Retailer Frenzy: Everybody Wants to Sell Everything

Back in the day, Sears was regarded as unique because you could buy almost anything there. Now you can buy almost anything at all kinds of places – most obviously Amazon, which will send you everything from virtual books to real live lawn mowers.

Now the bricks-and-mortar guys are closing the circle, as more and more stores try to sell, well, more and more.

Recent evidence: Walmart says it will be testing sales of General Electric appliances at several stores in Texas, hoping to steal some business from the likes of Home Depot, Lowe's and Best Buy.

And speaking of Best Buy, it wants to start selling electric cars, as well as the chargers and connectivity that make them go.

It's not the first time Walmart has tried to sell appliances. It tried a similar program with GE back in 2000. This time around, the world's largest retailer is setting aside an area at the front of the store and calling it “The Appliance Market at Walmart.” Catchy, no?

The display features 50 to 80 appliances covering a broad price range. In a century-later echo of Sears, there's also a catalog with another 1,000 or so appliances.

Prices include delivery but do not include installation and set-up and disposing of old appliances. Customers who pay with Walmart credit cards can finance their purchase for 12 months with no interest.

Walmart will also be offering a lease-to-own program in cooperation with Flexi Compras, the company said. That's intended to appeal mostly to consumers who don't qualify for a regular credit purchase.

And as for Best Buy? Well, it sells just about every kind of electrical gadget imaginable, so why should electric cars be excluded?

Best Buy is said to talking with start-up companies who may have great ideas and good designs but who don't have a dealer network, which makes it kind of hard to sell and service cars.

Best Buy, after all, has about 1,101 stores in the U.S. and one Best Buy executive says its stores probably get “more customers in a weekend than some dealers do in a month.”

Best Buy's Chad Bell told Automotive News recently that Best Buy would also like to work with traditional automakers, helping customers figure out and set up all the electronic geegaws that are becoming popular in today's cars.

Bell noted Best Buy already installs home chargers for the Ford Focus Electric and Mitsubishi i electric cars.