Sears is angling towards an omnichannel effort for the holiday season, leveraging multiple applications to assist consumers who are looking to the department store for holiday deals.

Among Sears’ holiday offering is a Black Friday offer for 100 percent back in Shop Your Way points on all doorbusters found on the front and back covers of its Black Friday ad, a maneuver that not only incentivizes holiday spending in the short term but also engages prospects for return customers in the long term through integrating the department store’s app for its reward program.

“At Sears we put members first,” said Leena Munjal, senior vice president of customer service and integrated retail at Sears Holdings. “In another way we could deliver on that promise, for the first time ever we launched our Black Friday ad on the Sears mobile app before it was available anywhere else.

“The Sears app lets shoppers find the right products faster and compare features, prices and user reviews; find deals, get eCoupons, earn and redeem Shop Your Way points; make purchases, track orders, manage layaway, and access free shopping conveniences like Free Store Pickup, In-Vehicle Pickup and free in-store shipping.”

Holiday season
The offering also includes an online campaign that features an exclusive look at Sears’ Black Friday ad on the Sears app and on its mobile-optimized Web site. Deals offered by Sears that day include a variety of sales on Samsung electronics, Kenmore appliances and gold jewelry.

Also, customers who leverage Sears’ Shop Your Way app can access the talents of personal shoppers who will make custom gift recommendations based on a member’s style and preferences. Shop Your Way will also debut a personal shopper app for the holiday season.

“The Personal Shopper app by Shop Your Way helps members shop smarter by getting help with gift ideas and purchases they’re considering and keep track of anniversaries, birthdays, holidays and events,” Ms. Munjal said. “It lets a personal shopper do all of the work of shopping for you–another way that we are working to bring convenient shopping to our members.”

Sears is promoting the Sears app for both its Black Friday deals and the holiday season, touting its ability to compare features, prices and user reviews; find deals, get eCoupons, and make the most of Shop Your Way points; make purchases, track orders, manage layaway, and access free shopping conveniences like Free Store Pickup, In-Vehicle Pickup and free in-store shipping.

The app is also reintroducing the exclusive Wheel of Fortune Holiday Puzzler game from years previous. Sears is giving away $1,000 in Sears gift cards to game winners daily through December 9.

Sears is partnering with Wheel of Fortune this holiday season

Elf tested
The campaign comes with a digital content component as well, via a humorous digital video content series launching today called ElfTV. The series will feature more than two dozen lighthearted and whimsical ad shorts centered around Santa’s helpers.

Users are urged to Subscribe to Sears’ YouTube page view them all and join the holiday conversation on social media using the hashtag #ElfTested.

Uber recently partnered with Shop Your Way to give retail rewards points to any customer using its service, suggesting that mobile loyalty could be a fruitful avenue of exploration for ride-sharing applications (see story).

And as Sears begins to scale back its bricks-and-mortar presence – closing more than 75 stores throughout the country – the retailer is making use of its rewards points app to give customers an incentive to keep spending with Sears this holiday season (see story).

“Sears’ focus is on providing shopping convenience to our members–letting them shop with us wherever and however they choose,” Ms Munjal said. “Our mobile site is critical component to our integrated retail strategy.

“Members expect to be able to move seamlessly across channels and our mobile sites, and app lets them do just that.”