Kmart's sales fall off gigantic cliff

(MONEY.CNN) — The magnitude of Kmart's downfall is stunning.

Once one of America's leading discount retailers, Kmart raked in $37 billion in sales in its 2000 fiscal year. Last year Kmart registered only $12.1 billion in sales.

That's a dramatic 67% sales plunge in a little more than a decade. Americans have likely noticed the decline in their towns. Kmart had 2,165 stores in 2000. Now it has only 979.

Compare that with Target (TGT), one of the biggest beneficiaries of Kmart's crumble. During the same period, Target's sales nearly doubled to $72.6 billion. Even Kmart's sister brand Sears looks slightly better, with its revenue falling "only" 54% to $17 billion last fiscal year.

So what went so wrong at Kmart?

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