The following video is part of our “Motley Fool Conversations” series, in which analyst John Reeves and advisor David Meier discuss topics across the investing world.
Hunch co-founder and CEO Chris Dixon had a great post recently about the future of retailing and e-commerce. Here’s what we took away.
What really hit home was the idea that traditional retailing will serve immediacy (I need it now) and experience (exclusivity). The rest will go online and will move there fast. From a startup perspective, Dixon says it will be hard to displace incumbents like Amazon.com and eBay. They have huge traffic. Brands that sell their own stuff will be smaller but successful, too. Look at the amazing success of Apple’s retail stores or the progress Under Armour stores continue to make. The difficulty lies with distributors in the middle of the pack, such as Overstock.com or Best Buy. Despite having a heavily trafficked site and a huge system of stores, Best Buy is losing. Why do we need Best Buy in its current form? The answer is that we probably don’t.
One of the reasons John and David like Starbucks is that it satisfies both the immediacy (I need coffee!) and the experience. And with Howard Schultz continuing to find new ways of getting more out of its stores, it still has a bright future ahead of it.
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