Sears expands Amazon partnership to more Auto Center locations

Embattled retailer Sears announced on Tuesday that it was expanding its tire partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon to a total of 118 of its auto center locations.

Sears, which announced the partnership last month, allows customers who purchase tires on Amazon’s website to go to select Sears Auto Center locations for full-service installation. When checking out on the e-commerce site, users schedule an appointment for the service.

The service was available initially in 47 locations across eight cities, including New York, Dallas and Miami. Soon, it will be available at more than 400 Sears Auto Centers, the company said.

“Amazon customer reviews have been very positive and we are two months ahead of schedule,” Mike McCarthy, vice president and general manager of Sears Automotive, said in a statement.

McCarthy added that over 90% of the Amazon customers are new Sears Automotive customers. The retailer had more than 420 Auto Centers as of 2017.

Following Tuesday’s announcement, shares of Sears were trading higher.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
SHLD	GLOBAL X FDS DEFENSE TECH ETF USD	39.44	+0.26	+0.65%

Sears also announced in May that its DieHard brand tires would be sold on Amazon for the first time, though its auto centers will install any type of tire purchased on Amazon’s website.

The retailer branded the initiative as an expansion of its relationship with Amazon. Sears began selling Kenmore appliances on the site in July 2017.

Sears has been struggling to stay afloat for years, closing hundreds of stores as sales suffer in a challenging retail environment. Earlier this month, the retailer said it would soon be shuttering even more locations.

The stock is down significantly since closing at an all-time high of $142.51 in April 2007. Shares of Sears were trading around $2.50 on Wednesday.