The era of massive choice and availability began in paper catalogs.
(which have now been largely discontinued by the company that began them)
The man who first showed the American consumer just what all of this could mean was a railway agent in North Redwood, Minnesota by the name of Richard Sears.
In 1886, a box of watches was accidentally sent from a jeweler in Chicago to a local dealer in North Redwood who had no need for them. Buying them himself, Sears sold the watches for a profit to other railway agents around the line. He bought more and pretty soon began a watch distribution company.
By 1887, the company had moved to Chicago and an advertisement in the Chicago Daily News was put out looking for someone to repair watches (those darn defective watches!)
Alvah Roebuck answered the ad.
Six years later, the two partnered up and founded Sears, Roebuck and Co.
(this is still the official name of the store)
They used catalogs by mail to sell watches to farmers in rural areas who were being ripped off by “local” stores and middlemen.
Their promise was simple: Home delivery, cheaper rates.
After their success, the pair constructed a 40-acre, $5 million mail-order plant and office on the Chicago’s West Side. When it opened, it was the largest business building in the world.
What Sear’s and Roebuck’s warehouses and efficient processing did was phenomenal.
Thinking about it now, it must’ve taken a certain amount of insanity to undertake such a project.
Imagine being a farmer living deep on the vast prairie a hundred years ago. You are several hours’ ride away from the general store, neither it’s product nor gas is cheap. Then, one day, the weekly mail delivery brings you the 1897 Sears “Wish Book” – pages and pages worth of everything under the sun at prices that can hardly be believed. (around 786 pages)
The 1897 Wish book was amazing. Crammed into a book the size of a phone book are 200,000 items. Stuff like:
-67 kinds of tea
-38 kinds of coffee
-29 kinds of cocoa
-Several hundred spices
-60 kinds of soap
(You get the idea!)
This would cause an excessive amount of “brain farts” in the minds of a rural farm family. With a single mail delivery, choices increased a thousandfold from typical inventory at a general store.
(With almost a 50% drop in prices!, imagine your favorite food being half-priced instantly. I would go nuts.)
Sears was “getting the word out there” among prospective customers and is one of the earliest examples of “viral marketing”. In 1905, they wrote to their best customers and had them distribute 24 catalogs to their best friends and neighbors. These customers sent Sears the names of people who received these, and in turn, received premiums for their word: a stove, bicycle, a sewing machine. (maybe even a goat!*)
In my own personal opinion (which is rather limited) the best way to get the word out about a great product, movie and just about anything is through word-of-mouth. (much more effective if a “friend” or family member tells you.)
*I’m not sure about the free goats.
Fun fact: Henry Ford apparently visited the Chicago Plant for it’s efficient assembly-line technique. Ironically, it was Henry Ford who forced Sears to take the next step towards building the typical North American, superstore.
Credits: Wired, Chris Anderson, the interwebs, the internet, wordpress, disorderly sleeping patterns
