source: Wikipedia.org. Several months ago, after walking through our local Sears store, it occurred to me that Amazon.com should buy the American department store pioneer. There would be two obvious advantages:
1) It would give Amazon.com an immediate foot on the ground by way of 900+ "Sears" branded stores.
2) It would give Sears (if it even survived the transaction) a badly needed marketing leg up – taking it back to its roots, so to speak, by providing a ready-made online “catalog” with ever-fresh new shopping options.
Then, today, I came across an article by retail commentator Robin Lewis, of The Roberts Report, that suggested that very thing, although his headline made it sound like the deal had already been struck. (http://therobinreport.com/amazon-acquires-sears/)
1) It would give Amazon.com an immediate foot on the ground by way of 900+ "Sears" branded stores.
2) It would give Sears (if it even survived the transaction) a badly needed marketing leg up – taking it back to its roots, so to speak, by providing a ready-made online “catalog” with ever-fresh new shopping options.
Then, today, I came across an article by retail commentator Robin Lewis, of The Roberts Report, that suggested that very thing, although his headline made it sound like the deal had already been struck. (http://therobinreport.com/amazon-acquires-sears/)
Sears Memories.
It was with great relish that my parents took me to Sears in the 1950s -- I can still “feel” the place. There were displays that caught your attention as soon as you walked through the door (always different, always fun). And the wonderful aroma of freshly made buttered popcorn.
The Sears of my youth was the big box of its time. It was a retail wonderland where you could buy just about anything, from clothes to bulky black-and-white TV sets (and the rooftop antennas you needed to make them work). There were also Kenmore appliances and Craftsman tools -- Mom would have no other washer, and Dad practically idealized Craftsman products.
My birthday present one year was a shiny maroon J.C. Higgins two-wheel bicycle with wide fenders that actually kept rainwater off your back, coaster brakes and fat tires. It was the real thing, not a sissy bike like we kids perceived the European “racing bikes” to be.
The Sears of my youth was the big box of its time. It was a retail wonderland where you could buy just about anything, from clothes to bulky black-and-white TV sets (and the rooftop antennas you needed to make them work). There were also Kenmore appliances and Craftsman tools -- Mom would have no other washer, and Dad practically idealized Craftsman products.
My birthday present one year was a shiny maroon J.C. Higgins two-wheel bicycle with wide fenders that actually kept rainwater off your back, coaster brakes and fat tires. It was the real thing, not a sissy bike like we kids perceived the European “racing bikes” to be.
source: Wikipedia.org The same vast selection – and infinitely more – could be ordered from the Sears Wish Book, a printed catalog with many hundreds of pages, some of which found a liberal secondary use in rural outhouses during its early days. Up through the early ‘40s you could even order a kit house through the Sears catalog – and have all 25 tons and 30-thousand+ parts of it delivered to your building site. I ended up living in one during the 1970s.
My recent visit to a Sears store was just that: a visit. Our little granddaughter wanted to ride up and down the escalator with Grandpa while her mother shopped at the Whole Foods next door (housed in what used to be the other half of the Sears store). My brothers and I also loved the “moving stairs” in Sears all those years ago – and if truth be told, probably would have a go at them today were we fortunate enough to find ourselves together in a Sears store any time soon.
My recent visit to a Sears store was just that: a visit. Our little granddaughter wanted to ride up and down the escalator with Grandpa while her mother shopped at the Whole Foods next door (housed in what used to be the other half of the Sears store). My brothers and I also loved the “moving stairs” in Sears all those years ago – and if truth be told, probably would have a go at them today were we fortunate enough to find ourselves together in a Sears store any time soon.
A New Reality For Sears.
The Sears store we visited with our granddaughter (in an otherwise bustling shopping center) was a sad shadow of the one that lives in my memory. There were large expanses of empty floor space. Prices posted on a spare display of clothing clearly were too high. There weren’t many people around, save a few bored sales clerks gazing at rows of chattering big-screens, one of whom tried (somewhat desperately, it seemed) to sell us a mattress we had zero interest in buying.
The store was well-kept (lots of time to sweep up) but appeared on the edge of abandonment, which inspired me to craft a variation on their 2009 tagline (Life. Well Spent). Sears … Just About Spent.
Back in the early ‘90s I had a conversation with a client who recently had left a high level Sears position -- just about the time the folks from Bentonville were beginning to make good on their notion to rise up and eat America. The general drift of our discussion was that Sears had, indeed, lost its way – and that was years before Walmart got awesome big and before the Internet started chomping away at the retail space. Amazon.com didn't launch until 1995! So, could the tide finally be about to turn for the one-time American retail stalwart, thanks to one of its most voracious competitors?
If so, I say “Go get ‘em!” Jeff Bezos. And don’t forget the freshly made buttered popcorn.
TakeAway: Resting on the tried and true may blind you to new ways of doing things and shut you out of a future you truly might have prospered in.
© Brian E. Faulkner
Tags: Sears, tagline, Amazon.com, The Lewis Report, Kenmore, Craftsman, J.C. Higgins, Sears Wish Book, Sears catalog, Whole Foods, Walmart, key message, wishy-washy taglines.
The store was well-kept (lots of time to sweep up) but appeared on the edge of abandonment, which inspired me to craft a variation on their 2009 tagline (Life. Well Spent). Sears … Just About Spent.
Back in the early ‘90s I had a conversation with a client who recently had left a high level Sears position -- just about the time the folks from Bentonville were beginning to make good on their notion to rise up and eat America. The general drift of our discussion was that Sears had, indeed, lost its way – and that was years before Walmart got awesome big and before the Internet started chomping away at the retail space. Amazon.com didn't launch until 1995! So, could the tide finally be about to turn for the one-time American retail stalwart, thanks to one of its most voracious competitors?
If so, I say “Go get ‘em!” Jeff Bezos. And don’t forget the freshly made buttered popcorn.
TakeAway: Resting on the tried and true may blind you to new ways of doing things and shut you out of a future you truly might have prospered in.
© Brian E. Faulkner
Tags: Sears, tagline, Amazon.com, The Lewis Report, Kenmore, Craftsman, J.C. Higgins, Sears Wish Book, Sears catalog, Whole Foods, Walmart, key message, wishy-washy taglines.
About Brian Faulkner.
Brian Faulkner is a Key Message expert. He helps clients come up with words to set their businesses, brands and products apart and attract the customers they want most. His strategic insights, and the words that go with them, have made a significant, often immediate difference for client companies over many years. He thrives on strategic communication problem solving, complex subjects, new ideas, concepts-as-products, challenging marketing situations and demanding deadlines. His "sweet spot" is smaller to moderate sized consumer products, retail, service and manufacturing companies that may have struggled to find just the right words to position their business, brands or products to competitive advantage.
Brian also is a three-time Emmy award winning Public Television writer and narrator of UNC-TV’s popular Our State magazine series, on the air since 2003.
Brian also is a three-time Emmy award winning Public Television writer and narrator of UNC-TV’s popular Our State magazine series, on the air since 2003.
RSS Feed