If lots of high street shops go out of business.....

fc123

sb44 wrote: »

Shoes are just one example.

Do we expect to see a narrowing down of choice for certain items?

I haven't done the rest of the thread yet but 'Yes'....but you will also relative price increases too...it's all back to the 1970's guys.

fc123

edinburgher wrote: »

I definitely agree that we'll see a narrowing of choice in the high street shops.

A move towards increased Internet shopping will exacorbate this, so get yourself online for as many purchases as possible. My reasoning behind this is that many retailers believe in the logic that '20% of stock is responsible for 80% of sales'. This means that retail units get smaller, stock ranges do too and choice drops badly.

This can already be seen in my favourite local retailers, with HMV selling little bar chart titles these days...

No No No...you need to read The Long Tail by Chris Anderson....80/20 rule is going going .....gone soon. I read this book last year..long before the changes in my business kicked in...it's fantastic....I understand it totally now and I am living proof of the theory.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Long-Tail-Endless-Creating-Unlimited/dp/1844138518/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230497032&sr=1-1

Product Description
What happens when there is almost unlimited choice? When everything becomes available to everyone? And when the combined value of the millions of items that only sell in small quantities equals or even exceeds the value of a handful of best-sellers? In this ground-breaking book, Chris Anderson shows that the future of business does not lie in hits - the high-volume end of a traditional demand curve - but in what used to be regarded as misses - the endlessly long tail of that same curve.
As our world is transformed by the Internet and the near infinite choice it
offers consumers, so traditional business models are being overturned and new truths revealed about what consumers want and how they want to get it.

Chris Anderson first explored the Long Tail in an article in Wired magazine that has become one of the most influential business essays of our time. Now, in this eagerly anticipated book, he takes a closer look at the new economics of the Internet age, showing where business is going and exploring the huge opportunities that exist: for new producers, new e-tailers, and new tastemakers.

He demonstrates how long tail economics apply to industries ranging from the toy business to advertising to kitchen appliances. He sets down the rules for operating in a long tail economy. And he provides a glimpse of a future that's already here.

olly300

HenryWeston wrote: »

The average wage here in Herefordshire is £14,000, average house price around 10 x that!:eek:

What average? Mean, median or mode? Or personal observation?

I don't actually think they publish up to date median incomes regionally. There seems to be surveys that publish mean incomes of households regionally done by companies such as banks. This obviously means the results are skewed as people who have certain accounts and bank with certain banks are likely to earn above a certain amount.

I have actually taken part in those large surveys where you are asked lots of detailed questions about current affairs etc, and you are chosen due to your demographics being representative of the population in that area but I was never asked what my income was at the time.

olly300

1echidna wrote: »

I feel actually that high street shoe shops will not suffer the carnage that some other types of shops suffer with internet shopping. Shoes are an item that most people like to try on before purchasing. I expect parcel delivery services will do rather well with the expansion of internet shopping. Reduction in choice with a very long term severe recession yes, but very significant only if things get very dire.

Not necessarily.

With certain sports shoes used for actually doing sport and shoes from 3 retailers - Next, M&S and Jones Bootmakers - I have ordered shoes without trying them on first.

The reason being is if it's a shop I've brought lots of shoes from before over the years or in the case of sports shoes the same make and model, then I know that 99% of the time the sizing will be correct. If it's not correct I will send them back.

beingjdc

olly300 wrote: »

What average? Mean, median or mode? Or personal observation?

I don't actually think they publish up to date median incomes regionally

Herefordshire Council, who would get more funding if there was more poverty, so have no incentive to overstate it, think the average wage before tax in Herefordshire as at December 2008 was just under £390 a week.

olly300

beingjdc wrote: »

Herefordshire Council, who would get more funding if there was more poverty, so have no incentive to overstate it, think the average wage before tax in Herefordshire as at December 2008 was just under £390 a week.

Have you actually been asked for your income data by the council? And do you work for a local employer?

I should state I'm interested in who they actually ask for this data.

As one survey I read the small print of stated that they asked employers. Now as I live in London but work and have worked all over the South East like quite a few people I know, asking any employer will skew the results as I have never lived in the council area of the employer I worked in.

beingjdc

olly300 wrote: »

Have you actually been asked for your income data by the council? And do you work for a local employer?

They might for all I know be able to get if from the Income Tax people.... that would seem the simplest way and would cover most workers, understating it slightly since nobody will declare more than they earn.

olly300

beingjdc wrote: »

They might for all I know be able to get if from the Income Tax people.... that would seem the simplest way and would cover most workers, understating it slightly since nobody will declare more than they earn.

With the state of government "agencies" and the fact they use outside contractors for everything I think it's unlikely.

WTF?_2

edinburgher wrote: »

I'd say that it definitely is for me already Used to buy a lot of stuff from the US too, but rises in shipping costs, problems with GBP and taxation on more expensive items have put me off. That and the fact that HMRC never lets my beef jerky into the country

I got some beef jerky in Tesco a while back - they had it in the alcohol section as a beer snack

Very nice but very pricey. Also, haven't seen it since then so maybe it was a one-off.

mippy

I earn - I think - the Average Wage, which doesn't go far living in London but certainly isn't a small amount for a normal lifestyle. (Someone in our local paper said '£40k is nothing in London these days' - I'd be pretty damned happy with that!) It makes me wonder though - if all the shop workers, cleaners, call-centre workers and thousands of other people are earning less than the 'average wage', how many people are being paid ridiculous amounts to even it out?