Get a grip, Eddie — you’re not Jeff Bezos.
Hedge-fund billionaire Eddie Lampert continued to insist he is carrying out a “transformation” of Sears Holdings into a technology-driven innovator, even as the retailer widened its loss to more than $400 million on a 7-percent sales drop.
Skeptics have dismissed the tech talk as a disingenuous distraction from Lampert’s plan to liquidate the company.
Lampert on Thursday touted his “Shop Your Way” loyalty-card program, which he said now accounts for 74 percent of sales, up from 68 percent a year earlier.
But critics note that the program is free, and shoppers are cajoled into signing up at the register with the promise of immediate discounts. That’s a far cry from Amazon’s “Prime” loyalty program, which costs $99 a year.
“Other than Groucho Marx, who famously would not join any club that would accept him, why wouldn’t someone join a free club that offers discounts?” Credit Suisse analyst Gary Balter said.
Earlier this month at Sears’ annual shareholder meeting, Lampert compared Amazon Prime to a two-day shipping program called “Shop Your Way Max” that goes for $39 a year.
“We believe we’re building a better mousetrap, a better way for people to manage their lives when it comes to shopping, but it requires big habit change,” Lampert said at the time.
But “Shop Your Way” — whose rewards points program typically gives discounts amounting to 1 percent — represents backward, outdated thinking, says Kurt Jetta, CEO of TABS Group, a retail consultant focused on pricing and merchandise issues.
“Sears and Kmart are so hurting for shoppers that anything they do to hurt one customer is bad, but they’re doing it en masse,” Jetta said.
Indeed, the company’s latest results aren’t showing signs of a benefit, as revenue has continued to sag despite more aggressive discounting. Comparable sales at Sears and Kmart stores fell 1 percent while gross margins dipped to 23.2 percent of sales, from 25.5 percent, for the quarter.
The retailer’s first-quarter loss widened to $402 million, or $3.79 per share, from $279 million, or $2.63 per share, a year earlier. Total revenue dropped 6.8 percent, to $7.88 billion.
To shore up the company’s balance sheet, Lampert has been frantically selling assets, most recently putting up for sale its Lands’ End clothing brand and its 51-percent stake in Sears Canada.
Sears said Thursday that a potential sale of its majority stake in Sears Canada — first reported by The Post last November — could raise about $730 million in cash, and that it hired Bank of America Merrill Lynch to explore a deal.
On Wednesday, meanwhile, Sears Canada reported its steepest fall in quarterly sales in nearly five years.
Sears said it would close 80 stores or more in the year ending January. The retailer operated about 1,900 Sears and Kmart stores in the United States at the end of the first quarter.
Sears shares rose 4.2 percent, to close at $38.10, Thursday.