Doug Stephens is the Retail Prophet, one of the few futurists for the retail sector. In this episode of the Competitive Futures Podcast, Doug tells us about why there’s a major strategic shift coming in retail and what it all means for marketing, product management, distribution, city planning and more.
When people think of “radical futures” the words “nanotechnology” or “genomics” are usually not too far behind. Throw in a few comments about “transhumanism” and “the end of biology” and you’ve got a classic futurist-y look at the next twenty years. One concept people rarely think about when they hear of radical future transformation:
Retail.
That’s why Doug Stephens from Canada’s Retail Prophet is such a refreshing speaker on the future of business. He is to our knowledge the only speaker who talks about the upcoming changes in the world and what they mean for the business of retail. It’s counterintuitive when you think about how important that sector is to our economy and how little we discuss its future.
Below are clips from one of Doug’s recent speaking engagements. Look for more interviews from him when Competitive Futures re-launches its Podcast with a new iPhone/iPad application in a couple of weeks.
I was just surfing SlideShare for some competitive intelligence – always a great source of left-of-center information, unusual sources, and stuff that never gets published. I cam across a provocatively titled slideshow about how digital imaging killed the corner camera shop. Even though the market exploded, the model shifted to one where there was no margin for customer service of any sort.
Food for thought for this Monday.
Funny, FARK listed this as a scary bit of news, but I’m not sure. Watch this interview about how Americans can no longer tap homes as a source of perceived wealth, and are thus curtailing spending and increasing savings rates dramatically.
The title is “Worst Is Yet To Come: Americans’ standard of living permanently changed.”
Curiously, why is running a solvent financial system the worst thing to happen?
This is the official trend blog of Competitive Futures, a management consultancy that provides trend research and analysis for business and government around the world. Here, we update you on interesting trends we see as part of our work for our clients.
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