Troubled American retailer Sears Holdings Corp is set to follow the path taken by its Australian counterparts, closing down under-performing stores.

Sears chief executive Lou D'Ambrosio announced on Tuesday that up to 120 Sears and the iconic Kmart stores will close shop soon, citing that the outlets targeted for shutting down failed to generate "the results we were seeking during the holiday."

D'Ambrosio's revelation, which came in from of company circulated memo, has yet to identity the stores, some of which have been established more than a century ago, that will be affected or how many employees will be separated from the firm.

Also serving as Sears Holdings President, D'Ambrosio only assured that "these actions will better enable us to focus our investments on serving our customers."

"We will bounce back and become stronger than ever," the CEO vowed.

One of the major retail players in North America, with thousands of stores across the United States and Canada, Sears has struggled to keep with its competitors as it continues to decline over the past few years, which analysts said were mostly due to the company's lack of imagination in attracting shoppers.

Independent retail analyst Brian Sozzi told the Associated Press that one of Sears's biggest faults is shunning too long from remodelling its stores, which he stressed discouraged shoppers already on budget to spend their money on its shabby stores.

"There's no reason to go to Sears ... it offers a depressing shopping experience and uncompetitive prices," Sozzi asserted.

True enough, Kmart and Sears shops lost their client base to the spirited lures launched by rivals Macy's and Targets, which lumped their discount offerings to repackaging of their stores that offer richer shopping environments.

Also, Sears almost lost by default to giant retailer Wal-Mart, which, analysts said, has utilised its size advantage to dangle the lowest price in town while at the same time reintroducing the layaway method of payment.

The payment scheme, AP said, allows shoppers staggered payment of their holiday purchases, which was especially helpful to middle-income earners - long the concentration of Sears's shoppers - who had seen their pay slips shrunk this year.

Sears's latest move only strengthened experts' gloomy outlook for the company, with Credit Suisse analyst Gary Balter highlighting the retailers "deepening problems and survivability," while stressing too that the Sears's issues are wholly solvable.

"The extent of the weakness may be larger than expected but the reasons behind it are not. It begins and some would argue ends with Sears' reluctance to invest in stores and service," Balter told AP.