????直到我們的爺爺奶奶這一輩人，西爾斯百貨（Sears）仍然是美國中產階級采購日常用品的金字招牌。西爾斯百貨厚厚的產品目錄是每個家庭的必備品，人們可以從西爾斯郵購任何商品，比如太陽鏡、自行車等；甚至在上世紀最初的幾十年，人們還能買到專利藥品和配有廚房洗滌槽的預制活動房。

????西爾斯百貨成立于19世紀末，當時號稱“地球上最優惠的日用品商店”。全盛時期，這家公司每年發出的產品目錄多達7,500萬冊，是送貨上門市場的主導者。它可以把商品送到偏遠的農場、城鎮和其他地區。如今，消費者雖然還會瀏覽西爾斯百貨的網站，但卻選擇亞馬遜（Amazon）來訂購商品。事實上，自上世紀90年代初開始，西爾斯百貨的郵購服務訂貨量便已呈現下降趨勢。

????零售業歷史學家羅伯特?史派特曾出版過《亞馬遜：快速做大的秘密》（Amazon.com: Get Big Fast）和其他關于零售商的圖書。他認為：“亞馬遜就是新時代的西爾斯百貨。它同時也是新時期的沃爾瑪（Walmart），新的巴諾書店（Barnes & Noble）和新的百思買（Best Buy）?！?/p>

????西爾斯百貨未能借助科技時代的東風，重塑其悠久的品牌，剛剛過去的假日季節堪稱一個注解。期間，零售業銷量上漲，依托于互聯網的零售業績也出現飆升。但對西爾斯這家歷史悠久的百貨商店來說，更多的只是在一旁看熱鬧，并被迫宣布關閉120家店鋪；不僅如此，公司還預測，剛剛過去三個月的收入跌幅可能會超過50%。要知道，這三個月通常是零售商最賺錢的銷售旺季。

????史派特稱，西爾斯百貨“一直在吃老本，卻沒有努力實現創新。就如柯達（Kodak）一樣，西爾斯百貨沒有抓住良機，實現突破?！?/p>

????當然，西爾斯百貨仍然保住了一批忠誠的顧客。它所提供的耐用的肯摩爾（Kenmore）家電、可靠的工匠工具和制作精良的Lands' End牌服裝總能抓住老客戶的心。去年，西爾斯百貨總銷售額超過400億美元，但與其短短幾年前的年平均總銷售額相比，下降的幅度已經超過了100億美元。

????雖然亞馬遜沒有公布具體銷售數據，但可以肯定的是，它在同一個假日季節已經獲得了喜人的銷售業績。據康姆斯科公司（comScore）公布的消費數據顯示，11月和12月，消費者互聯網訂單金額超過372億美元，比去年同期增長了15%。

????位于西雅圖的亞馬遜公司成立于1994年，而此前一年，西爾斯百貨的郵購業務終止了郵購業務。百貨商店歷史學家邁克爾?利斯基認為，如果當時西爾斯借助郵購業務打下的基礎，利用其可靠的信譽，構建網絡業務，肯定能鞏固其在美國家庭消費領域的地位。

????利斯基著有多部關于美國百貨商店歷史的著作，其中包括最近出版的《金貝爾百貨：應有盡有！》（Gimbels Has It!）。他認為：“如果西爾斯百貨當初能夠轉向互聯網，同時結合價格優勢與送貨上門的配送便利性，它原本可以拯救自己?！?/p>

????As recently as your grandparents' generation, Sears was the household goods icon for middle class Americans. The thick Sears catalog was the family go-to source for mail ordering anything from eyeglasses to bicycles, and, in earlier decades, even patent medicines and pre-cut houses complete with kitchen sinks.

????Sears, which opened for business in the late 19th century, called itself "The Cheapest Supply House on Earth," and, in its heyday, dominated home delivery with 75 million catalogs distributed each year, bringing goods to far flung farms, towns and other locations. But today's customer, who can browse the Sears website but not order from its catalog service, which was dropped in the early 1990s, is likely to be ordering from Amazon's marketplace instead.

????"Amazon is the new Sears," says Robert Spector, a retail historian who wrote Amazon.com: Get Big Fast, and other books on retailers. "It's also the new Walmart, the new Barnes & Noble and the new Best Buy."

????Sears (SHLD) has not retooled its venerable brand for the technology age, which was underscored this past holiday season when retail sales rose, and Internet sales soared, but the venerable store racked up such poor sales that it announced that it will close 120 stores, and projected that its earnings are likely to sink more than 50% for the most recent three months -- usually the time of the year that retailers rake in their biggest revenues.

????Sears, says Spector, "tried to hold onto what they were rather than trying to invent themselves. Like Kodak, Sears did not leap forward when it needed to do so."

????Yet Sears still has a loyal customer base, attracted by its sturdy Kenmore appliances, reliable Craftsman tools and well-made Lands' End clothing. It totaled more than $40 billion in sales last year, but that amount is down more than $10 billion from its annual totals only a few years ago.

????Amazon (AMZN), on the other hand, had healthy sales during the holiday season, although no specific figures have been released. Consumers spent more than $37.2 billion on overall Internet ordering in November and December -- up 15% over last year, according to figures released by comScore, which tracks such spending.

????The Seattle-based Amazon launched in 1994, one year after Sears dropped its mail order catalog operation, which department store historian Michael Lisicky believes could have been Sears' foundation to capitalize on its reliable reputation and to build a Web operation that could have cemented its place in the American home.

????"Sears could have saved itself if they had switched to an Internet strategy, and combined price and the convenience of things coming to the house," says Lisicky, who is the author of several department store histories, including the most recent "Gimbels Has It!"