Sears hopes to lure store shoppers with Mom, online pickup

Sears Holdings has been having issues attracting shoppers to stores, as evidenced by the recent decision to close 78 brick-and-mortar locations.



However, the department store retailer is not giving up on efforts to drive store traffic. Sears is combining the eternal appeal of Mom and its strong history of omnichannel customer service to give shoppers a good reason to visit their local store.



Sears is launching a major sale on apparel, jewelry, home products and other popular Mother's Day gifts and announced that any Shop Your Way loyalty program member who shops online and uses in-vehicle pickup between May 3-7 will automatically be registered to win a $5,000 gift card from the retailer



The in-vehicle pickup service, supported by the Sears mobile app, lets customers digitally shop and complete transactions. They then receive an email when their purchase is ready at their local Sears store and will have an associate bring it to their car and verify payment within five minutes of arrival.



Sears has long been a leader in digital retail innovation. The company was an early provider of buy online pick up in store functionality back in 2001. Around 2005, Sears introduced its “Ready in Five” guarantee that ensures customers will not have to wait more than five minutes in-store to pick up an online purchase. In 2009, the retailer purchased Israeli social media engine Delver, which was the origin of its Shop Your Way social platform.



More recently, in 2014 Sears began offering the in-vehicle product pickup and return service, as well as an online “Reserve It” service that lets online shoppers select apparel products to be set aside at a local store for try-on.



Despite these numerous innovations, Sears still struggles with sales and profitability. According to the retailer, 60% of its online sales involve a store, so offering more omnichannel services that blend physical and digital channels makes sense. And Mothers’ Day is a great individual selling event.



But the industry should watch Sears closely to see just how effective seamless customer experience is in improving store traffic for a retailer that appears to be having problems in areas such as marketing and merchandising.