IMHO this is one of those cases where the idea is pretty simple: move our catalog online, but you can't do it because it would undercut your existing business. The idea that someone else is just going to do it instead is always lost on these big businesses. They always want to protect the old way of doing business because it is tried and true, but that is only safe if the world never changes.

That said, Sears could have stuck around for many more years with better management and not being sucked dry by wall street.