PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
In a new future-gazing feature, we gaze into the crystal ball to predict what’s in store for the tech channel. This month, we imagine what it’s going to be like for indie retailers in the year 2056.
We live in a time where big etailers hold an enormous amount of power and sway to say the least.
They can dictate their wants to vendors – and many will jump. They can cut prices and devalue a brand at the click of a finger. And some of them aren’t afraid to eat into other markets outside their core offering, from cloud storage to music and even video game development.
In the space of two decades, Amazon has established itself as the leading retailer in the world – and has single-handedly brought down thousands of traditional physical book shops and other indie stores in the process.
But if you can’t beat them, join them, as they say. Many independent businesses now use Amazon’s third- party marketplace service to sell their own goods online and open up their customerbase at the
same time. Who’s to say where the market will be in 40 years’ time? The big will get bigger, that’s for sure; consolidation is still a current trend. But what does this mean for the smaller independent PC retailer? Perhaps life for them might not change as much as you might think.
Some of the smaller guys may need to band together in the future – we might see buying groups substantially growing in size to compete with the bigger boys. But they will no doubt continue to carve out a niche and diversify, whilst continuing to offer a personable service.
Who knows? Perhaps the independent retailers will outsmart some of the big guns in the future.
We quite like the idea of an indie collective mastermind buying out some of their massive rivals in 2056 with pocket change. After all, they’re the ones who’ve been there and done it since day one. So for us, the smart, the lucky and the brave will prevail. Which one are you?
