Will We Ever Buy Everything Online?
I think I’m going to move one step closer to a buy everything online policy. For me that means I’m seriously thinking of buying groceries online. I’m sure a lot of you will be thinking – Duh! What took you so long? But I’ve always felt it a step too far till recently. A visit to the supermarket during the now pointless Christmas panic buying phenomena was the final straw for me.
I mean shops used to close on Sundays – somehow we managed. They used to close for days during the festive season – now it’s just a few hours. Why people feel the need to jam the isles of supermarkets like headless chickens in case they run out of bread or milk at Christmas is beyond me. The internet is never closed.
Aside from the weekly food shop I already buy everything online. Unless I really need to be physically present that is: Socialising, eating out, going to the movies and buying petrol spring to mind. Honestly, I can’t think of many other things that wouldn’t work in a buy everything online world.
What Would A Buy Everything Online World Be Like?
You might argue that if everyone adopted a buy everything online policy the world would grind to a standstill. Jobs would go, businesses would fail, and communities would dissolve. That’s already happening anyway but it’s really just a case of adapting. Businesses that want a future are adapting to the way we want to buy stuff by making it available online.
We’ll always need offline shopping, there will always be services that can’t be delivered online. More and more though we look for and find those goods and services online before venturing out to get them. We don’t need to trawl around shopping centres or supermarkets like zombies from a George Ramiero film (Dawn of the Dead) unless we really want to. I don’t.
Aside from escaping the hordes there are loads of advantages to the buy everything online mindset. It’s usually cheaper for starters. You can do your research from the comfort of your home: Read reviews, get all the product details, compare prices, make the purchase and get it delivered. Unless its something you need immediately but then again, a little forward planning can often minimise those occasions.
As more and more of us decide that buying everything online is the way ahead we will also be helping the world. Online businesses are better for the climate. They cut down the need for travel, they don’t need as many premises that need heating and lighting.
CAN You Buy Everything Online?
Not long ago the very idea of buying ANYTHING via a computer seemed far fetched. Now we take it for granted. We do our banking online, we can buy everything online (more or less) We communicate with people from the other side of the world online for business and pleasure. We are still just looking at the tip of the iceberg here.
Everything we consume still needs to produced, stored and delivered. The internet won’t change that, even if (when?)we all buy everything online. It’s just the way it’s done that’s changing. The old way of doing things just isn’t working like it did. This actually provides massive opportunities for busineses and individuals.
For businesses it opens up massive new markets, they just need to change the way they do business. For individuals this new economy just represents a better way of working and living: So your job becomes redundant, you no longer need to travel for hour every day and spend 8 hours in a workplace being paid what someone else decides what your worth… nightmare eh!
Individuals running small online businesses make a lot of the sales that are made online: Amazon or Ebay stores, Ecommerce stores and affiliate marketing businesses. That trend will only increase as the unstoppable digital economy grows and grows. It’s a case of learning the skills needed to function in that economy and it’s not that difficult.
We are presently a short way into an economic revolution – one that economists have predicted for decades. We might never be able to buy everything online but we will definitely be close to that before long. IMHO you can either accept that and capitalise on it or, like the dinosaurs, let it make you extinct.
If you’d like to learn more about how you can make the transition, get the skills and knowledge you’ll need, click on the link below and meet some people at the forefront of educating the world on how to thrive in the new economy.
