What decentralization might mean for Sears’ web strategy
Sears Holdings Corp. will face complex challenges in running a cohesive web strategy now that the company is going ahead with plans to decentralize its current corporate structure and create independent business units, says an e-commerce analyst.
“Some of the challenges seen in this structure are how to prioritize what each online brand may ask for in new features and functionality,” says Maris Daugherty, a senior consultant for J.C. Williams Group.”The strongest brands tend to receive more resources. It is also more difficult to manage the contact strategy directly to the customer with each brand responsible for their own messaging.”
The company`s e-commerce sites include Sears.com, Kmart.com and LandsEnd.com. Sears is No. 7 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide. The new structure is built on five types of business units that enable each organization to focus on their core categories and capabilities:
operating businesses, support, brands, online and real estate, the company says. "We are introducing an organizational structure that provides operating businesses with greater control, authority and autonomy,” says a Sears spokeswoman. “Each operating business unit will have a designated leader and an advisory group comprised of senior Sears Holdings executives to provide direction and oversee the business unit`s performance."
If its various e-commerce units are left to operate independently, Sears will still need a unified web center, says Daugherty. “This web center would be responsible for the overarching web strategy, use of emerging technologies, and optimization and innovation of the customer-facing web experience,” she says. “They are generally also responsible for selection of third-party suppliers for services that can be used across brands such as e-mail service providers and search engine resources. The web center becomes a strategic service provider with the brands as their customers instead of the end user.”
The best way for Sears to proceed might be to form a common e-commerce infrastructure with marketing and merchandising units overseeing each brand, says Daugherty. “This is a way to leverage the web infrastructure and control development costs, while getting the most mileage out of the platform and resources,” she says. “There are then web teams in the brands themselves that are responsible for, marketing, merchandising and creative design specific to their brand. These web teams work with the broader brand teams to promote the brand online and off.”
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