Sears Shares Jump After Nationwide Rollout of Amazon Tire Partnership

(Bloomberg) -- Sears Holdings Corp. is finding it’s good business to install the tires that customers purchase on rival Amazon.com Inc.

So the struggling retailer has expanded the program, first announced in May, across the entire U.S. Under the agreement, drivers can ship their replacement tires from Amazon directly to Sears stores for installation and balancing.

Sears shares jumped as much as 34 percent to $1.49 on Tuesday morning after the announcement the program had been rolled out nationwide.

“The response from Amazon customers around this program has been extremely positive,” said Mike McCarthy, vice president and general manager of Sears Automotive.

Related: Amazon Just Might Be Retail’s New Secret Weapon

The partnership shows how some retailers that have been battered by the Amazon-led rise of e-commerce are now seeking to team up with their Seattle-based competitor. Kohl’s Corp. allows Amazon shoppers to return items at some of its stores -- a bid to attract foot traffic to its own brick-and-mortar locations.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Roeder in Chicago at jroeder@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anne Riley Moffat at ariley17@bloomberg.net

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