History Fact Finder | Economics and Business - How Has The Mail-Order Business Changed Since The Nineteenth Century?

How has the mail-order business changed since the nineteenth century?

A mail-order company sells products through the mail rather than at retail stores. Aaron Montgomery Ward (1843–1913), an American traveling salesman, pioneered the mail-order business. He maintained that he could sell more merchandise by mail than could store owners who had to pay middlemen. In 1872 he set up shop over a livery stable (a stable that boards horses) in Chicago, Illinois, and printed a one-sheet "catalog" of bargains. Ward bought merchandise directly from wholesalers and sold it to farmers. By 1876 Ward's catalog had grown to 150 pages, by 1884, 240 pages with 10,000 products, including household items, farm implements, and apparel. Ward guaranteed "satisfaction or your money back."

In 1886, Richard W. Sears (1863–1914) founded a mail-order business based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Four years later, he teamed up with...

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