More than one hundred years ago, Sebastian Spering Kresge opened a modest five-and-dime store in downtown Detroit.and changed the entire landscape of retailing. The store that Kresge built has evolved into an empire of more than 1,800 stores and an Internet presence that reaches millions of customers. The Kmart became a symbol of Americana, standing for quality products at low prices. Unfortunately with a great idea, comes competition looking to control the market. When considering the competition, Kmart is far from leading the market.
CEO of Kmart, Floyd Hall sees great things in the future for Kmart. Hall believes that his company will ultimately be identified as one of the top five retailers in the country (Dessler 2001). Hall also feels that there is sufficient room for growth within the industry. In 1999 the corporation announces plans to expand or open 400 new stores within the next five years. With plans of this great magnitude, there is no doubt that Kmart's future growth is resultant of the minds of many strategically planning for the rising of Kmart.
It seems as though Kmart has many areas of opportunity that are pointing towards success for the corporation. Kmart offers many lines of merchandise that other large retailers, such as Wal-Mart, do not. With lines such as Penske, Sesame Street, Martha Stuart, and many others, the Kmart Corporation feels that the ball is definitely in their court. Kmart has marketing tactics in place to draw the customers in, such as being the third largest pharmacy chain and the largest film processor in the world while also being the leading print promotional retailer with weekly circulars reaching millions of households each week. Marketing around these departments in Kmart to obligate customers to browse through the store seems to be the logical way to increase sales, which in turn will increase Kmart's popularity allowing for even more growth and opportunities.