The company split its Internet business into a separate entity in January and hired Microsoft's Jim Barr to run it, the Chicago Tribune reported it.

The retailer has also added books, software and 250,00 music, movie and video game offerings to its Web site in recent months, the paper said.

Traffic at Sears.com increased to 12.3 million visitors in February, a 28 percent rise from a year ago and the fastest growth among large retailers online, Nielsen reported.

Online sales, however, generate less than 1 percent of the company's $50 billion in annual sales. But retailer analysts see the expansion as part of a Sears company tradition.

The famous Sears catalog , aka the Big Book, debuted in 1908 and brought expanded retail selections to rural outposts. Analysts say Internet offerings could soon be larger than the Big Book, which Sears last printed in 1993.

"Talk about a rich heritage," said retail consultant Jonathan Salem Baskin. "Why couldn't Sears bring the world to me?"