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Eroding Sales at Sears Prompts National Store Closures

In May Sears Holdings, the parent company of iconic retail chains Sears and Kmart, announced it would close more than 70 of its stores nationwide as sales continue to erode. Edison Trends examined sales leading up to the announcement across Sears, its sister company Kmart, and sales performance across competing department stores J.C. Penney, Kohl’s, and Macy’s.

How did Sears and Kmart online sales performance compare to their competitors leading up to the May 31 store closure announcement?

Figure 1a. Revenue comparison between Sears, Kmart and competitors

Data shows the estimated relative trend in monthly online revenue for retailers Sears, Kmart, J.C. Penney, Kohl’s, and Macy’s between August 2017 and May 2018, based on the Edison Trends dataset.

Edison Trends discovered that Sears’ May revenue was about 40% higher than their April numbers, and 60% higher than in February. Macy's also saw large gains for May, with online sales revenue nearly 40% higher than at the beginning of the year. Over the ten-month period, Sears online monthly revenue averaged about 17% of what Kohl's and Macy's achieved.

Figure 1b. Sales Order Volume comparison between Sears, Kmart and competitors

Data shows the estimated relative trend in monthly online sales order volume for retailers Sears, Kmart, J.C. Penney, Kohl’s, and Macy’s between August 2017 and May 2018, based on the Edison Trends dataset.

Edison Trends’ analysis revealed that though Sears saw an online revenue increase in May, customers made fewer orders. The average amount spent per order increased, accounting for the higher revenue. The number of orders was down 5% from April, and 25% since January.

Macy's has seen the strongest growth in online orders in 2018, climbing 28% in monthly order volume over the last five months. Kohl's was the strongest performer overall. Their monthly online order volume was, on average, ten times that of Sears during the ten-month period.

As the market evolves, we will continue to stay on top of the latest trends. To learn more about how Edison Trends can help your business, contact us at bizdev@edison.tech. For more up-to-date insights in the e-commerce space, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter, and follow us on Twitter at @EdisonTrends.

*The data shown is based on a sample of anonymized and aggregated e-receipts from millions of consumers in the United States.

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