Nordstrom. Neiman Marcus. TJ Maxx. And now, Sears and Kmart.
Sears Holdings, the company that owns the Sears and Kmart retail stores, reportedly said over the weekend that it would remove 31 Trump-branded items from its website.
The company withdrew the products as part of a plan to focus on its “most profitable items,” Sears spokesman Brian Hanover told Reuters.
Hanover told the news agency that the items in the Trump Home furniture line have been removed from the company’s website, although they can still be purchased online from third-party vendors. Neither store transported the items to their physical stores, he said.
Searches of the Sears and KMart websites could not find any Trump Home products, except those sold by third-party vendors.
In a statement on Monday, spokesman Chris Brathwaite kept Sears away from political controversy and reiterated that many Trump-branded products are still available from third-party sellers.
“In this case, some products were removed from our websites which included a very small number of Trump products,” he said. “The headlines don’t do justice to our company or that specific brand of product that we offer through our market sellers.”
Brathwaite added that the company prefers to focus on its business and “leave politics to others.”
Related: Is Ivanka Trump’s Brand Losing Its Bling?
The move makes Sears the latest to drop products bearing Trump’s name.
Earlier this month, Nordstrom (JWN) cited the brand’s “performance”, not politics, as the reason she decided to no longer wear Ivanka Trump’s clothing and accessories label.
President Trump hit the department store on Twitter in retaliation. Nordstrom stock jumped 7% in the first two days of the tweet.
Other stores have also sought to distance themselves from Ivanka Trump’s brand.
Neiman Marcus removed the brand’s landing page from its website and declined to tell CNNMoney if he intends to keep Ivanka Trump products in stores or resume online sales in the future.
TJX companies (TJX), the company that owns TJ Maxx and Marshalls, also said it recently asked workers not to showcase the First Girl’s brand in stores.
And retailer Belk said last week that it plans to remove Ivanka Trump’s products from its website, but will continue to carry the line in its flagship stores.
Ivanka Trump’s clothing and accessories line has taken a hit in recent months.
His brand’s online sales fell 26% in January from a year earlier, according to Slice Intelligence, a retail analytics firm. Slice studied the brand’s sales at five online stores: Nordstrom, Amazon, Zappos, Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s.
Ivanka’s brand’s online sales had surged by the end of 2015, and last month’s numbers seem more like a “throwback,” according to Taylor Stanton, head of marketing and communications at Slice. The decline in the brand’s performance was abnormal in light of a slight increase in online sales in 2016 in the clothing and accessories category, said Jack Beckwythe, analyst at Slice.
Related: Kellyanne Conway Unrepentant For Taking Ivanka Trump
The Ivanka Trump brand defended its performance.
Rosemary Young, senior director of marketing at Ivanka Trump, told CNNMoney last week that the brand was growing and had “significant year-over-year revenue growth in 2016.”
“We believe a brand’s strength is measured not only by the profits it generates, but also by the integrity it maintains,” said Young.
Retailers like Bloomingdale’s, Amazon (AMZN), Lord & Taylor, Macy’s (M) and Zappos still sell Ivanka Trump products.
Ivanka Trump has taken time off from her namesake company since her father won the presidency. She has no formal role in administration, but should have a voice on issues such as women’s empowerment and child care.
–Jackie Wattles of CNNMoney contributed to this story.
CNNMoney (New York) First published on February 12, 2017: 3:35 p.m. ET
