Starting next month Sears Canada will make it a lot easier to return products to its stores.
New chief executive Calvin McDonald said Tuesday after the Sears Canada annual meeting that the national retailer will overhaul longstanding return policies that have sometimes left customers frustrated.
The changes will include scrapping the 10-day return policies that have existed at Sears for years. The department store operator will also stop charging a restocking fee for big ticket items.
The decision comes as Sears Canada undergoes a major revamp of its operations as it closes some stores and lays off staff to reduce costs.
McDonald was brought on last summer to help reverse recent losses, and he immediately began an initiative to declutter the stores.
Last month, the company said three high-profile department stores in Vancouver, Calgary and Ottawa would close by the end of October affecting some 670 jobs.
While McDonald said Tuesday there are no plans to close further stores at this point, he outlined plenty of other drastic reductions at the company that are part of a three-year plan it hopes will transform operations.
The company will reduce the number of brands it sells in its stores to 20 down from 90.
“We just don’t need a plethora of brands that are nominal in size and dollar volume,” he said.
As for the return policy, the changes raise questions about whether many consumers could take advantage of return policies, which is a factor executives spent much time discussing, McDonald said.
“It’s a balance between not penalizing customers but not paying for abuse,” he said.
Sears has roughly 30,000 employees across Canada and more than 400 corporate, dealer and home services stores.
Check the May 7 issue of Marketing for an in-depth Q&A with McDonald about his plans for the future of the Sears brand in Canada
