Brick and mortar isn’t everything; in fact it’s rapidly on the decline. Once big brands like Staples and Gap will be closing hundreds of their locations through 2015. While consumers to take their shopping online rather than at the local mall, storefronts are losing to the game changer: internet as infrastructure.
The fall of Blockbuster signified the end of an era. The movie rental giant once turned down a game changing offer in 2000. Fifteen years ago, a fledging brand you may have heard of, Netflix, was offered to Blockbuster for a mere $50 million only to be “laughed out of the office.” Today, for just $9 a month you can stream all the movies you want straight from your home. The days of movie rentals are long gone.
In 2007 online retail stores amounted to be worth around $175 billion and that number is only projected to grow. And still, many don’t accept the internet as a viable or rewarding channel for business. In 2012, 28% of large media companies said that an online store was “unimportant” to their business growth and another 16% weren’t interested in providing “curated digital content” for customers.
Take a look at this infographic for more on the growth of online businesses and how in just a few short years they’ve rewritten the way consumer shop. What do you hope to see unfold for the future of e-commerce?
