Quote:
Originally Posted by darryl
And the "instant gratification" aspect cannot be overlooked. Gone are the days when a specialist book store ordered something in for you which took weeks to arrive. Amazon has destroyed that with delivery times that are little short of miraculous. And things are only going to get better, at least for consumers. Amazon is not exactly planing for things like Prime Now to contract! And, of course, options such as drone delivery which not long ago seemed like Sci-Fi are now being actively explored.
And "if B&M is to have a future", as you put it, I think it does indeed lie down the path of being a doorway to this online world, plus possibly some particular retailers where a physical presence is really an advantage. A home handyman needing a hammer on a Sunday morning or someone baking a cake who runs out of flour will probably always want to drive to the local store to get it now. Some products may require retail premises by way of a showroom where people can inspect and try out the physical products.
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Amazon tried grocery delivery, which didn't really seem to work well. When one talks about instant gratification, ordering something and getting it from two day to a week later can't compete with the local grocery store. (Ironically, Piggly Wiggly, the first self serve grocery store turned 100 this week. Before that, you handed your order to the clerk and waited while he filled the order. Kind of interesting how things go round.)