RICHARD WARREN SEARS, STARTED FIRST MAIL ORDER BUSINESS DIED 1914 SEPTEMBER 28

RICHARD WARREN SEARS, 

STARTED FIRST MAIL ORDER BUSINESS

 DIED 1914 SEPTEMBER 28

Richard Warren Sears ( 7 December 1863 in Stewartville (Minnesota) - 28 September 1914 ), son of James Warren Sears ( blacksmith and wheelwright ) and Eliza Burton, was an entrepreneur , businessman and founder of Sears , Roebuck and Company with his partner Alvah C. Roebuck . It is considered one of the first geniuses of advertising to US 

Youth [ edit | edit the code ]

Sears starts work early in order to provide his family additional income. His father had acquired some property but had lost by bad investments. After learning the telegraph ,

he entered the service of the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway , where he held the position of station master in Redwood Falls (Minnesota) . It was in 1886 at the age of 23 his career was a turning point. A shipment of pocket watches from a manufacturer Chicago is then denied by a dealer Minnesota .

Business [ edit | edit the code ]

It became common for a manufacturer or wholesaler to deliver to a reseller of the products they had not ordered. In case of refusal, the wholesaler then proposed the dealer to keep the goods for an allegedly below the cost of returning the goods to the factory. The unsuspecting dealer often accepted the offer and sold the merchandise to customers by making a small profit.

But in the year 1886, a reseller, sniffing the scam, refuses watches. The young Sears jumped at the chance. He agrees with the wholesaler to keep any profit for him he would on a price of $ 12 . He then offered these watches other station masters of the line to $ 14 . The watches were then sold in large urban centers. Station masters therefore had no trouble selling them to their clients who usually live far from urban centers.

Minneapolis [ edit | edit the code ]

In six months, Sears collects $ 5,000 . His success in this business that gave him confidence, he moved to Minneapolis and founds the RW Sears Watch Company. His advertising talents are soon day. It places ads in newspapers to farmers and is sending letters and brochures to potential customers. From the beginning, it is clear that Sears has talent for writing ads. It uses a personalized approach in its ads, which agrees with the mentality of people in rural areas or living in small communities, persuading them to buy its products by mail order.

Chicago [ edit | edit the code ]

In 1887 , Sears moved its operations to Chicago , a major crossing of the Midwest . The same year he committed the watchmaker Alvah Curtis Roebuck to take care of repairs watches. Roebuck is not the first employee of Sears but later became his partner in the Sears, Roebuck & Company . It was created in 1893 , when Sears was 30 years. A few years later, when Roebuck leaves the company while growing, Sears takes a new partner, the tailor Julius Rosenwald , who will lead the company since 1908 when Sears retires at the age of 45 years.

The first catalog, published in 1893 contains only watches. From 1897 , other products are added as clothes for men and women, plows, silverware, bicycles and sports equipment.

Wishing to surpass the market leader in the mail the Montgomery Ward and Company , Richard Sears works 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. Its strategy is unchanged, low prices, a lot of publicity and money back guarantee. In just ten years, it achieves its purpose and exceeds the sales volume of the Montgomery Ward and Company.

The catalog of 500 pages is then shipped to 300 000 homes. Sears focuses on rural areas because having been raised on a farm, he knows the needs of its customers. With his experience in the railways, it has acquired the knowledge necessary for the shipment of goods in remote areas.

In 1907 , America saw a severe financial crisis (known as the Panic of 1907 ) and for the first time in its history, Sears does not establish a new sales record. Richard Sears wants to increase publicity to counter the effect of the crisis. Rosenwald is of a different opinion, he wants to cut spending while waiting for a cyclical downturn. The dispute shall be settled by a vote of the board. That is the Conservative proposal Rosenwald wins. This will result in an increase of profit in 1908 , while sales decreased as had been expected.

This episode, combined with Sears health, make it resigns as president of the company on 21 December 1908. He moved to Oak Park to Lake Bluff (Illinois). He died in 1914 at the age of 50 in Waukesha (Wisconsin) of Bright's disease . He is buried in the cemetery of Rosehill in Chicago.

Tributes [ edit | edit the code ]

Sears entered on the roll of honor of the American National Business Hall of Fame . The birthplace of Sears, Stewartville, is on the list of National Register of Historic Places . The highest tower Chicago bears his name, the Sears Tower .