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The fact that Amazon exists is a testament to the stunning mismanagement of Sears’ corporate leadership in the 90s and early 2000s. They had all the ingredients

The fact that Amazon exists is a testament to the stunning mismanagement of Sears’ corporate leadership in the 90s and early 2000s. They had all the ingredients and instead simply set the company on fire.

jbs789 10mo ago
The internet was a paradigm shift… full of unknowns. I think you are underestimating those challenges. We only speak about Amazon now because it was the one that survived.
- shit_game 10mo ago
  pets.com also failed to make it through the "carcinization" of online retail, but wasnt nearly as notable a failure because it was attempting to start an online retail business from the ground up, versus Sears' failure to adopt online retail to their already-successful B&M model. I think the Sears mode of failure is much more spectacular because it had previously thrived on a business model that's almost analgous to Amazon's, threw it away, and failed to recognize it could be effective again.
  - dragonwriter 10mo ago
    > Sears' failure to adopt online retail to their already-successful B&M model. By the time of the height of the dotcom boom, Sears main income was from its consumer credit business, not its B&M retail business, where its dominance had been fading for a couple of decades.
jonway 10mo ago
Oh yeah they from what I recall they slowly dismantled it after what’s-his-face became ceo. Too big to fail before that. By the end, in a lot of their stores they would have people with iPads walking around accepting payment right there in the aisles. People also forget that what helps build sears’ reputation was their supply chain and curation, they mostly sold brands of good-quality stuff, a lot made in America too! They would rebrand good but basic quality items (like a wrench or sewing machine, or a shotgun or a guitar) and keep it running for years or decades. My dad was given a shotgun in the 1950s, a Remington made sears-brand. It was, apparently, great! He used it a lot for like half a century. I feel like a big part of the downfall was the huge lumbering corporate culture unable to cope with JIT supply lines and race to the bottom economies of consumer goods. Oh well!
- lazystar 10mo ago
  > I feel like a big part of the downfall was the huge lumbering corporate culture unable to cope with JIT supply lines and race to the bottom economies of consumer goods. i think its simpler than that. they got so big that they didnt pay any attention to all the waste, e.g. all the ad time that they spent on the old "I'll call today" A/C commercial.
  - b112 10mo ago
    I wonder if those networks had a hard time filling ad orders, so Sears ended up with a massive discount? If those ads were pennies compared to other spots, it could be deemed worth it. Parents often are nearby when kids are watching TV.
    - jonway 10mo ago
      Hell no! TV ads were Goliath! Radio still stays relevant, too. Late night is where it dried up. (nowadays it’s podcast spot and insta bullshit? Eh.)
      - b112 10mo ago
        No, the cartoon networks. There was a mass explosion of cable channels, and ad rates plunged. Some networks had a hard time filling all ad space.
  - craftkiller 10mo ago
    That ad was worth every penny. I _still_ quote that ad, and everyone over the age of 30 always recognizes it, yet I can't remember ads I saw last month. If only sears was still around to capitalize on the ubiquitous headspace they purchased.
    - dragonwriter 10mo ago
      > That ad was worth every penny. I _still_ quote that ad, and everyone over the age of 30 always recognizes it, yet I can't remember ads I saw last month. If only sears was still around to capitalize on the ubiquitous headspace they purchased. Sounds like they would have been better off investing more in staying around in the conditions that actually existed rather than buying attention that they could never benefit from.
lazystar 10mo ago
i think the infamous "I'll call now" air conditioner commercial in the '90s was a canary/sign of the mismanagement that was occurring. This commercial played during every commercial break on cartoon network, nickelodean, and the disney channel. Ive long wondered... how many kids bought AC units from sears? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4rqZZgVxnCk&pp=ygUMaWxsIGNhbGwgbm93 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4rqZZgVxnCk&pp=ygUMaWxsIGNhbGw...
- kotaKat 10mo ago
  Figure though: how many kids would then run around the house screaming 'another scorcher!' and 'call now!' on a hot summer's day? The weird market of things-on-kids-channels-for-adults was always to try to turn the kid on the parent to use them to close the sale ;)
jjtheblunt 10mo ago
Amazon exists in large part because of a tax loophole in existence when web browsers became ubiquitous, where out of state purchases didn't need sales tax. So, ordering anything not immediately needed and available on Amazon was very likely to have the lowest price. Talk about viral style growth of customer bases!
eddie_sputz 10mo ago
Implying that you would've done any better. Hindsight is always 20/20.

