While
world continues to go catatonic over Internet and its endless possibilities, there's another industry quietly going about its business, racking up billions of dollars in profits, year after profitable year after profitable year. What industry is that? It's mail order industry.Yes, long before birth and explosion of Internet, mail order shopping was a hugely popular and preferred method of doing business--and still is. In fact, Internet has actually enhanced and contributed to overall success of mail order.
The mail order industry was created by Aaron Montgomery Ward. Ward sent out his first mail order catalog in 1872-- for his Montgomery Ward mail order business located at Clark and Kinzie Streets in Chicago. The first catalog consisted of a single sheet of paper with a price list, 8 by 12 inches, showing merchandise for sale with ordering instructions.
"Ward's gradually expanded catalog. They became bigger, more heavily illustrated, chock full of goods-- often referred to as "dream books" by rural families."
Aaron Montgomery Ward was born on Feb. 17, 1844 and died on Dec. 7, 1913. He first worked for Marshall Field, a department store, as both a store clerk and a traveling salesman. As a traveling salesman, he realized that his rural customers could be better served by mail-order, a revolutionary idea. He started his business with only $2,400 in capital. Montgomery Ward was a mail-order only business until 1926, when first Montgomery Ward retail store opened in Plymouth, Indiana.
