J.C. Penney, Wal-Mart, Target and Kohl’s.

Both campaigns hark back to the histories of the stores, writes Brandweek.
Sears, promoting itself as a one-stop store and highlighting disparate items like baby clothes, washers and dryers and widescreen TVs, uses concepts that can be traced back to its days as a mail-order catalog book. Its theme is “Sears. Where it begins,” and it includes a tagline of “Sears ignites true possibilities for life at home.”

Kmart is using its notable Blue Light Special past to promote a new icon, called Mr. Blue Light, who takes consumers on a tour of Kmart and shines his light on specials.

Sears is also considering an expansion of its Lands’ End division within Sears stores from 100 to 200 stores by year’s end.

The campaigns come following a same-store sales decline for Sears in the first quarter. Net income for the company rose 74 percent, however, and revenue moved up 8 percent.

Sears spent $562 million on advertising in 2005, and $524 million in 2006, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus. Kmart spent $190 million on advertising last year.