While it's hard these days to think of Sears as an innovative company, I suppose they were rather ahead of the curve with virtual ordering (not sure what a good term for pre-online out-of-store ordering!) and in-store pickup. Sadly, I'm not sure how operational that all is for them these days (and I'm sure it's hard to make that work for customers with so few stores). These were never particularly prominent for some reason, but in this store it was hidden back in a corner next to the loading docks.
If you have access to the Wall Street Journal, I remember this article being a good read: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-searss-mygofer-concept-failed-to-connect-with-shoppers-2014-12-17
ReplyDeleteSears has done a lot of innovating over the years; sadly, though, most of it just ends up being too ahead of time to succeed.
And if you don't have access, I have excerpts in this comment string: https://www.flickr.com/photos/153499399@N02/48625586403/
DeleteSadly, I don't have access to that whole article, but sounds interesting! Definitely seems to fit with my impression of Sears, that they have lots of good ideas but can never quite seem to follow through with execution and marketing (and then just give up too easily). Back when I lived in Port Angeles, we used to shop in the Sears Hometown store periodically (it used to be the best place for appliances and tools and such, before it went downhill like so much of Sears), and I remember seeing ads for that MyGofer service. We looked into it at some point, but I remember finding it rather confusing and honestly not entirely being sure what the point really was.
DeleteSorry :/ I don't have a subscription either, so I'm honestly not sure how I was able to access it that day! Anyway, yep, sounds about right...
DeleteOh well! It used to be that the WSJ paywall was fairly easy to work around, but not so much anymore.
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