Re:Sears has another chance to avoid closing down
by wvenable on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @12:36PM
(#18857477)
And Sears, like Walmart now, was big enough that they could go to manufacturers and get special versions of products to makeup the "Kenmore" brand. I remember looking at fridges back in the day and the Kenmore version had just minor differences that made it slightly better than the 'same' model from the actual manufacturer.
The difference between Walmart and Sears through is that Walmart pushes manufacturers to build the cheapest possible product so their versions are worse rather than better then the manufacturer's own branded products.
Re:Sears has another chance to avoid closing down
by wccrawford on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @01:56PM
(#18858363)
But also cheaper, which is what a lot of their customers are looking for.
Re:Sears has another chance to avoid closing down
by ben1040 on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @12:14PM
(#18857232)
>If Sears had a lumber yard
In a way, they did.
Re:Sears has another chance to avoid closing down
by 1123581321 on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @03:19PM
(#18859255)
I own one of these. It was built in 1935 and unlike Sears, it has a good chance of surviving another century because it’s made of solid brick. It’s a Craftsman-style Bungalow that apparently was build extra wide (or at least wider than other homes in our neighborhood), so the upper bedrooms are more spacious than it might appear from the outside.
Re:Sears has another chance to avoid closing down
by i_feel_great on Wednesday January 09, 2019 @01:33AM
(#18862769)
There are links at the bottom of the page to the catalogues. Looking at the 1908 catalogue - my goodness those houses are gorgeous.
I wonder if there is some sort of design trademark on them. I would love to build a house like these in Australia.
This can't be understated, and is something a lot of new companies don't understand. If people know your brand and trust your company, they will hand you money.
Anecdata: My parents were massive Sears loyalists. When they bought an appliance, my father researched the various GE models, then bought the Kenmore version. When he wanted a video game console, he researched and decided he wanted an Atari 2600. Then he went out and bought the Sears Tele-Games version.
Half of their house addition was built with Sears products. If Sears had a lumber yard, it would have been closer to 90%.