this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2024
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They did, but they waited until Amazon was ahead to do it. If I remember correctly they were more expensive than Amazon with no where near the selection of specialty stuff like computer parts or electronics. It meant that Sears was a place I basically never went to except if I was looking for something I literally couldn't find anywhere else.
The thing is, Sears already had the massive infrastructure in place to do it. The downside would have been trying to get their target market to make the switch during a time when Internet wasn't as ubiquitous and there still wasn't much trust in purchasing online.
But why would they even need their target market to switch? They needed to also do online shopping: with their existing distribution, their existing catalog, their existing delivery or in-store pickup. They already had most of the pieces so just needed the online part to bring in new customers or keep customers from switching
Which is crazy, because pre-Amazon Sears was exactly the place that had everything, especially appliance repair and parts. They never did have computer stuff but I wouldn’t use Amazon for that either.