jbs789 10mo ago

The internet was a paradigm shift… full of unknowns. I think you are underestimating those challenges. We only speak about Amazon now because it was the one that survived.

shit_game 10mo ago
pets.com also failed to make it through the "carcinization" of online retail, but wasnt nearly as notable a failure because it was attempting to start an online retail business from the ground up, versus Sears' failure to adopt online retail to their already-successful B&M model. I think the Sears mode of failure is much more spectacular because it had previously thrived on a business model that's almost analgous to Amazon's, threw it away, and failed to recognize it could be effective again.
- dragonwriter 10mo ago
  > Sears' failure to adopt online retail to their already-successful B&M model. By the time of the height of the dotcom boom, Sears main income was from its consumer credit business, not its B&M retail business, where its dominance had been fading for a couple of decades.

jonway 10mo ago

Oh yeah they from what I recall they slowly dismantled it after what’s-his-face became ceo. Too big to fail before that. By the end, in a lot of their stores they would have people with iPads walking around accepting payment right there in the aisles. People also forget that what helps build sears’ reputation was their supply chain and curation, they mostly sold brands of good-quality stuff, a lot made in America too! They would rebrand good but basic quality items (like a wrench or sewing machine, or a shotgun or a guitar) and keep it running for years or decades. My dad was given a shotgun in the 1950s, a Remington made sears-brand. It was, apparently, great! He used it a lot for like half a century. I feel like a big part of the downfall was the huge lumbering corporate culture unable to cope with JIT supply lines and race to the bottom economies of consumer goods. Oh well!

lazystar 10mo ago
> I feel like a big part of the downfall was the huge lumbering corporate culture unable to cope with JIT supply lines and race to the bottom economies of consumer goods. i think its simpler than that. they got so big that they didnt pay any attention to all the waste, e.g. all the ad time that they spent on the old "I'll call today" A/C commercial.
- b112 10mo ago
  I wonder if those networks had a hard time filling ad orders, so Sears ended up with a massive discount? If those ads were pennies compared to other spots, it could be deemed worth it. Parents often are nearby when kids are watching TV.
  - jonway 10mo ago
    Hell no! TV ads were Goliath! Radio still stays relevant, too. Late night is where it dried up. (nowadays it’s podcast spot and insta bullshit? Eh.)
    - b112 10mo ago
      No, the cartoon networks. There was a mass explosion of cable channels, and ad rates plunged. Some networks had a hard time filling all ad space.
- craftkiller 10mo ago
  That ad was worth every penny. I _still_ quote that ad, and everyone over the age of 30 always recognizes it, yet I can't remember ads I saw last month. If only sears was still around to capitalize on the ubiquitous headspace they purchased.
  - dragonwriter 10mo ago
    > That ad was worth every penny. I _still_ quote that ad, and everyone over the age of 30 always recognizes it, yet I can't remember ads I saw last month. If only sears was still around to capitalize on the ubiquitous headspace they purchased. Sounds like they would have been better off investing more in staying around in the conditions that actually existed rather than buying attention that they could never benefit from.

lazystar 10mo ago

i think the infamous "I'll call now" air conditioner commercial in the '90s was a canary/sign of the mismanagement that was occurring. This commercial played during every commercial break on cartoon network, nickelodean, and the disney channel. Ive long wondered... how many kids bought AC units from sears? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4rqZZgVxnCk&pp=ygUMaWxsIGNhbGwgbm93 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4rqZZgVxnCk&pp=ygUMaWxsIGNhbGw...

kotaKat 10mo ago
Figure though: how many kids would then run around the house screaming 'another scorcher!' and 'call now!' on a hot summer's day? The weird market of things-on-kids-channels-for-adults was always to try to turn the kid on the parent to use them to close the sale ;)

jjtheblunt 10mo ago

Amazon exists in large part because of a tax loophole in existence when web browsers became ubiquitous, where out of state purchases didn't need sales tax. So, ordering anything not immediately needed and available on Amazon was very likely to have the lowest price. Talk about viral style growth of customer bases!

eddie_sputz 10mo ago

Implying that you would've done any better. Hindsight is always 20/20.