Sears Launches Online Grocery 2010-06-21

MARK HAMSTRA

NEW YORK — Sears Holdings, parent of the Sears and Kmart chains, has begun testing home delivery of groceries in New York City and the Hamptons area of Long Island, N.Y., and plans to begin testing in Chicago and other markets later this summer, the company said.

The home-delivery service, which delivers groceries from Kmart locations, is an extension of MyGofer.com, a site Sears launched last year that allows customers to order items online and pick them up at Kmart locations. The chain operates two Kmarts in Manhattan and two in the Hamptons area.

The addition of home delivery, which launched during the Memorial Day weekend in New York, was described by Kmart executives at the Internet Retailer trade show in Chicago this month. In addition to grocery products, prescriptions and electronics can also be ordered for delivery through the MyGofer.com site, according to reports.

A spokesman for Sears could not be reached for comment last week.

“We will listen to what our customers tell us, and we want to be where they are, wherever possible,” Sears spokesman Tom Aiello told the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch.

Delivery is not yet offered in Ohio, but online ordering with in-store pick-up is available at 62 Kmart locations in the state.

The move comes as Sears has been scaling back its Kmart operations. In the first fiscal quarter, which ended May 1, the company said it had closed 63 locations since the first quarter of a year ago, including 44 Kmart stores. Kmart's same-store sales grew 1.7%, although sales of food and consumables were down.

Sears Holdings operates about 1,300 Kmart stores in the U.S. and its territories, including 35 Super Centers.