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Post by robeiae on Jan 10, 2017 8:07:19 GMT -5
Just fyi, the Sears website is a pretty obvious attempt to copy Amazon's. Look at this page for "ipod" on Sears: www.sears.com/search=ipodIt's blue, otherwise it looks like an Amazon page. It's mostly third-party sellers. Interesting attempt, but probably a little late.
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Post by robeiae on Mar 28, 2017 7:33:06 GMT -5
Next up: Gamestop. The article suggest a lack of new platforms is the problem, but I think it's Amazon. There's no advantage for Gamestop anymore, when it comes to new releases. If my son pre-orders on Amazon, he gets the game the same day that it's released to stores. And he doesn't have to bother with standing in line at the mall.
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Post by Amadan on Mar 28, 2017 8:41:35 GMT -5
Fact is, even for small items you can get in the grocery store, it's sometimes faster and more convenient just to order them online. I think the whole brick-and-mortar retail industry has only begun to convulse, and when it's over, entire categories of stores will be essentially extinct.
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Post by celawson on Mar 28, 2017 12:22:06 GMT -5
I don't like this trend at all. It looks to me like the future will be more and more socially isolating. Scary.
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Post by robeiae on Mar 28, 2017 12:45:06 GMT -5
That's why God created strip clubs, CE.
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Post by celawson on Mar 28, 2017 12:52:24 GMT -5
Strip clubs? Let's see...how can I best put this? Also, I'm a Republican, so shouldn't I say something like Satan is the one that created strip clubs?
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Post by Don on Mar 28, 2017 14:21:17 GMT -5
I don't like this trend at all. It looks to me like the future will be more and more socially isolating. Scary. It's OK, ce. By the time FedGov gets done, mutual aid societies will be a big thing again. Anyway, flash mobs are the new "hanging out at the mall."
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Post by poetinahat on Mar 28, 2017 19:38:04 GMT -5
It does make you wonder about the future of retail:
- What sort of shops will find that bricks-and-mortar are worthwhile? : the obvious would be where presence is required: food and drink, health and healthcare, restricted purchases (liquor, drugs, cigarettes, guns 'n' ammo), point-of-sale impulse buying, maybe? : more and more goods are disposable, or must be sent back to the manufacturer for repair. It's often not worth fixing appliances anymore, so the Maytag repairman is well and truly out to pasture. : Is the pop-up shop thing a fad, or are they what diminishing returns look like for retail landlords?
- Whither the department store and the mall? Are Westfield shares worth buying or holding? : I avoid malls when I can anyway, and department stores seem a relic already. Except when I need something that specialty shops don't carry, like boxer shorts.
At Christmas, I was delighted to see last Christmas season that one of the local department stores (not a discount barn like Target or KMart, but the sort of place the Meg Ryan character might go in a movie) had THE most happening toy department. They'd really made an effort to make a wonderland sort of experience -- Santa, an interactive screen, popcorn, extra staff who were friendly and offered help without being intrusive. And it showed; the place was hopping. They also had the best prices - by, like, 25% - on a couple of games.
I don't like shopping per se, but I do like wandering in shops when I have something to buy - say, a gift, or clothing for myself. I often find things in stores that I never would have thought to look for, but hit the spot exactly. America, with its vast market and diversity, and network of distribution channels and large number of significant players, was wonderful that way.
Australia is the same size physically, but with only twenty-odd million people, most of whom live in one of a very few cities a long way apart. We just don't have the infrastructure or market to support competition, hence not the selection in retail. On the other hand, in my two local suburbs, there are half a dozen butcher shops, three greengrocers, a number of bakeries and patisseries, a shop that makes and sells pasta, another that makes and sells cheeses, and probably five chocolatiers. It seem anachronistic, but it's wonderful.
On one hand, I'll be very sorry to see the shopping paradigm go. On the other, I hope that the changes will bring new ways of doing things that we hadn't foreseen. I'm kind of sorry I never got to see a milkman; what will the next generation ask us about when we're sitting on our rocking chairs on the porch?
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Post by celawson on Mar 29, 2017 10:51:14 GMT -5
Great post, poetinahat. Does anyone still sit on their porches anymore? Isn't there too much glare on the TV screen outside?
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Post by Optimus on Apr 1, 2017 17:26:35 GMT -5
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Post by robeiae on Apr 1, 2017 18:06:53 GMT -5
I think it's interesting how little microwaves have changed, as compared to all the other electronic stuff.
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Post by Christine on Apr 1, 2017 19:03:33 GMT -5
I remember flipping through every single page of those Sears wish books as a kid.
Nostalgia!
(Side note: it took me a minute to come up with the word "flipping." I was stuck on "scrolling.")
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Post by Optimus on Apr 1, 2017 20:27:46 GMT -5
I think it's interesting how little microwaves have changed, as compared to all the other electronic stuff. Ditching the faux wood paneling was apparently a giant leap forward in microwave design. Seems they pretty much stopped there.
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Post by robeiae on Jan 5, 2018 8:52:57 GMT -5
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Post by robeiae on Oct 10, 2018 9:02:00 GMT -5
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