nickshanagher

Fears about the digital future sweeping over the local shop may be overdone, based on three reports I read this week. One from a newspaper and two from blogs. Firstly, in an article about on line shopping, the FT pointed out that the mechanisms of the internet are very like the mechanisms of the real world, with web sites using vouchers and one day specials to generate sales. The FT concludes that it is better to be a data aggregator, like Facebook, than a retailer trying to sell stuff on the back of the data. At almost the same time, one major bank was writing down the value of Ocado, the on-line retailer, saying that it needed to achieve orders of more than £100 a time to make a profit. That is a big average basket size. Other banks did not share this view but it still puts a question mark over where shopping is headed. Meanwhile, Seth Godin was busy writing about his frustration with Apple's i-pad store, where the shelves have more than 24,000 apps to buy yet the "fro...

Any product that you sell that can be provided over the internet is under threat because of the turmoil higher up in the supply chain, where once dominant content publishers are likely to have their business models ripped apart. This is also a business opportunity. At the same time that Apple was announcing its iPad launch, coming early next month, the boss of McMillan was visiting Amazon to say that he would pull its catalogue of best sellers if the on-line bookseller did not raise its prices from $9.99. Amazon initially said we're not playing and then changed its mind and backed down because it needed the range, perhaps also aware of the threat to its Kindle reader from the iPad. There are two reasons for McMillan wanting to have a higher price. One, it wants to establish as high a price point as possible for the new e-book market. Two, it wants to protect its existing book sellers for as long as possible. Unfortunately for publishers, in the digital world even $9.99 is expen...

I spoke to some retailers last year about how worried they were about e-readers, such as Amazon's Kindle, and the impact it would have on their business. Most looked at me blankly. Software company Adobe has now developed AIR, which allows magazine publishers to sell their magazines on to devices like the iPhone. Condé Nast is reportedly going to offer its Wired magazine in the US in this format. At the same time, HP is offering US publishers the ability to print magazines on demand... Who will buy this? Probably your most loyal magazine shoppers, based on my sample size of one. Today, on my train into work, I bumped into a man using an e-reader. His company had invested in them so that staff could review reports. They don't work for that. But he now downloads novels and reads two a week on his reader. Previously, he was buying two a week from a bookshop. What can the owner of a local shop do? Find out who your most loyal magazine customers are and pamper them. Make ...