Dive Brief:

• Kmart Wednesday announced that it is amassing goods from companies that have gone bankrupt and “other opportunistic situations” in order to bring more value to customers.

• The retailer scored a large amount of inventory from The Brinkmann Corporation, which had been a leading manufacturer of items like outdoor grills and lighting, under the Brinkmann, Malibu Lighting and Q-Beam brands. The company hosted a sale of its assets, including intellectual property and remaining inventory, earlier this month. 

• The practice is a common one for retailers like Big Lots or Tuesday Morning, but appears to be something of a departure for Kmart.

Dive Insight:

Kmart calls this move “brag-worthy,” (a word it uses several times in its press release about the sale) and many of the top-end products from Brinkmann will be found there at bargain prices, to be sure. It’s the first time the retailer has taken the approach. Kmart parent Sears Holdings Corp. paid $3.29 million for the Brinkmann, Malibu Lighting and Q-Beam products, according to the Chicago Tribune.

“Just as when we brought back Bluelight Specials last year, we continue to find innovative ways to provide our Shop Your Way® members with an extreme value proposition that can only be found at Kmart,” Kmart president Alasdair James said in a statement.

But the retailer is also taking something of a risk, considering that the items won’t have the backing of the manufacturer in cases when goods are faulty. But the liquidation-sale approach does appeal to many deal-seekingn shoppers, and could be the beginning of a new inventory approach for Kmart.