Sears to stop selling whirlpool appliances after 100 years

Sears Holdings will no longer be selling Whirlpool appliances, ending a cooperative relationship first established in 1916. That means the department store will also no longer be carrying appliances from Whirlpool’s Maytag, KitchenAid, or Jenn-Air subsidiaries. The decision was announced in an internal Sears memo that cited a pricing dispute as cause for the split.

According to CNBC, the statement read: “Whirlpool has sought to use its dominant position in the marketplace to make demands that would have prohibited us from offering Whirlpool products to our members at a reasonable price.”

Whirlpool’s chief executive, Marc Bitzer, fired back. CNBC reported that on a call with analysts and investors he said, “The entire Sears business declined over time.” He also mentioned that Sears only makes up three percent of Whirlpool’s global business. He called them a “small fraction.”

Sears will still sell other top appliance brands such as LG, Samsung, GE, Frigidaire, Electrolux, and Bosch. This past summer they also made a deal with Amazon to sell Kenmore appliances with Alexa capabilities.Sears’ future might partly depend on whether its Alexa devices are genius innovations or simply more kitchen gadgets we don’t need.