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Borders Goes Bankrupt - The Death of Print at Retail?
MilesAhead:
I used a scanner on my phone to compare everything to amazon, and would browse there, and order from amazon. I like the ability to browse a hard copy before buying,
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This is where i think the future is going.. There will no longer be different kinds of retail stores. There will be only generic "Browsing Shops" which have very high-tech 3d/tactile setups where you walk into a booth and can examine, feel, and just in general "browse" any product available on the internet. Maybe some popular items will actually have demos in the store. But nothing will be "in stock" in the store. You'll just place your order and have it delivered later, or pay some small "browsing free" and order at home at your convenience.
-mouser (February 18, 2011, 03:11 PM)
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Kinda' sounds like a Gateway computer store. I went in one once with the ridiculous expectation I could buy a computer there and throw it in the trunk of my car.
Some things I just don't like to get online. Like shoes. Maybe I have non-standard feet or something, but even testing them out in the store isn't always enough. Buying untried is just asking for disaster.
iphigenie:
I second the issue about the browsing being necessary -
For a lot of non fiction / reference books (cook books, technical books, travel books, dictionaries, maps, atlases, craft books, art books) there are a lot of similar books - and typically if you looked at all of them and just flipped through, you would clearly decide you like one better than the others. Due to layout, style, feel etc. It it impossible to determine that online. So what happens when there are no bookstores to go to for these? You either have to gamble or just not buy these types of books anymore :S
And I am really really into online commerce - professionally as well - since 1995/6. Buy tons of stuff online. But some things I will so miss. Browsing for books is one of life's pleasures
Maybe I will start a bookshop :)
MilesAhead:
Maybe I will start a bookshop
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I just hope it isn't a curio shop in an out of the way section of town designed to snare the Winston Smith types.
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