Amazon.com’s promotion last weekend suggesting customers walk into brick and mortar stores to price goods with a smartphone app and then buy them from Amazon with a 5% discount up to $5 has engendered an intense war of words, casting the online behemoth as anti-Main Street and a pox on the small business, national economy.
Naturally, Amazon rebuts the charges, but the brouhaha is just the latest iteration of a century-old battle between entrenched retail operations and newer, evolving, more efficient modes of consumer goods distribution. In this battle, only the most nimble, well-financed retailers survive, yet they, too, may be challenged by future concepts that convey products at less cost to the retailer and consumer.
One of my mentors, the late David Q. Mahler, used to say all revolutions in retailing reflected fundamental shifts in distribution practices. The department store concept that began in the mid-1800s aggregated diverse products under one roof. Five-and-dime stores brought products to the masses at affordable prices. The mail-order houses of Montgomery Ward and Sears, Roebuck and Co. extended the purchasing options of rural America. Supermarkets transformed the way households bought staples and necessities even as they initiated the self-service revolution by placing products within reach of each patron. Aided by the interstate highway system and the resultant migration of families to the suburbs, the regional mall shifted the nexus of shopping away from urban centers. Specialty stores thrived in the malls, while off-the-mall discount stores and category killers democratized distribution of name brands. As chain stores grew ever stronger, retailers grabbed power from manufacturers. Over the last 10 years power has changed hands once again—the Internet has placed it into the hands of every consumer.
Back in July 2008 I wrote in an editorial for Chain Store Age that QR Codes, coupled with the ubiquitous camera-equipped cell phone, may well change the way retailing is conducted in the future. Well, the future has arrived, with Amazon being one of the first to exploit its potential. Being a big advocate of in-store retailing, I don’t like what Amazon did, but holding back the tide of innovation is not a viable long-term strategy for store-based retailers.
This week I heard some merchants are considering charging consultation fees (good towards a purchase) should a customer mine them for information and then turn around and not buy a product. It might work for big ticket items such as electronics, housewares or furniture, but it’s hardly a prescription for extending a welcome to the public.
Coping with the next retail revolution segregates winners from losers. Traditional, full-price retailers such as Gimbels, Sage Allen and Herman’s Sporting Goods ranted against the discounts extended by the likes of E.J. Korvette, Caldor and Ames. Eventually, they folded, as did those very discounters that didn’t adapt to the fiercer competition from Wal-Mart and Target.
The next retail revolution has arrived. No amount of pouting at Amazon will reverse the sweep of change.
Showing posts with label smartphone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label smartphone. Show all posts
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
Frederick to the Rescue
I can’t wait to read books to my grandson, Finley. He’ll be almost 15 months old when I see him this weekend. Sure, I’ve read books to him before, but he’s starting to understand words now, so the thrill of reading to an infant is again kindling within me, as it did when Dan and Ellie were young.
One of their favorite books, as well as Gilda’s and mine, was Frederick, by Leo Lionni. It tells the story of five field mice. While four of them gather food for the winter, Frederick seems to be shirking responsibility, idly sitting on a rock and seemingly dreaming the fall days away. Chastised by his friends, Frederick says he is working. He’s gathering words and images, colors and memories to cheer and warm them through the long winter ahead. And so he did when their world turned grey and cold.
It’s a beautiful book whose message of an individual’s contributions to a society have taken on added meaning during a time when technology has seemingly invaded and assaulted our private moments, be it technology that links us to friends and family or, more ominously, technology that tethers us 24/7 to the workplace.
Last Saturday night at dinner in a New York City restaurant, a couple sat next to us. To the right of her place setting, the woman’s smartphone rested on the corner of the table. How fortunate, I thought to myself, that I am not part of a relationship where my partner values constant connectivity to a machine more than to me.
Sunday’s Business section of the NY Times carried a story—”Who’s the Boss, You or Your Gadget?”—on the phenomenon of media/communications intrusions into personal lives. The story was illustrated with a picture of a mother and father interacting with their newborn daughter. The mother holds the fingers of her child with one hand; her other hand holds a smartphone (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/business/06limits.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=mickey%20meece&st=cse).
