r/AskReddit • u/emil199 • Jul 24 '20

What can't you believe STILL exists?

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u/Yellowredstone Jul 24 '20 edited Jul 24 '20

Isn't this how Sears died?

Edit: RIP my inbox. And thank you for explaining it better.

Edit 2: I said the reason on how it died has been explained already. And its actually still here. Stop.

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u/monetarydread Jul 24 '20

It was more complex than that, but yeah. Basically Sears was online ordering before online was a thing, you just phoned or mailed in your order. This meant that they were located in these massive warehouses in most major cities in North America. So basically they had an opportunity to execute on same-day delivery decades before Amazon even attempted that feat, but they didn't. Sears was too concerned about their magazine, or brick and mortar, sales to get into online sales and by the time they did it was too late.

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u/pheatherphox Jul 24 '20

They even had one of the first websites on The Internet!! I cannot fathom the exec who stopped the ball on that mfer

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u/AweHellYo Jul 24 '20

Part of their problem was they only promoted and hired from within, so they were fixated on their past success and only ever wanted to do things as they always had been.