Inevitable Change for Retail

I’ve spoken about it before but we are now more then ever immersed by technology, how we go about our every day business is completely different to how we would of done it a decade ago. We are forever changing and adapting especially for the young generation. The article Change for the Better is a perfect example of how traditional retail shops need to keep up with the change around them.

One thing that is changing in retail is more shopping is done online, I know for myself that I shop more online then do in stores. I have a few reason why I do this. 1. I want things that I can’t get in Australia. 2. Most sites have free shipping. 3. The Aussie dollar is pretty good at the moment. 4. Generally its cheaper for me to buy internationally even if I have to pay for shipping (take for example my pair of J brand Jeans – I can buy them in Sydney at David Jones for nearly double the price then I can get them on Shopbop for with free shipping). There are other reason why I shop online but the main ones I listed.

The article is great as it compares The OrotonGroup and David Jones. The OrotonGroup is a perfect example of moving forward and not letting the inevitable change of competition and technology disadvantage it. David Jones however is making excuses for not doing well – my belief is move on, except that change is unavoidable and how we shop is different. Take action and make ways to improve and get people into your stores if business is slowing down.

The New Retail Blog is simple and straightforward. The article is set out nicely and is easy to read. I would like to see some links on the page to the suggested articles that the author read if they were available online. The article is very relevant to what’s going on right now. There has been constant talk on the news about the change of traditional retail stores. Its great to see people commenting on this topic because it will gradually start retails to change and compete with online stores. I know that if Australia stores lowered prices to that of the same as online retails I would buy it in the store.

What is your opinion on this? How do you shop?

Online News Article:

http://www.newretailblog.com/change-for-the-better/

Other interesting Articles:

http://www.newretailblog.com/the-fun-theory-changing-peoples-behaviour/

http://www.thefuntheory.com/

Everyone's talking about the new update to Facebook

There have been a number of online news articles about the updates on the Facebook changes. One in particular has been by The Daily Mail “Facebook blog is inundated with thousands of protests as users start Facebookgroup 'We Hate the New News Feed’”. Most of these complaints are about the new News Feed section.

The first thing that happens when Facebook updates their website is the Facebook status updates are all the same, everyone is ranting about how bad it is and the second thing that happens is the dislike groups to get Facebook to change it back. These seems to be the same process every time they change something major on the site. The last time I remember they changed it everyone hated it and eventually we all did get used to it and start to love it. So what’s the point of all this ranting when we will just get used to it again. I must admit it did annoy me a bit but because it changed my privacy settings and I had to go back in and figure out how to make it the same as last time. Sometimes change is good, it helps us grow, learn new things and in technology become aware of what the internet is capable of.

The online news story is well written and included images such as a wireframe of Facebook new music playing feature and then a screenshot of what the current Facebook looks like with the Newsfeed. It also have some images just so you know who Mark Zuckerburg is I don’t know if this is needed as there is already a lot going on The Daily Mail website. There are a few other pictures of some other updates and a screenshot of Google + now the competition for Facebook. The Daily Mail website later down the page gets a bit distracting. In the second image that i have included you can see how over crowded the section is, I think that could work on that section to make it less distracting. There is a comment section at the bottom and the latest person who commented seems to think the same thing I though Leanne from Dorset says “I’m not gonna lie but everyone always moans when Facebook updates everyone moans for a bit then after a couple of weeks they get used to it...then when it up dates again its the same old story...”. So it makes me think next tiome facebook updates something are there going to be lots of news articles about the users complaining they don’t like it. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Screen Schot of the Daily mail website

Screen Schot of the Daily mail website

Online News Article:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2039726/Facebook-changes-Thousands-protests-We-hate-new-news-feed-group.html

Other online news articles related:

• http://www.forbes.com/sites/techonomy/2011/09/22/facebooks-changesits-all-about-the-platform/
• http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/technology/dislike-new-facebook-changes-cause-outrage-among-users/story-e6frep1o-1226143260998
• http://mashable.com/2011/09/22/facebooks-new-profiles-first-impressions/