An Era of change: Retail - Digital

It’s a sad time, but necessary to evolve, I guess. Sears has a special place in my heart. As a child, I remember sears was a bonding store for my dad and I. Like many Americans, I remember going to Sears with my dad for winter shopping, to tires to lawn equipment. Sears was part of my childhood memories. Growing up in the suburbs, it seemed like going to the mall was the most exciting activity ever! And this store will stay with me forever!

As an adult, this impacted some clients on many campaigns for their premier products like Kenmore. I’ve worked for. I’ve wondered why I haven’t heard from them and it was all due to the bankruptcy.

I had a conversation about this with a coworker and the time when the company was owned by retail experts to the transition to hedge fund investors is when it wasn’t looking good. Our conversation left off on the fact the hedge fund investors were more interested in the real estate rather than keeping the retail business alive. From an outside perspective seems valid.. something to think about for sure. Either way, this story emphasizes the need for continuous innovation and keeping a pulse on what future trends might be. According to the NY Times, sears at one point was at the forefront of the retail industry through its early mail in and distribution innovations that now Amazon and other digital retailers are pioneering.

I really like shopping in mall’s, strip malls and physical stores. The shopping experience is so much more tangible and if something doesn’t fit I don’t have to buy it. With online shopping there’s much more risk involved. I purchased online for the first time in a long time from Express and the clothes fit ok, however if I was in the store I probably wouldn’t have purchased them. Since I bought online, I ended up keeping them so I didn’t have to do the return. Moral of the story is… times are changing. Adapt or perish. I guess…