Sears Is Trying To Sell Insanely Expensive Luxury Items To Appeal To Customers

This according to Dana Mattioli and Suzanne Kapner at The Wall Street Journal, who write that the "Marketplace" section of the retailer's website contains luxury items from brands like Chanel, Balenciaga, and Zac Posen.

Chairman and CEO Eddie Lampert is pushing employees to secure the items because he hopes desirable goods will make Sears more relevant, WSJ reports.

But consumers are skeptical that discount-heavy Sears would really sell designer goods.

"On an online forum for handbag aficionados, a string of members were questioning whether a Gucci purse listed on Sears' website was fake, merely because of its association with the department store," WSJ writes.

Sears' Marketplace website gets about 18 million unique visitors a month. The site opened in 2010 and hosts thousands of vendors selling products.

But Lampert's focus on e-commerce might not help Sears fix its problems, Matt McGinley, an analyst at International Strategy & Investment group, told WSJ.

"Regardless of how successful they are in growing this business, the bulk of their business is from stores," he said. "And if they can't plug those holes, it's hard to see how they remain viable as a retailer."