Amazon Conquered Sears. It’s Also Following Its Footsteps
Where did Amazon get the idea to open department stores? The original brick-and-mortar destroyers did it in the 1920s.
Sears-Roebuck had fulfillment centers, too.
Photographer: jetcityimage/iStock
After years spent driving many conventional retailers into bankruptcy, Amazon reportedly plans to open its own physical “department stores” that would sell both its own private-label good as well as brand-name apparel, housewares and other items.
The move may seem counterintuitive, even self-defeating. But in pursuing this strategy, Amazon is merely following a playbook developed by its forerunners, particularly Montgomery Ward and Sears-Roebuck. From the beginning, Amazon’s strategy has been nothing more than a digital reboot of the innovations first developed by those iconic companies. This latest move only underscores that point.