4 ms·

I think the sears story's most important point is that they canceled their general catalog sales in 1993, the year before amazon was founded. So 100% lack of f

I think the sears story's most important point is that they canceled their general catalog sales in 1993, the year before amazon was founded. So 100% lack of foresight, but the real screw-up was by 1997 or so everybody and their dog was trying to sell everything under the sun online. Where was sears, still stubbornly refusing to acknowledge that internet sales were just the modern version of the business model that worked immensely well for sears. How much would it have cost them to resurrect some form of mail-order/web forms read some business journals about Dell's order and deliver model and start making some side bets and deals with UPS/fedex?

ineedasername 8y ago
Oh yes, these were absolutely the early decisions that started their demise. In more recent years though, I attribute their demise to the CEO. If not for this they may have weathered the storm another decade, maybe (though less likely) pivoted to a long term midel of profitability. But the CEO, far from simply beimg incompetent, engaged in a protracted pattern of self-dealing to his other financial interests that gradually drained them of resources and productive assets.
ineedasername 8y ago
And to add to my other comment, Yes: It really is astonishing that Sears did not see the clear analogues between the internet and its traditional catalog sales. But then they'd (as you pointed out) decided to reduce costs a few years earlier by discontinuing their general catalog. Had they kept the catalog it's entirely possible someone would have said "Hey, this internet thing looks popular, how about we put a copy of our catalog up there?" I'd love to know what their thinking was in the late 90's. I can imagine that management for brick & mortar stores might have pushed back on making inroads on the internet out of fear it would cannibalize their sales, and blocked it internally. Or it could simply have been inertia and a blind spot against noticing that "internet" wasn't a flash in the pan fad.

ineedasername 8y ago

Oh yes, these were absolutely the early decisions that started their demise. In more recent years though, I attribute their demise to the CEO. If not for this they may have weathered the storm another decade, maybe (though less likely) pivoted to a long term midel of profitability. But the CEO, far from simply beimg incompetent, engaged in a protracted pattern of self-dealing to his other financial interests that gradually drained them of resources and productive assets.

ineedasername 8y ago

And to add to my other comment, Yes: It really is astonishing that Sears did not see the clear analogues between the internet and its traditional catalog sales. But then they'd (as you pointed out) decided to reduce costs a few years earlier by discontinuing their general catalog. Had they kept the catalog it's entirely possible someone would have said "Hey, this internet thing looks popular, how about we put a copy of our catalog up there?" I'd love to know what their thinking was in the late 90's. I can imagine that management for brick & mortar stores might have pushed back on making inroads on the internet out of fear it would cannibalize their sales, and blocked it internally. Or it could simply have been inertia and a blind spot against noticing that "internet" wasn't a flash in the pan fad.