The offering comes with a multi-year agreement with Sonic Solutions, which involves Sonic’s RoxioNow platform to extend its reach. RoxioNow powers digital services for retailers, cable operators, manufacturers, etc. Sonic Solutions and Sears are working together to embed the RoxioNow services into various devices, such as Blu-ray players, mobile phones, and TVs. 

"Collaborating with Sonic provides a great opportunity for Sears and Kmart to launch digital services for customers seeking even faster access to the latest in home entertainment experiences," said Karen Austin, President of Consumer Electronics for Sears and Kmart. "We’ll continue to increase the reach and flexibility of the Alphaline Entertainment service by providing consumers on-demand access to the latest entertainment from a range of home and mobile electronics."

"The Sears launch represents an important milestone for Sonic, with another RoxioNow-powered storefront now open for business," said Mark Ely, President of Strategy, Sonic Solutions. "We look forward to continuing to collaborate with Sears and bringing Alphaline Entertainment to consumers through a broad range of connected devices."

Clearly, the service will compete with services from Amazon and iTunes, but may also have some impact services like Netflix (which may be getting ready for some big expansion). It could even compete with Google TV, because consumers may be forced to decide whether they want a Blu-ray player that supports this or one that comes with Google TV. 

Either way, it’s clear that connected devices and services that utilize them are going to be big business in 2011, and it’s gong to be an increasingly interesting space to watch.

Under the multi-year agreement, Sears has licensed Sonic Solutions’ RoxioNow platform, which will power digital entertainment delivery services for both Sears and Kmart. The new services will launch later this year and will be promoted at retail stores nationwide.

"Teaming up with Sonic is a great opportunity for Sears and Kmart to quickly establish a position in digital video entertainment, and offer another great service to our customers," said Karen Austin, President of Home Electronics for Sears Holdings.

"With direct access to so many movies and TV shows from a broad range of devices, our customers will have the ability to obtain the latest high-quality entertainment virtually anywhere, anytime."

The new entertainment service will offer a range of updated movies and TV shows for rent or purchase, including new releases often on the same day DVDs become available at retail stores. Sonic and Sears will embed the service on a network of devices including portable media players, Blu-ray players, mobile phones, and high-definition televisions.
 

Sure, Black Friday seems utterly atrocious when thinking about it. I mean you got long lines, rabid shoppers, insane traffic, and bitterly cold weather. Mix that with sleep deprivation and you get a very lethal cocktail of insanity. So why do people put themselves through this monotony?

Well the answer to that is quite easy: It’s the deals.

Although Black Friday got its start sometime during the 1960s, online deals didn’t come into play until around 2000. The reasoning for this was that most people had very slow dial-up connections at home, which made online purchases more of an annoyance, then a convenience. Most people would wait until the following Monday, when they returned to work, to do there online shopping. Utilizing the faster connection of the workplace, people would do their online shopping, thus creating Cyber Monday (often referred to as the busiest online shopping day of the year).

Have you found any good deals online this week? Let us know.

One thing some people might not realize is that you don’t have to brave the crowds to find great deals for your Holiday shopping. Did you know that numerous stores are currently offering Black Friday deals online? That’s right, you could do most of your shopping from the comfort of your own home. Unlike the traditional Black Friday sales, the online deals tend to be more of a "one deal per day" sort of thing. Black-Friday.net offers the following info about this…

"During the entire month of November, stores such as Amazon.com, Walmart, and even eBay will be offering a "Deal of the Day". These deals are just as good as their Black Friday deals, except they are only good for one day! Be sure to check out the stores below to find out what they are offering today."

The site also lists online deals for 16 total stores (with more being added daily it seems), they are: Amazon.com, eBay, Walmart, onSale, Target, Kohl’s, MacMall, Best Buy, HP, Dell, Meijer, Sears, NewEgg.com, Buy.com, Kmart and 6th Ave.

Online Holiday sales might be "old hat" to Amazon, but they’re becoming known for the deals they have during the week of Thanksgiving. The site offers the following description of the weeklong sale…

You shouldn’t have to stand in a long line to get a great deal. We’re searching for the best Black Friday deals everywhere–including deals other stores are planning–so we can meet or beat their prices and bring them to you even earlier. These limited-supply offers will go quickly but we’ll add new ones throughout the day, every day this week, so you can skip the long lines and still save a bundle.

One company that is getting in on the Black Friday goodness is Apple, as they’ve announced a  “one-day shopping event” which will surely make it a happy Friday for some shoppers. Apple posted the following teaser to get shoppers stirring…

"Come back to the Apple Online Store this Friday for a special one-day-only shopping event. You’ll find lots of great iPod, iPhone and Mac gift ideas – all with free shipping."

