Is retail doomed?

myp said:

I was reading some commentary after the recent news that Amazon is looking to reduce shipping times including to in some cases, same-day shipping and the future of retail was questioned. This is far from a new argument, but Amazon has severely hurt many retailers, especially in areas like electronics and there is an prediction that the future of retail is going to be primarily online and not in stores.

Opinions?

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An observation of the obvious. Retail replaced the street vendors, and the internet is replacing the retailers. This has been obvious since the 90s.

Another aspect to this topic…many consumers take advantage of the knowledge base of retailers and then go online to buy products after their research. If retailers weren’t available, and consumers couldn’t test products before hand, would they be as likely to buy online? I know this doesn’t apply to all products, but it certainly does for many including electronics.

I have firsthand experience with this.
In general, I believe recently I heard online sales are growing 3x faster than retail stores.
I personally am a merchant, so this topic is very important to me.
I was underselling the stores too much, so a company ( Skullcandy ) didn't want me to sell their products ( as I was hurting Best Buy, etc. ).

Stores are very upset, so they will try anything to stay in business. An online sales tax is coming.

It is quite funny when I see Best Buy / Walmart getting upset. They weren't complaining when they were putting small business stores out of business.

Where I live there used to be a street, probably over 100 years old, that used to be full of life. Then Walmart opened nearby. Now it is almost a ghost town.

I would say that people want things right away, so that will help. But with all these mobile devices, iPhone where you can order something so quick, I would say in 10-20 years, it will get worse, but not totally disappear.

Online will evolve, and consumers will trust online more, and want the best absolute deal. But there will always be a need for instant purchases, even if it declines.

myp said:

I was reading some commentary after the recent news that Amazon is looking to reduce shipping times including to in some cases, same-day shipping and the future of retail was questioned. This is far from a new argument, but Amazon has severely hurt many retailers, especially in areas like electronics and there is an prediction that the future of retail is going to be primarily online and not in stores.

Opinions?

Click to expand...

It certainly seems like it. Just like how MP3s and things like iTunes seems to have shut down a lot of CD retailers. I don't think places like Target or Walmart are in any danger right now tho.

I shop on Amazon regularly enough to justify the $79/yr subscription for shipping and instant video.

Regardless, the days of retail stores aren't over. There is something to be said for actually viewing, touching, seeing and otherwise personally reviewing a product before purchasing.