Portrait of a Pioneer

Lesson learned: Sears knew then that people sometimes can be hesitant to buy from a book. Company executives designed offers specifically meant to alleviate customers’ concerns about purchasing products sight unseen.

• Other strategies included discounts for club orders (a primitive form of a customer-loyalty program), quantity price offers (e.g., 3 for $1), special offers for customers who referred other customers, and free requested catalogs. Sears even published in its catalog a bank letter from the First National Bank of Chicago, apparently designed to boost the company’s credibility among shoppers.