RIP Sears

The point I am trying to make is that the newspaper is no longer the only way to reach a consumer. And the consumer can not only be reached more cheaply but more efficiently through electronic advertising. Companies with the card data can determine the buying patterns of their consumers. So they can send discounts to frequent buyers of tampons to those emails addresses (ie. women) and razor blades to the email addresses of the frequent purchasers (i.e. men) of those items. As an aside the same technology is crushing the traditional woman's magazines.

Advertising revenues have been declining 10% a year. They are going the way of the classifieds. Newspapers barely withstood the loss of the classified business. I don't think many can withstand the loss of retail.

 

One very INEFFECTIVE effect of electronic advertising is that they target you by what you search for.

In my case, I search for something . . . I buy it . . . and THEN I get followed by all these ads for something I just bought (and won't buy again for months, if ever).

 

Perhaps it is ineffective. But I bet it is more effective than a newspaper insert. And people will analyze the data and the electronic advertising will get more effective.

 

Our local Kmart runs inserts sporadically; the local Sears even more sporadically. And they tend to be really thin.
Possibly of note: Best Buy (also regularly on the list of "next to close big-box stores") quit running inserts entirely about two years ago.

 

While Sears/KMart staggers on, RIP Payless.

Payless is closing all its US stores - CNN