A report by the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism speculates that within five years only four US daily newspapers will in print. While there are plenty who disagree with the prediction, the report which is about the US being at a digital turning point is most fascination and challenging. Included in the report is this prediction about retail:
8. The Internet will continue to create shifts in buying habits, at the expense of traditional brick-and-mortar retail.
The most current Digital Future Study found that 68 percent of Americans buy online, and 70 percent of online buyers said their online purchasing reduces their buying in traditional retail stores.
“We are seeing only the beginning of the shift in American purchasing habits brought by the Internet,” Cole said. “Five years from now, the traditional retail landscape will be completely different than it is today.”
Makes one wonder about long leases with restrictive permitted use clauses.
Why do people still buy paper newspapers? They are less convenient and less up to date than other methods. Only reason I can come up with is they are scared of technology or price of devices are too high, but these are time limited reasons.
I read a newspaper Anon becuase of the serendipity of it. I like to come across interesting facts and articles about a variety of issues, people, places etc, mostly chosen buy an editor with a good general knowledge.
I do use the computer to investigate specific things, but for the idle read out in the hammock under a tree, nothing beats a newspaper or two. When they are gone, so will I be probably!
h, I find The Age iPad app allows the same browsing and discovery of the newspaper.
Anon , i wouldn’t say it has anything to do with being scared of technology . I always read magazines and newspapers as do a lot of people and i have all the devices with the technology eg the ipad .
It is good that one is reminded about what is happening now and in the near future.
Anons argument is illogical & flawed. Driving this is the introduction of technologies that can accomodate digital material, and Publishers see benifits for driving their product via digital. People have to understand that enjoyment of reading physical print is their preference, we have a generation that will not ghange to digital because of that reason, the old cliche of “being scared of technology is getting old’
We are talking about transition from print to digital. Who knows what the publishers are thinking for example. Maybe their will be a collaboration of sorts to have only 1 physical Newspaper in 5 to 10 years to cater for still a significant market. I am looking forward to seeing the evolution because their is no stopping it.
Marks points are as relevant as anything could be in business’s. The overhead components of all our business need to be looked at now and proactive communication should start with people who lease their business’s, I know I for one need to be proactive otherwise I cannot sign another lease under the current conditions that are within at the moment.
Dont you love the people who use Anon as a sign on. It always relates to a personal agenda.