Like we said before, shoppers will go to great lengths to save some money, some more so than others. So, what are some of the best deals that will be taking place on Black Friday 2009 in stores? We’ve scoured through the Black Friday advertisements and have listed the best prices for what surely will be the best selling items.

Televisions
[Target] Westinghouse 32" Class 720p LCD HDTV – $246.00
[Walmart] Emerson 32" LCD 720p HDTV – $248.00
[Best Buy] Dynex 32" 720p 60Hz LCD HDTV – $299.99
[Sears] Vizio 32" Class 720p LCD HDTV – $349.99

Desktop Computers
[Best Buy] eMachines Desktop: 18.5" LCD, 3GB RAM, 320GB HDD – $299.97
[Dell Home] Dell Inspiron 537s: 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD – $349.00
[Walmart] HP Pavilion Desktop: 20" LCD, 3GB RAM, 320GB HDD – $398.00

Laptops / Netbooks
[Walmart] eMachines 15.6" Laptop: 2GB RAM, 160GB HDD – $198.00
[Best Buy] Compaq Netbook: 1GB RAM, 160GB HD – $179.99
[Kmart] Delstar 7" Wireless Netbook – $119.99
[Radio Shack] Acer Aspire One Netbook – 2GB RAM, 250GB HDD – $249.99

MP3 Players – 4GB and under
[Kmart] Sylvania 4GB MP3/Video Player – $19.99
[Kohl's] 2GB MP3 Player with Video – $24.99
[Walmart] Philips 4GB MP3/Video Player – $29.00
[Best Buy] SanDisk: Sansa Fuze 4GB – $44.99

MP3 Players – 4GB and up
[Costco] Apple 8GB iPod Nano – $129.99
[Target] Apple 5th Gen. 8GB iPod Nano 2/ $15 Target Gift Card – $145.00
[Walmart] Apple 8GB iPod Touch w/ $50 iTunes Gift Card – $195.00

Digital Cameras
[Toys R Us] Vivitar 8.1MP Digital Camera – $39.99
[Best Buy] Insignia Digital Camera – $49.99
[Walmart] Kodak CD82: 12MP, 3x Optical Zoom, 3" LCD – $69.00
[Sears] GE A1250 12MP Black Digital Camera – $69.99

Will you be doing any shopping on Black Friday? Online or In Store? Tell us

Other Black Friday Resources:

Black Friday Websites
Two of the more popular Black Friday sites are BFAds.net and BlackFriday.info. Both are relatively the same, as they both feature scans, lists by store, and the ability to save to a shopping/wish list.

Black Friday & Facebook
Black-Friday.net runs a Facebook page, which lists the various Black Friday deals. The great thing about the Facebook page is that users can see the likes and comments, which could aid in the Black Friday planning for Facebook users.

Black Friday & Twitter
CheapTweet.com, a site that lists various deals, runs a very popular Twitter account, which tweets out Black Friday deals.

iPhone Apps
Black Friday? Yeah, there’s an app for that. With TGI Black Friday (iTunes link) you’re never without the latest Black Friday deal news. The best part about the app… it’s Free.

What are you going after this year on Black Friday? Have any good Black Friday stories? Tell us.

The company, which includes Sears and Kmart, offered online customers $10 in return for installing the tracking software.

The FTC said the software monitored consumers’ online secure sessions, including those on third party websites and collected personal information from those sessions, such as the content of shopping carts, online bank statements, prescription drug records, video rental records, library borrowing histories, and the sender, recipient, subject, and size of emails.

According to the Commission, the software also tracked some computer activities that were not related to the Internet. Only in a long user license agreement, available to users at the end of a multi-step registration process, did Sears disclose the full extent of the information the software tracked. The Commission charged that Sears failed to adequately disclose the scope of the tracking software’s data collection and it violated the FTC Act.

Sears has been ordered to destroy all information previously collected and if it uses any tracking software in the future it must clearly disclose the types of data it will monitor, record, or transmit.

In addition, the disclosure must be made before installation and separate from any user license agreement. Sears must also disclose if any data will be shared with a third party.

There are companies that have a significant online presence, of course, like Sears, but I think it’s safe to say that unlike consumer electronics purchasing habits, major appliances (the industry calls the category "majapp", by the way) are still purchased based on in-store discussions with salespeople and hands-on experience.

