Failing Forwards

As another half dozen stores find themselves approaching bankruptcy and feeling the brutal hammer of retail failure, I find it rather timely for us to ask ourselves; is this the right way to progress in our society?
There is no denying that I am something of a technophobe, largely down to my almost fantastic failure in regards to it. If John Connor was assigned an Arnold Schwarzenegger cyborg to deal with him, I got saddled with Johnny Vegas, just sat there not really doing too much, just quietly failing in every conceivable way. And it is for this reason that I cannot abide internet shopping. The concept of just clicking at something I want to purchase is revolutionary for many, but just a painful missing of the point for others.

Shopping isn’t just about acquiring goods, it’s a pastime, a hobby, and even a tradition for many. Just take a moment to think - as Christmas begins to loom each year what do you do? Do you get all of your presents in advance, or do you leave it until the last few weeks and take part in the cultural significance of the Christmas Spree? Whilst it’s incredibly feasible and convenient at times to go to a HMV or Tesco Express on December 23rd and grab the perfect gifts - now undoubtedly at a fraction of the price as stores prepare for January sales - internet shopping doesn’t hold the same convenience. You are completely at the whim of the seller to when you will get this product; even if you don’t leave it to the last couple of days, as internet shopping takes over more and more of us are going to be forced to turn to the likes of Amazon and the like for our buying needs, and this is not going to help improve the postal system that people already complain comes to a standstill during the holiday seasons due to the influx of Christmas cards! I envisage a future where cyber-shopping dominates the market, and families gathered around their Christmas tree waiting for the appropriate branded packaging to be delivered several days after Christmas Day has ended.

There is of course more concerns than just pseudo-preaching of a miserable Christmas to worry about. Why do we shop online when we are asked to purchase and then wait for the product without ever seeing a physical copy until delivery, instead of making our way into the store and looking at a copy we want (checking through to see which is in peak physical condition, naturally) purchasing it from a human being, and then immediately being able to get use out of it? Because even with the added postage & packaging we are required to pay, it is still often a little cheaper to buy online / at least works out roughly the same as it would to have made the effort to go outside. However if we allow stores to disappear due to our own laziness, than we are giving a monopoly to the websites to charge whatever they wish. If play.com decides the retail of a game is now no longer £34.99 but instead worth £64.99 what can we do? Nothing because we have allowed all competition to sieve away into bankruptcy and thus are left in the hands of any potential greed that can ensue.

And so, all I can ask at the end of the day, is that we become more aware of what we as a society are doing with our spending, and make sure to at least investigate stores for a product rather than just cave in to the convenience of a super-store app on our phones, because at the end of the day, it can only come back to bite us and by then we’ll be just left scrolling for a more convenient app to save us.