the weekly ramble

Who would have thunk….

Google is going to have a physical bricks-and-mortar – old-fashioned – GPS-findable – swipe- your-credit-card-or-pay-cash – salespeople to help you – store!

IMAGINE THAT!!!!

What are they going to sell?

Check out the Google online store to get an idea.  The top 10 items?  Chotchkes!!!!  Baby bibs and T-shirts!  And as you can see by the map – there doesn’t even seem to be a regional or local skew!  HMMMMMMM.

Now to be fair – they also had a small retail presence selling Chrome laptops — the Chromebook – not particularly successful, but they made a go of it.

Apple Stores need no big introduction – if you haven’t been in one, you should.  Great service – open 24/7 – like the Web – and a great place to play and demo.

Microsoft has also entered the fray – and although nascent by comparison to Apple – their retail empire is expanding.

eBay has also joined the game – and there is a thriving business of eBay drop-off stores that provide services to prospective sellers. …and by the way…they’ve also started advertising…god for bid…on TV.

And now Amazon – already big in mail – a powerhouse in cloud – is also looking to own the avenue….

What does this all mean? Is digital losing steam? Can it be that as Facebook goes public the rest of the world regresses?

In my view? It’s all very simple….

Digital is everything – but not everything is digital.  I will repeat that – digital is everything – but not everything is digital.

We place orders for food online and have it delivered to our office or home; we order clothing online and wear it…in real time; we buy movie tickets – movie tickets! – with our mobile devices and actually sit in theaters munching popcorn with the masses; we stream or save or otherwise access video content and view it on all sorts of screens – God forbid we mistake that for TV; we check for purchase information online – we check price and inventory live in our neighborhoods – and then buy the stuff and carry it home; and on and on and on….

Meanwhile Wal-Mart is trying to figure out how to sell through digital channels

Digital is everything – makes no difference today what we do, what we buy, what we want, what we believe – it all has some digital component – some digital foundation or infrastructure – some digital building blocks….

But here is the thing – not everything is digital.  We don’t eat digital or wear digital; digital doesn’t replace sitting around a big screen during a championship game with your buds; digital buying isn’t the same as being face-to-face with a fashion expert as you try on new clothing; and who cares if you call it TV – just give me my favorite show to watch.  Analysts and other so- called experts take note…please.

In my view the world is now really getting exciting – Wal-Mart moves toward Amazon moving toward Wal-Mart and Barnes and Noble, as Apple moves toward Best Buy who is moving toward Amazon – you get the picture.

Meanwhile you and I can still go to the movies….

So what’s it all about?

Listen?

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”
Charles Darwin

(FYI – I used this same quote almost four years ago…when the financial system was turned at its core …take a look…rules are always changing…)

Take note, all – it’s not the one that says all is changing – it’s the one that is the most adaptable to change – big difference.

Personally? Now it’s really getting interesting….

What do you think?