Direct marketing key to massive retail chain’s early success
Sears Holdings Corporation is one of the nations top retail conglomerates, aggregating annual revenues totaling over $50 billion while supporting 3,800 stores throughout the United States and Canada. Sears is also one of the pioneers of direct marketing, using an impressive mail order catalogue to beat back local competition.
Sears was founded in the late 19th century by railroad station agent Richard Sears. The young company used patented mail order catalogs to rocket themselves to business fame and power, presenting one of the first major direct marketing success stories.
At the time of Sears Corporation’s conception, farmers regularly traveled to town centers to sell their crops. Towns were the only available areas where farmer goods could be sold and then shipped. When entering these urban areas to sell their goods, farmers would also buy supplies from local general stores, but usually these stores presented supplies at extremely high prices due to the lack of available competition.
Richard Sears realized this system provided a unique business opportunity, and he began publishing a Sears catalog with clear, set prices for goods. These prices allowed customers to know what value Sears was selling products and the company’s current stock, allowing consumers to pick and choose the best prices for the goods they needed and compare them to the over-priced local town stores. Sears customers could also place orders through the catalog and receive the goods in convenient ways. This direct marketing technique was extremely successful and Sears’s business soared. The Sears catalog expanded to a massive 322 pages by 1894, offering everything from sewing machines to sporting goods.
The success of the Sears catalog and rampant growth of the company led to the inclusion of Julius Rosenwald in 1895, a clothing manufacturer who helped the company handle its plethora of orders in a new efficient way. Soon, the Sears catalog was supporting dolls, stoves, and groceries, as well as previous company goods.
The direct marketing catalog led Sears to unmatched success at its time, with the company exceeding 750,000 dollars in sales in 1895. Sears even began selling houses in its catalog in 1908, offering entire house kits marketed as Sears Modern Homes.
The Sears home kits were shipped by railroad boxcars holding all the materials needed to create a strong house. The houses even helped popularize new technology in the beginning of the 20th century. Indoor plumbing, electricity and central heating were all incorporated in the new homes and considered cutting edge at the time. Over 400 different home models were available for consumers during the program and even included a mortgage option for several years. The success of the Sears home campaign is still an unmatched feet in the world of direct marketing. When the Sears home program ended in 1940, the company had managed to sell 100,000 homes by catalog.
Sears retail stores began opening in 1925, decreasing the importance of the direct marketing catalog. However, Sears recently announced the rerelease of its popular Wish Book Catalog.
The new wish book is only 188 pages thick, but will feature new selections of gift ideas, designed to revitalize the direct marketing Sears theme and provide quality items for selection. The catalog will present items that can be purchased in additional styles in stores or online, adding a new dimension to direct marketing, but will also offer items labeled “Ready in 5.”
The Sears “Ready in 5” campaign stands for products that can be ordered from the catalog or online and can be received by customers within 5 minutes of their arrival at a store of their choice. The new wish book sets high standards for Sears’s integrated direct marketing techniques.