Sears – Stuck in the 20th Century – RIP

Sears, Roebuck and Company was founded in 1892 and one of the most iconic retailers in US history filed for bankruptcy protection in October.  The Sears catalog was a staple in many households during much of the 20th century.  Unfortunately they never seemed to really move beyond the catalog.  The retailer has been on a steady decline for over a decade and this analysis by Adthena suggests their inability to adapt played a strong role in their ultimate demise.  It’s no surprise that Amazon has been taking market share away from brick-and-mortar retailers but the Adthena analysis clearly illustrates how poorly Sears competed in the digital marketing age.  During the year leading up to Sears’ bankruptcy, Amazon and Walmart took 44% of paid clicks.  Sears share was 0.7%.  Also interesting, on the search terms that Sears were advertising on, Amazon had a 169% impression share (meaning shoppers were more likely to find Amazon when making searches on terms Sears were advertising on).  In addition, Amazon had nearly 100% overlap on search terms used by Sears.  The article goes on to share additional data points but all clearly show that Sears clearly missed the digital revolution.  Rest in peace.