It’s unimaginable but true- less than 30 years ago, Sears and Kmart were the top 2 national retailers, each more than double the volume of Walmart and Target, both of whom did not have a fully national store base at that time. That’s how far ahead Sears and Kmart were. Now consider this- in 1984 Sears was a primary founder of Prodigy internet service, a precursor to AOL. Sears could have been Amazon decades before Amazon. The number one discount chain and the number one mid tier department store that was in on the ground floor of the internet age! History lost.
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OP is right, others ate Sears lunch while they stood on their laurels and watched them do it. I remember when Walmart was gaining ground on Sears and the executives scoffed it “they’re a cheap discounter, we’re a quality department store and America loves us and our brands”. It’s a lesson in never be complacent.
As the customer base was eroding Eddie came in and insulted their intelligence, let their stores decline and encouraged lousy customer service which “essentially” drove them to other retailers.
And Xerox could have had the mouse and revolutionized interface, but the right visionaries weren't there at the right time. At least not employed by Xerox. I'm sure Bezos shopped the Sears catalog a time or two.
Things come and go. They go in cycles. Woolworth, Ames, Jamesway, Arlen, Caldors, Bradlees, WT Grant, 2 guys, Corvetz, are among the long list of retailers that were successful at some point, then failed. There are of course many others. Kmart & Sears afe now at that point, where there usefulness has been exceeded. Life moves on. Maybe in 20 Years, Target or Wally will be thought of that way. Who Knows? We'll see.