The Sears catalog once seemed as essential as electricity itself. Now, it's gone.
Its fate serves as a warning for what could happen to the annuity industry if industry marketing fails to evolve.
The Sears Catalog
Sears Roebuck created the Sears catalog and quickly made it the source of everything Americans needed from pairs of socks to do-it-yourself homes.
By 1894, the Sears catalog had grown to 322 pages. The company printed 50 million copies annually.
For almost a century, the catalog was a leading consumer resource.
But, as rivals emerged, Sears and its catalog failed to respond.
The main catalog shut down in 1992. Over the next three decades, companies like Google and Yelp made even the more specialized catalogs Sears still sent out obsolete.
The lesson? Even giants must evolve.
The Annuity Industry
Today, the annuity faces threats of its own.
Fifty years ago, annuities were everywhere. Annuity issuers stuck with a rigid structure dominated by insurance companies and captive agents.
Later, insurers shifted the management burdens to independent marketing organizations.
Today, annuity sales are strong, thanks to the aging of the baby boomers and shifts in interest rates, but some of the older IMOs are creaking.
Wall Street is already financing efforts to replace yesterday's IMOs with new IMOs built around scalable, efficient systems
The Coming Revolution
Other, agent-focused companies are entering the market.
Brett Blake and I are trying to create an agent-focused, collaborative environment at Annuity.com by offering the agents stock ownership, to let agents participate directly in the growth of the company.
Other insurgent companies are exploring new strategies based on AI systems, blockchain technology and creative affinity marketing strategies.
The rise of innovative new organizations is inevitable.
For those who try to resist, the fate of the Sears catalog serves as a reminder of what's to come.
Bill Broich, co-owner of Annuity.com, also works as a content marketing strategist for financial professionals.
Credit: Harris and Ewing Collection/Library of Congress
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