Quote:
Originally Posted by darryl
The problem for retailers in general is that online shopping is not a totally different market. Catalog shopping is far different to shopping on Amazon, particularly for a Prime member. Catalog shopping here and I understand in the US complemented the business of those retailers offering it. It was before my time, but I understand that at least in NSW the catalog business was dominated by Marcus Clark, a now long defunct Department Store. I believe Sears dominated the trade in the US. You can of course regard, say, Amazon's website as a glorifed catalog if you like. But if so, todays "catalog" sales are direct and often vicious competitors, in Amazon's case taking a large chunk of the market. The appeal of the convenience, sheer variety, discounted prices and the quick and cheap or "free" delivery does not just appeal to rural customers.
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There were a lot of different catalog companies up through the 90's, some quite specialize. You had general purpose catalogs like the Sears/Roebuck catalog. You had electronic parts catalogs, heck, back when I was a teenager and was into war-games, I use to order miniatures from catalogues that specialize in miniatures and war games. Some catalogs were associated with companies that had retail stores, such as Sears, others were catalog only, run out of some guy's basement. It really was a lot like the web with Sears-Roebuck taking the place of Amazon.
Yea, it did take a lot longer to get merchandise than now, and delivery was purely US post, but I got my first hard drive from a catalog back in the mid 80's, a 10 MB hard drive that cost over $1000, for my Apple IIe.