Perhaps it’s a good thing I retired 19 months ago. I’m not sure I could adapt to the demands of the new marketplace, a region where perspective takes a back seat to immediacy, where deliberation is outweighed by speed, where success is measured more by how many decisions one can make in a day rather than by how many correct decisions one makes.
For all its good, CNN and the 24-hour news cycle perhaps was the jumping off point for a world of non-stop action. Of course, we had all-news-all-the-time radio stations before CNN, but they were local, not national, much less international, in scope and impact. CNN and its derivatives required, nay, demanded, instant analysis. The storyline could change from hour to hour. If you were not connected, especially on the financial news stations, you could be left less informed, or worse, misinformed.
I’m not against technology. I’m against its usurpation of the time to think, the time to reflect, to absorb meaning from our surroundings. Sure it’s nice to bridge vast distances to engage with relatives and friends via Skype or email or text messages. But why need it be at the expense of comrades sitting across a table from you? Is commerce so rickety these days that it is dependent on immediate response during time we traditionally set aside for family and personal satisfaction? Are our pleasures destined to forever be interrupted by electronic impulses?
“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” the proverb warned. Perhaps not dull. Perhaps more financially successful. Probably less compleat and more one-dimensional.
(By serendipidous coincidence, I received the accompanying link today from my friend, Milton. He turns out to be my version of Frederick. Follow the instructions. Enjoy! http://blog.stixblog.com/2010/02/12/sending-you-some-spring/)
One of their favorite books, as well as Gilda’s and mine, was Frederick, by Leo Lionni. It tells the story of five field mice. While four of them gather food for the winter, Frederick seems to be shirking responsibility, idly sitting on a rock and seemingly dreaming the fall days away. Chastised by his friends, Frederick says he is working. He’s gathering words and images, colors and memories to cheer and warm them through the long winter ahead. And so he did when their world turned grey and cold.
It’s a beautiful book whose message of an individual’s contributions to a society have taken on added meaning during a time when technology has seemingly invaded and assaulted our private moments, be it technology that links us to friends and family or, more ominously, technology that tethers us 24/7 to the workplace.
Last Saturday night at dinner in a New York City restaurant, a couple sat next to us. To the right of her place setting, the woman’s smartphone rested on the corner of the table. How fortunate, I thought to myself, that I am not part of a relationship where my partner values constant connectivity to a machine more than to me.
Sunday’s Business section of the NY Times carried a story—”Who’s the Boss, You or Your Gadget?”—on the phenomenon of media/communications intrusions into personal lives. The story was illustrated with a picture of a mother and father interacting with their newborn daughter. The mother holds the fingers of her child with one hand; her other hand holds a smartphone (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/business/06limits.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=mickey%20meece&st=cse).
Perhaps it’s a good thing I retired 19 months ago. I’m not sure I could adapt to the demands of the new marketplace, a region where perspective takes a back seat to immediacy, where deliberation is outweighed by speed, where success is measured more by how many decisions one can make in a day rather than by how many correct decisions one makes.
For all its good, CNN and the 24-hour news cycle perhaps was the jumping off point for a world of non-stop action. Of course, we had all-news-all-the-time radio stations before CNN, but they were local, not national, much less international, in scope and impact. CNN and its derivatives required, nay, demanded, instant analysis. The storyline could change from hour to hour. If you were not connected, especially on the financial news stations, you could be left less informed, or worse, misinformed.
I’m not against technology. I’m against its usurpation of the time to think, the time to reflect, to absorb meaning from our surroundings. Sure it’s nice to bridge vast distances to engage with relatives and friends via Skype or email or text messages. But why need it be at the expense of comrades sitting across a table from you? Is commerce so rickety these days that it is dependent on immediate response during time we traditionally set aside for family and personal satisfaction? Are our pleasures destined to forever be interrupted by electronic impulses?
“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” the proverb warned. Perhaps not dull. Perhaps more financially successful. Probably less compleat and more one-dimensional.
(By serendipidous coincidence, I received the accompanying link today from my friend, Milton. He turns out to be my version of Frederick. Follow the instructions. Enjoy! http://blog.stixblog.com/2010/02/12/sending-you-some-spring/)
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