General Robert Wood
1879-1969
CEO of Sears 1928-1954
Amazon’s success in dominating the online retail world had a significant impact on the prior dominant distribution channel of brick-and-mortar stores. This same phenomenon happened once before, but in reverse.
Last week I shared the story of Julius Rosenwald who made Sears into the world’s premier mail order retailer (the Amazon of its day). This week, learn how Rosenwald’s successor made it into the one of the leading brick and mortar retailers.
US Army General Robert Wood had played a key role in both the logistics and supply problems of World War I and in the construction of the Panama Canal. After his military service ended, he joined Sears under Rosenwald. He quickly realized that the transition of America from an agricultural economy to an urban one offered a great opportunity to distribute goods in a new way to a new market: the standalone store designed with the automobile in mind.
Succeeding Rosenwald as CEO, Wood opened the first brick and mortar Sears store in 1925. By 1950 there were 647 Sears stores…Wood had a genius for seeing the totality of the marketplace, what changes were in the offing and what opportunities they presented. Wood worked with his supply chain to create win-win situations for all, insisting his suppliers make money and helping them to do so.
Sears is all but gone. Wood’s successors failed to meet the challenges of their times as brilliantly and successfully as Wood and Rosenwald met theirs. Like last week’s article on his predecessor Julius Rosenwald, this is a longer read than what I normally offer, but you’ll be a better business person if you know the story of “General Robert Wood: The Forgotten Man Who Changed Sears and the World.”
