On Saturday after my haircut I visited a new shop which had opened next door. It was a map shop. It had recently moved from the inner city to the suburbs.
The owner was friendly----as retailers should be---but was bemoaning his need to make the move and how his market had been affected by the internet. Google maps had made this sort of information freely available and there were many people operating maps businesses who were doing it only from a portal, he advised.
My mind quickly went back to other industries which have been decimated or totally changed by the internet. Printing is one which has been decimated. Small printers used to be everywhere. But once Word came along every man and his dog could do it.
Travel agents were once a critical part of obtaining airline tickets. But now it is much easier to obtain them over the internet.
Small printers have moved to a high-tech franchising model to survive. Travel agents are now focussing on overseas holidays (which are complicated to organise) and the corporate market to survive.
I asked him about his web presence and he told me that he had recently upgraded his website. but he complained that people's expectations on the web were high eg next day shipping.
I bought a map, left the store, and pondered his plight on the way home.
The over-riding response in my simple brain was that his business model was out-dated and if he was to prosper, rather than simply eating away his past profits , then he needed to CHANGE.
Dinosaurs became extinct because they could not adapt to the new global environment.
So will your business if you do not adapt your business model to the new global environment!
How does your business model need to change?
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