New Article about Sears Holding Corporation's Eddie Lampert

[giantsfan2016]

There's a new article about Sears Holding Corporation's Eddie Lampert.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/03/the-strange-odyssey-of-hedge-fund-king-eddie-lampert-sears-kmart

Thanks to the Dead and Dying Retail Facebook Page for posting this article.

[busman_49]

Read that this morning.  Just wow.

[TheFugitive]

That link took me to a Vanity Fair article entitled "Can Obama Rescue the Democrats".  ???

After leaving retail I worked for a company where the CEO was the subject of a VERY
harsh article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  It seems some disgruntled stockholders
had a friend who was a reporter there.

Likely some disgruntled Sears stockholder has a friend in the news media,
and was behind this.

[giantsfan2016]

That link took me to a Vanity Fair article entitled "Can Obama Rescue the Democrats".  ???

After leaving retail I worked for a company where the CEO was the subject of a VERY
harsh article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  It seems some disgruntled stockholders
had a friend who was a reporter there.

Likely some disgruntled Sears stockholder has a friend in the news media,
and was behind this.

Must have been a glitch because the article still comes up for me.

[shore72]

My takeaway is that Lampert sincerely thought he could turn things around but, like so many folks at his level, he has no real concept of what the customers want. He kept mentioning Nordstrom & Bloomingdales. The average Sears/Kmart customer has never stepped foot in either store; in fact, I would say the majority of them, if polled, have never heard of Nordstrom. Walmart became what Sears and Kmart could have/should have become, and it happened because Sam Walton understood his customers & what they wanted. You could say that about companies as diverse as Amazon, Apple, Google, Facebook-they saw a need that wasn't being properly filled & they filled it. Sears could have reinvented itself into all sort of things: Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Amazon, Auto Zone. It tried to take them all on, half-heartedly, & too late. Now, even if they came up with "the next big thing" I'm not sure they have the resources to do anything about it, & at this point it seems obvious that Lampert long ago gave up on trying to actually turn the company around. I have to say, it's amazing how long they've been able to coast on an empty tank.

[buzz86us]

I use their Shopyourway extensively because you can keep on playing sweeps and winning points.. plus they have surprise points... I literally shop there all the time and haven't spent one red cent there..

[TheFugitive]

My takeaway is that Lampert sincerely thought he could turn things around but, like so many folks at his level, he has no real concept of what the customers want. He kept mentioning Nordstrom & Bloomingdales. The average Sears/Kmart customer has never stepped foot in either store; in fact, I would say the majority of them, if polled, have never heard of Nordstrom. Walmart became what Sears and Kmart could have/should have become, and it happened because Sam Walton understood his customers & what they wanted. You could say that about companies as diverse as Amazon, Apple, Google, Facebook-they saw a need that wasn't being properly filled & they filled it. Sears could have reinvented itself into all sort of things: Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Amazon, Auto Zone. It tried to take them all on, half-heartedly, & too late. Now, even if they came up with "the next big thing" I'm not sure they have the resources to do anything about it, & at this point it seems obvious that Lampert long ago gave up on trying to actually turn the company around. I have to say, it's amazing how long they've been able to coast on an empty tank.

Excellent observations!  I know of a former Kmart exec who went to work for Tractor Supply Co. back in the mid-90's.  This guy thought he could turn Tractor Supply into another Kmart.  Seriously!

Never mind that's the very LAST thing that any Tractor Supply customer would ever want.