Sears® and Kmart® Make Shopping Easier for Families This Holiday Season

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill., Nov. 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- This holiday season, Sears Holdings is making shopping more affordable and convenient than ever, both in-store and online, by offering five times the Shop Your Way Rewards points on qualifying purchases, equal to five percent back. The offer, which is available to all Sears credit card holders, started on Oct. 30 at both Sears and Kmart stores and will continue year round at Kmart and run until Jan. 28, 2012 at Sears.

"This holiday, we remain focused on providing our customers with value, attainability, innovative technology and access to exclusive, quality products," said Dave Friedman, SVP and president, Marketing at Sears Holdings. "We have and will continue to launch new technologies and solutions that will help our customers manage their wallets and their time this season."

In addition to the Shop Your Way Rewards offer, Sears card holders can choose between special deferred financing or the increased Shop Your Way Rewards points, when both options are available. Customers can apply for a Sears card online, at Sears.com, or in their local Sears or Kmart store; if approved, the offer is instantly available on qualified purchases at both stores. Sears will also match competitors' advertised prices on the same items, plus give customers 10 percent of the difference. Customers receive the difference in the same form of tender in which they made the original purchase. Additionally, if an item purchased from Sears goes on sale within 14 days of purchase, customers will receive a refund of the difference.

This holiday season, only Sears offers the largest assortment of top brands, including new apparel brands like Kardashian Kollection and UK Style and proprietary brands like Kenmore, Craftsman, Die-Hard and NordicTrack. At Kmart, customers can find quality products through a portfolio of exclusive brands that includes Selena Gomez, BONGO, Sofia Vergara, Jaclyn Smith, Joe Boxer, County Living, Route 66 and Smart Sense.

On average, holiday shoppers say they plan to spend an average of $704.18 on holiday gifts and seasonal merchandise, according to the National Retail Federation's 2011 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch. To help customers maximize their spending, Sears and Kmart provide customers value and convenience through industry-leading layaway programs, innovative technology in-store and online, exclusive deals and many more ways to shop their way.

With Sears and Kmart's layaway programs, shoppers can reserve their holiday purchases now, pay over time and pick up items just in time for gift giving. The layaway program allows customers to select their items and make biweekly payments over an eight- or 12-week period. Making the online layaway process even easier, Sears.com and Kmart.com both offer a new option called Shop Here, Pick Up There. Items can be selected online, placed on layaway and then conveniently picked up at a local Sears or Kmart store.

With shoppers looking to get more out of their holiday budgets, Sears Holdings has also introduced cutting-edge technology and tools both in-store and online to better manage their spending. Earlier this month, the company began rolling out Apple iPads and iPod Touch devices in nearly 450 Sears and Kmart stores for associates to help customers check inventory, access product information and order products online from anywhere in the store. Sears Holdings also announced the availability of digital local ads on SearsLocalAd.com and KmartLocalAd.com. The new digital local ads answer the trend of "going local," to offer customers real deals in real-time offers from their local Sears or Kmart stores using up-to-the-minute inventory updates and access to ads 24 hours a day.

Sears and Kmart have long been empowering customers to shop their way with the Buy Online, Pick Up In-Store solution that allows them to purchase online and receive their orders that very same day. Additionally, now through Dec. 19, 2011, customers will be able to receive free shipping online at Sears.com, Kmart.com, and mygofer.com, with more than 20 million items online to choose from.

About Sears Holdings Corporation

Sears Holdings Corporation is the nation's fourth largest broadline retailer with over 4,000 full-line and specialty retail stores in the United States and Canada.  Sears Holdings is the leading home appliance retailer as well as a leader in tools, lawn and garden, consumer electronics and automotive repair and maintenance.  Sears Holdings is the 2011 ENERGY STAR® Retail Partner of the Year. Key proprietary brands include Kenmore, Craftsman and DieHard, and a broad apparel offering, including such well-known labels as Lands' End, Jaclyn Smith and Joe Boxer, as well as the Apostrophe and Covington brands.  It also has the Country Living collection, which is offered by Sears and Kmart.  We are the nation's largest provider of home services, with more than 11 million service calls made annually.  Sears Holdings Corporation operates through its subsidiaries, including Sears, Roebuck and Co. and Kmart Corporation.  For more information, visit Sears Holdings' website at www.searsholdings.com. |Twitter: @searsholdings |Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SHCCareers.

SOURCE Sears Holdings Corporation