????近幾個月西爾斯控股公司（Sears Holding Corporation）擴大了允許競爭對手銷售其最傳奇品牌的合作計劃，似乎是承認了在西爾斯購物的吸引力還是和根管治療差不多。Craftsman工具和DieHard電池的銷售已不再局限于這家巨無霸零售商的門店，Kenmore家電出現在其他零售商的門店中可能也只是個時間問題。

????此舉對提振短期業績立竿見影，為這家陷入困境的、由艾迪?蘭伯特打造的零售集團提供了增量現金流，讓支付高息做空西爾斯股票的一方更感不安——由于蘭伯特大舉回購股票，空頭已目睹西爾斯流通股數量的銳減。但批評人士擔心此舉可能最終只是給這家曾經無處不在的零售商挖了一個更深的墳墓。

????“它會有短線刺激，但長遠來看將是一場災難，”美國零售咨詢和投資銀行公司Davidowitz & Associates, Inc.的董事長霍華德?大衛德維茨預測，“西爾斯正在土崩瓦解——凈利潤，銷售額，一切都在下滑——因此他們針對自有品牌啟動了這項戰略，但這項戰略與當前美國所有零售商的著力點、努力方向背道而馳，那就是實現與競爭對手的差異化經營?！?/p>

????目前，梅西百貨（Macy's）正在繼續擴大與湯米?希爾費格等品牌的獨家銷售協議；另一零售巨頭彭尼（J.C. Penney）近日則從Liz Claiborne的獨家銷售商更進一步，直接出手收購了Liz Claiborne的品牌。大衛德維茨表示，這樣的交易使零售商能在消費需求不旺、破產案例增加以及零售業過剩的市場中生存下去；目前全美人均零售面積仍高達43.6平方英尺。

????西爾斯看問題的角度顯然與眾不同，它仍在大談特談通過讓自有產品走出西爾斯百貨、擴大品牌覆蓋度的好處。從去年開始，部分消費者就已經可以在哈德瓦公司（Ace Hardware）買到Craftsman工具，現在這項協議已從約10家五金店擴展至近1,000家。

????然而，上個月，西爾斯和會員制批發零售商好市多（Costco）也簽署了Craftsman品牌產品銷售協議，并許可總部位于密西根的零售商Meijer Inc.銷售其知名的DieHard汽車電池。6月份，西爾斯還和采購商Dorcy International達成了DieHard堿性電池和充電電池的銷售許可協議。

????上周，有新的報道聲稱西爾斯正計劃聘請一家經紀公司，負責與一系列零售商簽署Craftsman、DieHard和Kenmore家電品牌的銷售許可協議。據）報道，新的協議將不同于以往的一些純許可協議；西爾斯已經開始通過一定方式在競爭對手店內出售其自有品牌產品，由此抽取一定比例的銷售利潤。

????“為了提升自有品牌的價值，我們評估了所有方式，包括將品牌延伸，進入新的市場和品類，”西爾斯控股發言人拉里?科斯特洛在預先準備好的聲明中稱，“我們在評估中考慮了各種合作架構，包括通過經紀公司和直接許可。已經公布的與Dorcy和Meijer達成的DieHard銷售許可協議都屬于直接許可?！?/p>

????事實上，西爾斯和旗下大多數盈利品牌之間早已建立一種特殊關系。2006年，西爾斯控股將Kenmore、Crasftsman和DieHard進行了證券化，將它們放入一個獨立的、具有特殊目的實體KCD IP，作為一個破產隔離子公司。西爾斯向KCD支付許可費，后者用這些錢支付裝入西爾斯一家保險子公司的約10億美元債券的利息。理論上，此舉能保護這些盈利品牌，不讓某些西爾斯債權人染指。它還幫助KCD贏得了較優評級和融資。

????目前尚不清楚西爾斯的品牌許可戰略將如何與KCD戰略達成契合，后者近來動作頻頻。甚至連西北大學（Northwestern University）凱洛格管理學院（Kellogg School of Management）的金融工程專家、戴維?斯托維爾教授也承認，總的來說，他“不確定終局如何”。

????In what seems an admission that the Sears shopping experience continues to have about as much appeal as getting a root canal, Sears Holding Corporation has moved to expand partnerships over the last few months that allow competitors to sell its most storied brands. Craftsman tools and DieHard batteries have already escaped the big-box retail behemoth, and it's probably only a matter of time before Kenmore makes a break for freedom as well.

????The move is an ingenious elixir for near-term earnings, providing incremental cash flow to the struggling corporate mash-up that Eddie Lampert built, and is a delightful added discomfort to Sears' high-interest-paying shorts, who have watched the company's float vanish thanks to Lampert's aggressive stock buybacks. But critics worry that it could, in the end, just be digging the once omnipresent retailer a deeper grave.

????"It will have a short-term benefit, but long-term it will be a disaster," predicts Howard Davidowitz, Chairman of Davidowitz & Associates, Inc., a national retail consulting and investment banking firm. "Sears is in total collapse -- earnings, sales, everything is tanking -- so they embark on this strategy with their brands that fundamentally goes against what every retailer in the United States is doing, what every retailer is trying to accomplish, which is to differentiate themselves from their competitors."

????Macy's (M) keeps expanding exclusive sales arrangements with brands like Tommy Hilfiger, and J.C. Penney (JCP) recently went from an exclusive license of Liz Claiborne to an outright purchase of Liz Claiborne brands. Davidowitz says these are the types of deals that allow retailers to survive in a time with moribund consumers, rising bankruptcies and over-capacity in the retail industry, which still provides a whopping 43.6 square feet of retail selling space per capita in the country.

????Sears obviously sees the move differently, talking up the ability to extend brand reach by moving its products outside of Sears' stores. Some shoppers have been able to buy Craftsman tools at Ace Hardware since last year, a deal that has now expanded from about ten hardware stores to almost 1,000.

????But over the last month, Sears has also inked deals with Costco (COST) to sell the Craftsman brand and is allowing Meijer Inc., a Michigan-based retailer, to offer its well-known DieHard car batteries. In June, Sears reached an agreement with Dorcy International to sell DieHard-branded alkaline and rechargeable batteries.

????Last week, new reports suggested that Sears is planning to hire an agent who can license Craftsman, DieHard, and the Kenmore appliance brands to a host of other retailers. According to Bloomberg, any agreement would differ from some previous deals by being a pure licensing play; in some incarnations, Sears (SHLD) has sold its own products within competitors' stores, collecting a percentage of the profit from sales.

????"To grow the value of our proprietary brands, we evaluate all avenues including extending the brands into new markets and categories," says Larry Costello, a Sears Holdings spokesman, in a prepared statement. "As part of that evaluation, we consider a variety of partnership structures and consider both agency based and direct licensing relationships. The DieHard announcements with Dorcy and Meijer are both examples of direct licensing relationships."

????Sears proper already has a curious relationship with its most profitable brands. In 2006, Sears Holdings securitized Kenmore, Crasftsman and DieHard, putting them into a separate special-purpose entity called KCD IP, which acts as a bankruptcy remote subsidiary. Sears pays a royalty fee to KCD, which uses the money to pay the interest on about $1 billion in bonds stuffed into a Sears insurance subsidiary. Theoretically, the move could protect these profitable brands from certain Sears' bondholders. It also helps KCD gain better ratings and cheaper financing.

????It's unclear how the move to license the brands outside Sears fits within the strategy for KCD, which has been a busy trademarker of late. Even Professor David Stowell, an expert in financial engineering at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, admits that, more generally, he's "not sure what the endgame is."