The Brief History of the Mail Order Industry in America

In 1872, Aaron Montgomery Ward started the first general merchandise mail order company in America, locating it in Chicago, Illinois. His first catalog consisted of one page listing 163 items. Since then, many companies have adopted Ward's marketing innovation.

The early growth of the mail order business was phenomenal because mail order houses made a greater selection of low priced merchandise available to rural Americans.

Mail order catalogs had, in addition to farm supplies, such items as folding metal bathtubs, stereoscopes, men's collars and cuffs, ocarinas, high button shoes, and "indestructible" malleable iron toys. These catalogs were filled with so many fascinating items that they became known as "wish books."

As the population moved from farms into cities, the mail order houses changed their marketing methods. They began distributing catalogs and opening both catalog sales offices and retail outlets in urban areas. Fewer farm items and more personal and household products were added each year. Today, even with shopping centers within minutes of nearly everyone, the mail order industry is still booming. The ease and comfort of shopping at home appeals to many people.

Ranging in size from small firms that only sell a single product to the large general merchandise mail order houses, some cataloging nearly 135,000 items, thousands of companies use mail order.  In all its forms --- catalogs, newspaper and magazine ads, letters, radio and television commercials, and all other methods of securing orders which are then delivered by mail --- the mail order business accounts for about $30 billion in retail sales yearly.