by Paul Rule
Did you know that Sears used to sell houses? Yep, right out of the catalog. When I was growing up, our neighbors two doors down lived in a house they had bought from Sears. It was one of the older houses in the neighborhood, and they had bought it back in the 1930s. They said it arrived on a truck with all of the parts pre-cut and ready for assembly. I don’t know how Sears erected houses. Probably used a local contractor.
By the 1950s houses were no longer in the catalog, but they were selling their own brand of cars. They were built by Kaiser and carried the Allstate brand, the name of the insurance company Sears owned at the time.
The point is that Sears knew what business they were in. They knew they were not in the clothing business or the hardware business. They were not in the department store business or the mail order business. They were in the merchandise supply business. The precise mix of offerings might change with the vagaries of the market, but if you wanted it, chances are they had it and would figure out a way to get it to you.
Now The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times are squaring off against each other. The Journal is going after a share of the up-market New York general audience long dominated by the Times. It’s a good time for everyone involved to remind themselves what business they’re in.
They are not in the newspaper business or the broadcasting business or the film business. They are in the business of supplying entertainment and information. If you want it they should have it or be able to get it for you and get it to you by whatever means suits you best. I have a feeling that the people at the Journal and the company that owns it know this. I’m not sure the folks at the Times do. I have a nagging feeling they still think they are in the newspaper business.
Neither The New York Times nor The Wall Street Journal are simply newspapers. They’re media brands now. Any of their execs who don’t get this probably never lived in a Sears house.
Photo Credit: The Arlington, circa 1908-14, Sears Kit House (Model No. 145); (priced from $1,294 to $2,906) Sears Archives
Paul Rule is President of Marquest Media Research.