The list of top Majapp retailers:

1. Sears, with $8.3 billion in major appliance sales in 2007 (a drop of 7.3% from their 2006 sales)
2. Lowe’s, with $4.3 billion in majapp sales (an increase of 3.1% over their 2006 sales)
3. Home Depot, with $3.8 billion in sales (an increase in 2.3% from 2006 sales)
4. Best Buy, with $1.9 billion in sales (an impressive increase of 8.3% over 2006 sales. Best Buy is really becoming a powerhouse in both majapp and consumer electronics sales!)
5. Wal*Mart, with $713 million in sales (an increase of 5.1% over 2006)
6. P.C. Richard & Son, with $602 million in sales (a drop of 4.1% from 2006 sales)
7. hhgregg, with $486 million in sales (a staggering increase of 36.6% over 2006 sales)
8. BrandsMart, with $269 million in sales (a decrease of 2.7% from 2006 sales)
9. Conn’s, with $224 million in sales (a 3.0% decrease over 2006 sales)
10. Costco Wholesale, with $211 million in sales (an increase of 0.9% over 2006 sales figures)

The rest of the top 25? Pacific Sales Kitchen & Bath Centers, Target, ABC Warehouse, ABT Electronics and Appliances, Menards, Sam’s Club, EXPO Design CEnter, R.C. Willey Home Furnishings, American TV & Appliances, Nebraska Furniture Mart, The Great Indoors, Appliance Direct, Kmart, Fry’s Electronics and Grants Appliance.

Somehow, in 2008 I expect to see some sort of company like "Appliances Online" or even Amazon show up on the top 25 list (after all, Grants Appliance is on the list with only $77 million in annual major appliance sales)…

Is it possible that major appliances will always be purchased primarily through a physical storefront, perhaps simply due to the complexity of delivery and installation? What do you think?

Comments

Much of the kerfuffle over the Sears Holding Corporation’s ‘My SHC Community’ application got rolling with spyware researcher Ben Edelman. He commented on the installation of ComScore tracking software with My SHC, suggesting the tracking to take place is not clearly disclosed to novice computer users.

He followed that up with an even more astonishing disclosure that Sears “Manage My Home” reveals customer purchases, to anyone in an easy fashion. The disclosures violate Sears own privacy policy.

Privacy problems continued to mount when StopBadware.org joined the discussion. StopBadware cited My SHC as “badware because of inadequate disclosure of extensive tracking and data collection and because the application does not identify itself while running.”

Fortunately, both Sears and ComScore have averred they will take steps to address the concerns raised by StopBadware. “I’m convinced that Sears Holdings Corporation’s team, along with comScore, is making strides to address the things that make this application badware in our book,” John Palfrey, co-director of StopBadware.org and executive director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School, said in a statement.

The statement WebProNews received from StopBadware said SHC has halted further downloads of the My SHC application until they update the disclosure and privacy policy language, and make an icon available for the application in the Start Menu to identify itself.

]]> http://www.webpronews.com/sears-smacked-over-badware-2008-01/feed 0 http://www.webpronews.com/sears-taps-yahoo-for-holiday-campaign-2007-11 http://www.webpronews.com/sears-taps-yahoo-for-holiday-campaign-2007-11#comments Fri, 09 Nov 2007 18:53:24 +0000 Mike Sachoff http://www.webpronews.com/?p=41774 Sears has launched an integrated marketing campaign around the return of the holiday Wish Book.

Sears has launched an integrated marketing campaign around the return of the holiday Wish Book.

Richard Gerstein, SVP and chief marketing officer at Sears, says the Internet has a bigger role than in past years. The retailer has partnered with Yahoo to launch a holiday themed social networking site that includes the use of widgets, text messaging, alerts to customers and promotions.

The social networking site "Where Wishes Begin" will allow users to vote on gift ideas, use Yahoo Answers to solve gift- giving issues, share video and photos of gift-giving reactions via Yahoo’s photo sharing community Flickr.

"Sears will have a much larger online presence this holiday," said Gerstein. "The online space continues to offer new and exciting ways to interact in a meaningful way with our customers, such as the holiday experience we have created with Yahoo.com."

Sears is also allowing shoppers to make purchases online and pick them up at stores. The program will expand after Thanksgiving to provide curbside service for select products being delivered to a customer’s vehicle within five minutes of arriving at the store.

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In addition, instead of the standard few words and a checkbox that the user clicks to sign his life away, I noticed that this signup for had even more aggressive language:

I am the authorized user of this computer and I have read, agree to, and have obtained the agreement of all computer users to the terms and conditions of the Privacy Statement and User License Agreement. [emphasis added]

OK, I was going to sign up, but I guess I need to review the terms and conditions with everyone else in the house or office or college campus who might use this PC. Right.

