3 November 2014

This is what I noticed this weekend!!!

03 November 2014

On my way to the gym this weekend I noticed a number of retail stores closing two months before the holidays. Traditionally retail stores would usually ride it out for the Holiday season and then close in January when things slow down but it would seem that many of these independent businesses are trying to take advantage of the Holiday shopping season with people trying to take advantage of going out of business sales to grab some great deals.

One has to ask if this could have anything to do with the impact that online shopping is having on the retail market in North America, one of the stores closing it’s doors was right at the corner of Yonge and Bloor and occupied that location for about the past 115 years, this is quite a long time for any company to be in business. A couple of the other business closings have been around for relatively long periods of time as well. It is clear that the world is changing right before our eyes but the question is are we ready for this much change?

I was speaking with a long time friend of mine who was in the high end printing business and let’s just say when your profit margins all but disappear it’s a pretty safe to bet that that industry has changed forever. The internet has made it so that you can get more or less what ever you want, need or desire simply by the click of a mouse. It’s like having room service without the crazy prices. With companies like Alibaba and Amazon delivering what you want, when you want it and usually at deep discounts compared to what you would pay at a retail store this trend is probably going to continue and because of shrinking profit margins most likely programming and manufacturing jobs are going to continue moving to developing countries like India, china and Bangladesh.

What does this mean for the next 20 years going forward? It’s that prices will most likely come down across the board for many non essential goods and services based on an over supply of goods that we will purchase because the deal is too good to pass up but we don’t need it and will end up paying double or triple for it as in sits in a storage locker collecting dust so that we can make space for more consumables we can’t live without.

“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.”
― Albert Einstein

“When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not yet ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny.”
― Paulo Coelho,

Nexonta Technologies Inc