American department store Sears has announced its closing of all  Canadian stores, which currently employs 12000 Canadians across 74 locations.

The blame for the end of Sears in Canada changes based on who you ask. Joanne McNeish, marketing professor at the University of Toronto, stated that Sears “squandered” its assets in Canada, while on the other hand fault has to be pointed to the staggering growth of Amazon , which supplies many of the same goods that department stores used to.

Amazon forecast: Source

In fact, department stores as a whole may be under siege thanks to the growth of internet shopping. Other companies like JC Penney, and Macy’s are also struggling. Richard George, Food Marketing professor at St. Joseph’s University advises department stores to adopt an “omnichannel” approach.

The definition of omnichannel is: “a seamless customer experience” in any fashion they’re shopping in. In other words, from the moment a customer begins to consider a purchase of an item, to the evaluation of the success of their purchase, the store supplies a seamless support system to guide them on their way and become a necessity rather than a luxury. George believes that the only way the growingly obsolete sector of stores can survive in the increasingly diverse internet shopping age is to integrate themselves into the entire shopping experience to the consumer.

In my opinion, it may already be too late to achieve this. Unless the department store supplies a unique experience or offer, like Costco does with their low bulk prices, then there are already present better, faster, more convenient, and cheaper options available on the world wide web.

This is thanks to how the change in consumer behaviour relative to how it was in the past. In the height of department stores’ success, they were a one stop shop for people looking for a variety of items. Nowadays, customers have a better idea of what they want, and are more likely to enter online or brick and mortar stores with a clear need rather than general browsing. This may be a major factor in the damage to department stores, which saw huge profits off of impulse purchases.

In short, other department stores like Sears will have to drastically shift their value proposition and internal mindset in order to keep their heads above water in the information age.