August 18 Mail Order Catalog Day

August 18 Mail Order Catalog Day is observed each year. Today marks the anniversary of when, in August of 1872, Aaron Montgomery Ward, of Chicago, produced the very first Montgomery Ward’s mail order catalog.
The very first catalog consisted of an 8 by 12 inch single sheet of paper which included the merchandise for sale, the price list and ordering instructions. Montgomery Ward’s single page list of products grew into a 540 page illustrated book selling over 20,000 items.

It was soon after that the Montgomery Ward’s catalog was copied by other enterprising merchants, most notably Richard Warren Sears. The first general Sears catalog was mailed in 1896 many others entered the field and catalog sales grew. By 1971, catalog sales of major United States firms exceeded more than $250 million in postal revenue.
Today, mail order catalogs have been replaced with websites on the internet and the term “mail order” has been replaced with the term “online shopping”.
Share on social media #August18MailOrderCatalogDay