Whether we like it or not, fellow 50-somethings and 60-somethings, we are all living through a revolution; a Retail Revolution which is every bit as life-changing as the Industrial Revolution was for our ancestors.
The very fact that you are reading this on SoSensational means you are already part of this revolution.
But perhaps you haven’t yet considered how far-reaching it will be or how much impact it will have on your life… this Retail Revolution is the switch from bricks-and-mortar shops to online. Our sons and daughters have embraced the switch fully. Statistics show that most of them are shopping for everything, from tea to trousers, desserts to dresses, biscuits to baby-clothes, online.
That is why some retailers and shopping malls are installing Prosecco bars, waxing parlours and hair salons (yup, we know stores used to have those), to try to keep you visiting their store or their mall. Because they know that racks of dresses or shelves of sweaters just won’t cut it any longer. In our time-poor world, who wants to drive just to buy a dress or a sweater, when you can buy it online without budging from your sofa or using up your precious minutes?
We think that as a woman of 50-plus or 60-plus, when it comes to shopping for clothes, you may still like to touch and handle the fabric and try on before buying. But the generation behind you, the 30-somethings and 40-somethings won’t feel the need to do that; they will ultimately do all their shopping online.
Thus, that Retail Revolution we mentioned earlier, and why some stores and malls are trying to lure you in with stuff you can’t get online, like a glass of Prosecco or a bikini-line wax. Such moves may be clever because even when our generation, which wants to touch the fabric, is no longer economically active, there will always be a few people who will want to go to a store or a mall to meet their friends, chat over lunch, have a Brazilian, etc.
On the other hand, as future generations become more time poor and retire later, there will be fewer and fewer people with the luxury of time to do that, so Prosecco bars and in-store waxing salons may just be rearranging the deckchairs on the top deck of the Titanic. Sadly, we can’t predict the future, but we can say with certainty that the Retail Revolution is here and we should learn to love it. Why? Because buying clothing online is painless and sometimes better and easier than buying in-store.
No, you don’t get to handle the fabric, but consider the upsides of online shopping: no pushy sales assistant to say “that looks wonderful” when you know it doesn’t; you can instantly see the shape and detail of a garment instead of having to guess if a dress hanging on a rack with 55 others has a nipped-in waist, scoop neckline or other features which flatter you; more sizes available (some retailers offer size 16 or 18 online but don’t carry bigger than size 14 in store). Also, you can try on in the privacy of your home and decide not only if a garment suits you, but how it fits with pieces you already own.
What do you think? Are you on board the Retail Revolution?
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