Sears: A Five Minute Case Study
Published by BG on Friday, July 20, 2007 at 8:39 AM.This isn't really political, but it's absolutely worth a look. In 1993, Sears had the most expansive and sophisticated mail-order business in the country. Fourteen years later, they're an afterthought. What happened? Here's a tease, click in to read more. It's short, but interesting - I promise.
The Record Industry's Decline | MetaFilter
The Record Industry's Decline | MetaFilter
You could pick anything from the (Sears) catalog, mail in your order with a check, and in a few days/weeks you'd get it. If you didn't like it, for any reason, Sears had a "satisfaction guaranteed" policy that you could return it at anytime for a full refund.
Now pay attention, because here's where it gets good.
In 1931, Sears starts an insurance company - Allstate. It buys financial investment firm Dean Witter and real estate broker Coldwell Banker in 1981. In 1984 it starts a joint venture with IBM called Prodigy, an online computer service, sort of a prototype AOL. In 1985, Sears launches a new major credit card, the Discover card. For the next eight years, the only credit card you can use at Sears is Discover.
At this time, the early 80's Sears is the largest retailer in the U.S...
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