Business Case Study: Sears Vs. Sears Watch Company

Sears, a company spanning 131 years that began as R.W Sears Watch Company was once the largest retailer in the United States. Kmart, its runner up, began as a general retailing store just thirteen years after Sears as S.S Kresge Company in 1899. Sears had been the largest retailer in the United States until Wal-Mart rose and surpassed them, and Kmart bought out Sears and merged the two struggling companies in 2005 (Meyer, 2017; New York Times, 2002). From there, Sears and Kmart have been steadily making their way towards what many believe will be an inevitable closing.

According to Michelle Ma (2017), an avid business author:

Sales at stores open at least a year declined 11.5% in the fiscal second quarter as the company scaled back the number of pharmacies and electronic products in its stores. Kmart's same-store sales fell 9.4%, compared with

Nearly four decades past its peak, Sears strives to maintain steady profits against its competitors (Howard 2017; Meyer 2017).

Kmart, contrarily, entered behind Wal-Mart as the second largest retailer in the United States after Sears’ reign. They, however, suffered a similar affliction to what felled Sears when Kmart ruled discount retail so heavily that they seemed almost unstoppable. However, with lack of solid knowledge on the business’ purpose and Wal-Mart as a strong competitor, there began a steep decline, along with Sears, that led to filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (New York Times 2002).

Kmart began as a five and dime store in Detroit founded by Sebastian Spering Kresge and John McCrory. The partnership dissolved and they took over the separate stores, Kresge mainly sold costume jewelry, houseware, and personal care products, always for thrifty prices. The company was incorporated in 1912 with 85 stores producing $10.3 million in annual