system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: What is causing the death of Kmart?

I saw an article showing pictures of empty Kmarts and it made me wonder what is causing such a large chain's slow death.
gpt
Kmart is losing to superior competitors in its field.  It's a discount department store, and it competes against brands like Fred Meyer, Target, and Walmart.  

Target is beating them on customer service, media exclusives, and hip-but-affordable clothing and household items.  Walmart beats them on size, variety of in-store services, outdoors/sporting goods, pharmacy services, and open hours.  Both Target and Walmart tend to beat Kmart on price. 

Target also dominates in urban areas, especially with its new City Targets, and Walmart dominates in rural areas.

Fred Meyer is popular due to its variety and large grocery sections, as well as its frequent coupon sales.

So where does that leave Kmart?  They aren't the cheapest, they don't have the nicest merchandise, they don't have the best customer service, they don't have other non-shopping services, and they don't have much variety.  Essentially, they have no advantage over their competitors.  Their only recent innovation was to bring back layaway services, but now their competitors do it as well.