Brick and Mortar buildings. No Longer a place for a Commerce???
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The year Now is 2017, Lets take a look at was happened over the past 10 years....
Places Like Malls, Sears and JcPenney Were a Family ritual You would go there to pick up a new pair of pants, or to meet a friend. You would stroll around the mall and check out the new gadgets at your Radio shack....
This was all on the side of big commerce of course, But still added a function to our daily lives and a place to actually enjoy what we were doing. I remember grabbing the sunday paper and seeing what was going to be on sale and what was new...
Now Lets take a look about 15 years back.,..
We Had Record, Tapes, Vhs, and A shop like Sam goody, Block buster and some had local stores that sold these goods. Man! The excitement of when I new album came out and you had to wait in line to get that tape, CD or music source to add to the collection!
The whole time you were there, you interacted with people, Talked about the impact of music and more than likely you knew the record store owner or the guy at the counter.
Everything was personal.....
If we went back or forth in any more years, We would realize how personal things were....Music has become not of the sharing kind, getting in your car and sharing the newest "Dr. Dre album, Slayer, or NoFX." This music played parts and still finds ways into our hearts, But it doesnt feel the same does it?
We now rely on sources like Pandora, Soundcloud and spotify To feed us new artist when we use to go to concerts and find the opener was just as good as the Title Band. Or in my case was a punk rock with 10 bands for 10 bucks!
Have you gone back to those stores now?
The only thing that seems to survive an era of commerce like this is a restaurant, bar, Coffee house, Liquor store, Hardware store or gas station. Sure we have some small towns that still have some descent shops in small towns that rely on the needs of the town and provide valuable service. But since E-commerce how much business did they lose?
A recent report shows 25%! That is huge! Not to mention they probably don't provide the best personal touch with these numbers affecting them. That effect has shown they don't improve there aesthetics for the store, They cant hire help to look at what is even going on in the store....
This is two guys discussing terms of the store and it's 2nd mortgage and the numbers do not add up...
That too me is the only personal touch you are going to get from these places due to this. They are busy screaming inside to each customer, "buy and leave, I got to figure things out. But tell your friends." Sure Cost have gone up and so has living etc. But during this whole period we forgot to put a price on human interaction and the impact on our lives.
There is more studies that show that people shopping from home become 31% more recluse over a 5 year period of time....
What is Cake or death? The unhealthy balance of social commerce and influence to keep shopping online. Maybe a balance between the two of commerce and humanity has come to this.
We now longer feel the value in that hammer that we purchased from Ed at the local hardware store, Of course we all now we cant stop the state of commerce and the way things are going now but we can sure try to make our commerce more personal....
Over 20 years I have been in the lumber/mill work business and ran a handyman business. Yeah.....Remember handymen? Now throw away fixture objects are replaced by carpenters and remodels. When something goes wrong in a home nowadays, over 90% will replace something than fix it!
During this time I too have resorted to Commerce on a website to feed my family and spend more time on a computer than I do talking with family or friends.
This simply is just a blog to reflect or remember those times.
I want to bring Value back to the people, Economy and add at least some portion of personal touch to what my customers are buying.
During this venture, I have created www.ugot2havethis.com and found it enjoyable talking with my customers by phone or email about the product. sharing reviews and creating a value statement that I care about the purchase and since it is handmade and uses sustainable eco friendly. I hope I see others fall in this same steps, I usually call or email everyone that orders a watch from me and personally thank them and ask questions about the purchase.
I hope that adds some value to there day and connects them to what the real world is. Coolest part I know when someone is wearing one of my Wood watches and Sunglasses someone else will ask about them. I want to create that human interaction over and over again.
Might be the fall of Commerce brick and mortar style, But it could be the start of a new realationship in something else.
Connect and grow.....