Headlines

Sears, Kmart Opted Out of Holiday TV Ads

Brands focused exclusively on online marketing

Published

6 years ago

January 2, 2018

kmpeyton

Sears Holdings (Hoffman Estates, Ill.), in an unexpected move, completely abandoned television ads in favor of online marketing for the 2017 holiday season. Sears and Kmart have not run national TV ads since Nov. 25 and Nov. 24, respectively, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The decision was that of Sears Holdings CEO Edward Lampart, who has championed a shift to digital marketing, despite objections of the company’s other executives. The choice was most shocking due to its poor e-commerce performance in recent years and because of its consumers’ age group, which tends to be older and less likely to shop online.

According to Fortune, abandoning TV ads entirely is a highly unusual move for large consumer businesses since TV ads make up a third of all ad spend and generally have proven more effective in reaching consumers.

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