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If Sears and Service Merchandise had simply held out for a couple of years and put up a web store front - the Dow would look a little different today. Customer
by lucidguppy 9y ago
If Sears and Service Merchandise had simply held out for a couple of years and put up a web store front - the Dow would look a little different today.
Customers had adapted in the late 80's to something like Amazon (only problem was waiting for a few minutes after checkout) - but then they adapted to big box stores (made possible by big banks and supply chain software) - which ended up being a huge diversion of resources in the late 90's early 00's. The empty husks of retail are a testament to that.
- sixtypoundhound 9y agoHmm... that presumes sears (the organization) can change fast enough to identify and embrace the right business model. There's more than a website to running a successful e-commerce business. Internal culture at Google / Amazon, especially during the growth phase, was likely very different than your typical Fortune 500.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- DrScump 9y agoIt's not clear to me why Service Merchandise (and its predecessors like Best Products, Consumers Distributing, and Unity Buying Service) all failed back then. They certainly couldn't compete now with the economies of scale of Walmart or Amazon. It's odd that online grocery shopping is so huge now given Webvan's crash and burn in that space not all that long ago.