New York, NY, Mar. 19--Sears, Roebuck and Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Alan Lacy on Friday said the company's same-store sales could grow in the low-to-mid-single digits in the future, but it still has some things to work through in 2004.
"Given our mall location we would think comparable sales growth of low to mid single-digit is our ball park," Lacy said at the Reuters Consumer Products and Retail Summit.
But in 2004, the largest U.S. department store retailer, whose apparel sales have dragged on overall results despite brands like Lands' End, expects sales at stores open at least a year--a key measure of retail performance known as same-store sales--to be flat to up by mid-single digits.
Sears struggled through nearly two years of declining same-store sales at least a year before finally showing a gain in August 2003.
The retailer recorded a scant 1.1 percent increase in February, a month in which many retailers posted better-than-expected results.
"In February specifically we were slow in transitioning the floor from the fall assortment to the spring assortment," Lacy said at the summit, which was held at Reuters U.S. headquarters in New York. "We were not as well positioned as we should have been."
One problem Sears has is competition from off-the-mall stores like Home Depot Inc. and Lowe's Cos. Inc. that are expanding rapidly and putting more stores closer to customers.
"Our principle issue is the fact that they are opening stores more rapidly than we are," Lacy said.
Sears tries to counter this with brands consumers know, like Craftsman tools and Kenmore appliances. But Lacy said the greater convenience of a competitor's store may still draw customers away from Sears.
Sears is experimenting with an off-the-mall format, Sears Grand, which carries traditional Sears merchandise and a deeper assortment of home fashions and home maintenance products.
The first Sears Grand opened in 2003 in Utah. A second will open near Chicago this year and other stores will open by 2005.
