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...