Answer Question
What could bring down Amazon in eCommerce?
Now that Sears is closing down after 125 years, it is difficult to imagine that it was once the Amazon of its day! According to the WSJ, they sold everything from electronics, to pre-fab house kits to insurance (Sears founded Allstate then spun it off!). Here's what the article says:
"For much of its 125 years, Sears was a pioneer, launching brands like Kenmore appliances and Craftsman tools. It shipped a catalog to nearly every U.S. home and created its own credit card to spur sales. After World War II, it followed people to the suburbs, helping build the malls that moved retailing away from Main Street. It was the first major chain to build parking lots and open its doors on Sundays. The Sears catalog tapped into the desires of a budding consumer culture, bringing items that were once the province of city life to the rural population, such as men’s suits, vacuum cleaners and a “Stradivarius model” violin. Many Americans still live in Sears kit houses, so named because they were purchased via the catalog and delivered in pieces by railroad." (Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/sears-on...)
Amazon is currently the king of eCommerce. What are some things that could bring it down? And how could an ambitious upstart unseat it?