Dive Brief:
-
Sears Holdings Corp. has opened a flagship Connected Solutions store in the heart of Silicon Valley, showcasing Internet of Things household appliances for the mainstream homeowner.
-
As part of the initiative, the retailer is also expanding its Connected Solutions offerings of connected-home smart devices in stores nationwide and has launched a Connected Solutions website.
-
Sears already runs three smaller Connected Solutions showcase stores in the Chicagoland area.
Dive Insight:
There are plenty people on the Sears deathwatch as it struggles to recapture its early retail strength and climb out from a very deep hole. But the retailer has invested so much in omnichannel that its Shop Your Way program is the envy of the business. And with this Connected Solutions effort, the retailer is once again demonstrating that being behind is not stopping it from getting out ahead in some areas.
This segment of home retail is a growing one, with shipments of connected-home devices expected to grow at an annual rate of 67% in the next five years, according to report from Business Insider.
"We knew there needed to be an extra level of service," Ryan Ciovacco, president of Sears' Consumer Electronics and Connected Solutions, told tech writer Mike Feibus at USA Today. "It's easy to get the early adopters in. Now we're trying to solve the problem of getting past the early adopters to the rest of America."
