Sears Goes Public About Feud with Chinese Vendor

The end must be near for Sears. Last week they blamed the media for their sales slumps, today they’re going public about a business negotiation gone bad with a Chinese vendor, One World, maker of shitty furniture.

SAD!

10:34 | SHLD | (8.84 -0.64)
Sears Holdings CEO says ‘taking a stand to protect our company’ against a vendor

“Today, we are taking a stand against one vendor that is trying to take unfair advantage of us: One World, a company with whom we have had over a nine-year business relationship, has threatened to refuse to perform under their Supply Agreement unless we agree to what we believe are unreasonable demands. One World has informed us of their intention to take the very aggressive step of filing a lawsuit against us as they seek to embarrass us in the media to force us to let them out of their contract. But Sears has nothing to be embarrassed about — we have lived up to our word under our contract, and we will take the appropriate legal action to protect our rights and ensure that One World honors their contract.”\
“One World is a subsidiary of Techtronic Industries, a conglomerate based in China with over $5 billion in revenues…we have paid One World more than $868 million since 2007 — a relationship that helped One World build a formidable presence in the tool industry. Sears has paid and continues to make all payments to One World as they come due, and we are fully capable of continuing to meet our obligations under the Supply Agreement.

There are important competitive reasons why we will fight hard to hold One World to honor our agreement. One World also manufactures power tools for other companies — by reducing its commitment to Sears, One World can do more business with those other companies by diverting resources now committed to Sears without incurring the cost of expanding its manufacturing or outsourced procurement capacity.”

This is the slowest and most predictable implosion of a major retailer ever. People have been predicting the demise of Sears-Kmart for well over a decade now. The final stages of it are becoming increasingly undignified.