The last Black Friday
Four years ago, I wrote about the media trap that retailers invented. With nothing much to write about the day after Thanksgiving, the media engage in a stampede to encourage everyone to go shopping on the busiest, least satisfying shopping day of the year. They spent millions to create a social dynamic that pushes people to engage in an orgy of spending, merely because everyone else is.
I think Amazon may have changed this forever.
As the malls continue to die, as retailers everywhere struggle to come up with a reason why people should spend extra time and extra money to visit them, the herd dynamic of Black Friday is fading. It's hard to whip yourself into a frenzy when you're sitting at home, in your bathrobe, staring at a screen.
In their race to out-Walmart Walmart, retailers everywhere forgot the real reason we need stores. Because shopping together makes us feel connected. Because it's fun. Because there's something about the shopping that's almost as good (or even better) than the buying part.
The buying race is over. Amazon won. The shopping race, though, the struggle to create experiences that are worth paying for, that's just beginning.