Sears becomes the casualty of Amazon’s mimicry

Well, well, well. What goes around, comes around. At least in the case of Sears. Sears was a market disruptor, dominant player, household name, and the originator of remote shopping back in the late 1800’s. It decoupled retail purchasing from a physical store through its catalogues, making goods and services accessible like never before throughout the U.S. Sadly, after having built a substantial store infrastructure, it is now becoming obsolete by the new remote shopping maverick, Amazon.

The market disruption of Sears and Amazon have even stronger parallels.  Both created strong emotional ties with mass of customers, offered an amazing array of goods and services, and both drove cultural lifestyles.  So will Sears fade forever into the annals of business history? And will Amazon’s path inevitably repeat that of Sears, or will it find the secret to ongoing relevance?

Here is a provocative article on the similarities between the two companies