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Sears, Roebuck and Company won't be as successful as it is today if not for the endorsing talent of Richard Sears, the proprietor of Sears, Roebuck and Company.
Sears actually came from a relatively wealthy family but their wealth was lost in a stock farm endeavor gone wrong. Sears then had two choices - to sit idly by or to work for a living.
Being a responsible member of their family, he chose the latter option. In 1886, a delivery of gold filled pocket watches changed Sears life for the better; what Richard Sears did not know was how better his life would eventually turn out to be.
Richard Sears - How He Utilized Rejected Watches
Richard Sears worked for the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway as a station agent. It was at that time that he familiarized himself with the shipping trade not knowing that this stock knowledge will help land him his good fortune. When a retailer of watches in Minnesota refused the delivery, Sears immediately took the opportunity and made a consignment agreement with the watch manufacturer.
Sears and the manufacturer agreed on a specific price for each watch that Sears will sell and Sears could mark up the price, with the mark up price being Sears sole profit. As watches were like a symbol of status quo and not commonplace in the latter part of the 1800's in Sears area, which was a rural one, it was a breeze for Sears to sell the rejected watches. Within months, Sears found himself making more and more profit and being the opportunity grabber that he is, he established the R.W. Sears Watch Company.
Sears is considered a promotional genius in the truest sense since all the company's endorsements spoke directly to the potential client with mail order being the suggested method for delivery since Sears target buyers resided in rural areas. With the expansion of the business, he needed an able watch repairer for his company and so he hired Alvah Curtis Roebuck, who subsequently became Sears co-proprietor of the Sears, Roebuck and Company. Julius Rosenwald succeeded Roebuck after a few years as Sears business partner.
Presently, Sears, Roebuck and Company doesn't only sell watches but has a growing list of merchandise including clothing, athletic gear and silverwares. Richard Sears dedication to quality and merchandise affordability still lives on today. As Sears said himself: If you buy a good watch you will always be satisfied, and at our prices a good watch will influence the sale of another good watch, and that's our motto: Make a Watch Sell a Watch .
The Richard Sears Quick Bio
Name: Richard Warren Sears
Birth date: October 28, 1955
Birth place: Stewartville, Minnesota
Company: Sears, Roebuck and Company
Industry: Retail
Key success traits: opportunity grabber and promotional genius
Additional:
In addition to Richard Sears merchandise of watches, clothing, athletic gear and silverwares, he also ventured into selling homes - by mail order and advertised with all the other usual merchandise in the Sears, Roebuck and Company catalogs.
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