Which company issued the first mass-market mail-order catalog in 1872?

Montgomery Ward issued the first mass-market mail-order catalog in 1872.

Aaron Montgomery Ward launched his Chicago mail-order business in August 1872 after seeing how rural customers were often limited by high prices and small selections at local general stores. His solution was to buy goods directly and let customers order them by post, cutting out several middlemen.

The first catalog was not a giant illustrated book: it was a single 8-by-12-inch sheet listing 163 products, prices, and ordering instructions. Ward’s business used Chicago’s rail connections to reach customers across the Midwest, helping make city merchandise available to people far from large retailers.

A common mix-up is Sears, which became the better-known catalog giant but entered the general mail-order business later. Tiffany’s Blue Book appeared in 1845, and Welsh entrepreneur Pryce Pryce-Jones operated an earlier mail-order business, but Montgomery Ward is the standard answer for the first large-scale American general-merchandise catalog operation. By 1883, Ward’s catalog had grown to 240 pages and 10,000 items.