Ever find yourself up late scrolling online shopping,
like midnight.
Two shopping carts full,
and you're wondering,
how did anyone ever shop without this?
The one-click ordering is dangerous.
Oh, it really is.
But that instant gratification thing,
believe it or not,
catalogs were about as close as people got back in the day.
Hmm.
And that's what we're diving into today.
Yeah, it's really interesting to see
how some of those same patterns repeat even today.
Okay, so for those who weren't around in the late 1800s,
set the scene for us.
Mm-hmm.
What was it like to shop back then?
Well, you'd go to your local general store,
you'd have limited options,
whatever they had in stock.
Talk about limited options.
Yes.
And no online shopping to fill the void.
No, not at all.
That's where the Sears catalog really made its mark,
1888.
It completely revolutionized the way people shopped.
So being able to reach people no matter where they were,
it gave them a lot more options than they were used to.
People must have been floored.
I mean, 1888, that's before cars were even like a thing.
Right.
So what made it so groundbreaking?
Was it just about having more things to choose from?
Yeah, I think that was a huge part of it.
It was this massive, almost like an encyclopedia
of all these goods and products they could get.
Everything from clothes to tools to furniture
to prefabricated houses.
Wow.
In the catalog.
That's wild.
It was a game changer.
So having access to all those choices
must have been mind blowing.
It really was.
It changed the game for shoppers.
It's like the OG Amazon.
Like I could almost hear the collective gasp of people
flipping through those pages for the first time.
But if the catalog was so revolutionary,
what eventually led to the rise of physical Sears
as we know them?
Well, I think a couple of things happened.
World War II happened.
There was a boom in the middle class after World War II.
People had more money to spend.
Makes sense.
And so there was this surge in consumer spending.
So it's kind of like a pendulum swinging back and forth.
It's like we love convenience, but then we also
crave that tangible experience.
And then we're back to convenience.
And I think the catalog was great,
but you couldn't really try things on.
You couldn't feel the material.
It was all very two dimensional.
Totally.
I'm the same way.
Like some things I'm fine to buy online, sight unseen.
But other things, clothing especially,
I really want to see it in person.
Try it on, make sure it fits right.
Right.
And so department stores really capitalized on that.
They offered a much more immersive and engaging
shopping experience.
Department stores were like, I don't know,
the original shopping mall in a way.
Yeah.
So it was a destination.
And with those physical stores, the role of the salesperson
really started to evolve.
Tell me about that.
Yeah.
It's a complete 180 from the catalog era.
Then it was all about the catalog
being a silent salesperson.
What changed?
Yeah.
Salespeople in physical stores, they weren't just there
to ring you up.
They provided advice and guidance and that personal touch
you couldn't get from a catalog.
Right.
Exactly.
Someone to answer your questions.
For sure.
There's something about that human connection that can really
make or break the shopping experience.
Yeah.
OK.
Fast forward to today.
It's like we've swung back in the other direction.
Yeah.
Ecommerce is king.
We're all about instant gratification again.
We are.
It's interesting how the digital age has really
changed things again.
So where do things stand now?
Is it online versus offline?
Or is there a way to bridge these two worlds?
I think the source material points to a really interesting idea
here in that it's not one replacing the other,
but it's really about using the strengths of each.
So it's less about competition and more about finding ways
to collaborate, right?
Exactly.
Because physical stores offer something
that e-commerce, no matter how fancy the website gets,
they can't replicate.
And what's that?
That tangible, that human element of it.
That makes sense.
I mean, you can read product descriptions online all day long.
But sometimes you just need that real time interaction
with a person.
Absolutely.
To answer your questions or offer suggestions.
And that actually brings us to insight,
which our source material highlights
as a perfect example of how retailers are bridging this gap.
So tell me more.
What exactly is insight and how does it work?
So insight is basically a training and communication
platform that's specifically designed for retail associates.
And it's really to give them, to equip them with the tools
they need in this digital age.
So let's say a customer walks in and they're looking at something
on their phone that they saw online.
Insight would give that associate all of the information
they need to be able to help them.
So it's kind of like giving superpowers
to those in-store experts.
Yeah.
Like product details, reviews, inventory levels,
so they can provide, again, that really informed service
to the customer.
That's incredible.
It really does seem like we're moving toward a retail landscape
that blends the best of both worlds.
You know that convenience of online research,
but with the personalized guidance of an expert right there
in the store with you, we've come a long way
from those early catalogs, haven't we?
We have.
And who knows what's next?
Exactly.
And that's something to ponder.
What will the retail landscape look like 10, 20 years from now?
Will we all be shopping in the metaverse?
Will we have personal shopper robots?
Only time will tell.
But one thing's for sure, the retail world never stands still.
And we're along for the ride.
Thanks for diving deep with us today.