Just about every community has some kind of privacy policy or statement of terms of use when you sign up; from a community building standpoint, there are a few key steps to making this as painless as possible. First, let users who are never going to read the fine print bypass it with a minimum of fuss. Link to the privacy policy rather than forcing everyone to read it; those who are concerned will check it out. Second, if you do have some really important information that affects your signups, don’t bury it in the legalese – make it obvious, and if it’s VERY important, add a checkbox. But keep it simple, like, “I understand that posting obscenities is never acceptable.” Third, make your privacy policy reassuring rather than troubling so that those users who actually DO read it aren’t put off.

Looking around the Sears home page, I noticed a few other community missteps. To begin with, I couldn’t find a link to the My SHC Community site at Sears.com. Maybe it was disguised, but that’s hardly the way to build community critical mass. A later visit did trigger an AJAX popup inviting me to join; even that had some legal-sounding fine print at the bottom. I’m not sure what triggered the popup the second time around, or how many times I’d see it if I returned. While a popup of that type will generate plenty of clicks (and annoy at least a few visitors), Sears needs to accommodate those users who don’t join immediately and might want to later – all that’s needed is a fairly obvious link. As I was searching the home page in vain for the community link, I found not one but three privacy policy links – “California Privacy Rights,” “Privacy Policy (Revised 7/1/04),” and “Children’s Privacy Policy (Revised 7/1/04).” These are in the footer sitewide. Do we really need three separate privacy policy links? Do we need to know that two of these were revised three years ago? These links are in addition to other positive-sounding items like, “Terms of Use,” “License Info,” and “Product Recalls.”

Does Sears want its customers to feel like they need their personal attorney to review the site before surfing it? Every site needs its policies and other legal stateements, but it’s time for the Sears marketers to stand up to the lawyers and restore some balance – at the moment, it looks like the lawyers are getting the last word on everything.

Comments

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Visitors to the site can create an avatar or an E-Me, as Sears calls it and choose from a selection of apparel and save what they have picked out in a closet. Users can print the E-Me and closet and bring a copy into the store to receive a 10 percent discount on those items.

"The Sears E-Me is all about making back-to-school shopping easier for mom and a lot more fun for kids," said Paul Miller, senior vice president of direct commerce for Sears Holdings.

"The site also shows moms and kids that Sears has great looks for back-to-school, from The Cheetah Girls exclusive line and colorful camo skorts to hot jean looks and hoodies."

The program was created with myvirtualmodel.com and meez.com.

Other features of the site include an E-Me Fashion show, where kids can submit their E-ME outfits to be rated by other users, a number of interactive backdrops allow E-Mes to dance flip burgers and more. An E-ME and closet can be saved from session to session and no personal information is required from users.

Sears says they plan to add games and other interactive elements to the site in future updates.

Last year, this branch of the company generated about C$100 million of operating income. Sears Canada Bank extends credit to qualified customers through the Sears Card and Sears MasterCard.

According to a press release, the Sears Card is Canada’s largest in-house proprietary retail credit card portfolio with approximately C$2.3 billion in receivables as at April 2, 2005.

The Sears MasterCard portfolio had about C$200 million in receivables as of the same date. These cards together form the third largest credit card portfolio in Canada with nearly four million active accounts. According to Bloomberg News,

Sears Canada shares rose C$1.60 to C$22.26 in 10:01 a.m. trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange after earlier rising as high as C$22.30. It was the biggest gain since Feb. 9, when the shares rose 8.6 percent.

Sears Canada’s parent company, Sears Holdings Corp., sold its credit-card and financial-services division in 2003 to Citigroup Inc. for $3.4 billion.

“We believe that pursuing a strategic alternative in the current favourable market will maximize shareholder value,” said Brent Hollister, the company’s President and CEO. “In addition, the Credit and Financial Services business, operated by a strategic partner, can benefit from expanded growth opportunities while continuing to complement our merchandising business. Such action will also allow us to continue to focus on our ongoing strategic growth initiatives to increase the profitability of our merchandising operations.”

The company says that there will be no change in the manner in which Sears customers currently use their cards as alternatives are being reviewed.

“We expect no changes to a Sears Card Holder’s experience,” said Hollister. “Programs we have traditionally offered on the Sears Card, such as Sears Club and payment options for big-ticket merchandise, will continue to form part of our ongoing marketing initiatives and will be enhanced by additional product offerings and services.”

The Company’s review of strategic alternatives for the Credit and Financial Services business is expected to come to an end by the third quarter of 2005. The company hopes to implement any decisions before the end of the year.

Chris is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.