Lessons learned from an initial e-commerce failure by a catalog retailer

As companies rushed into E-commerce in the late 1990s, many predicted that existing catalog retailers would have a natural advantage over physical store retailers. However, confusing market signals and incorrect management assumptions led to some poor decisions. This article explores what went wrong with a successful catalog retailer, Fingerhut Inc., as it initially embraced E-commerce in the late 1990s, and some of the lessons learned.