Are you thinking of starting a small business in your local neighborhood? One thing that you need to consider before investing any money into it is how technology affects the industry of the business you want to start. Technology actually affects some business industries negatively. Here is a list of some small businesses that I am talking about taken from this article about small businesses negatively affected by technology
1. Record/CD Stores
2. 1 Hour Photo Shops
3. Video Rental
4. Camera Stores
5. Neighborhood Bookstores
6. Niche Art or Craft Stores
7. Travel Agencies
8. Neighborhood Grocery Stores
9. Neighborhood Movie Theaters
10. Independent Pharmacies
If you’re thinking about starting a brick-and-mortar music CD or DVD store, you might as well go back to the drawing board. These are both media that are progressively moving toward being offered exclusively on-demand. Music downloads and digital media is slowly beginning to phase out CDs. On-demand movies will slowly begin to take over DVDs. Why they are coming out with this HD-DVD and Bluray crap, I really don’t know. Have you seen the Redbox at Mcdonald’s? It’s a cute idea, but this is not the time to be getting into the DVD rental market, especially with the Netflix craze.
1-Hour photo and camera stores are obviously a bad idea, because digital cameras have taken over the market for the average camera user. However, I think you could definitely be successful with a vintage or manual camera specialty store. There are plenty of old-school photographers out there that still like using manual cameras and developing professional film.
It makes me sad that neighborhood grocery stores and pharmacy stores are being phased out. The quality of service you get at a “mom and pop” pharmacy is so refreshing. I believe you can succeed at starting one of these businesses, but you will need to do something extraordinary. You need to provide unbelievable customer service and specialize in niche products that are harder to find at big retail chains.
The point is that you need to do your market research before starting a small business. Make sure that the industry you are looking to get into will not be adversely affected by changing technology. Have you done your homework? Are you looking at a business that could be phased out? Take the time to ponder what you are getting into first. You’ll thank yourself for taking the time to think through your endeavor before jumping head first.
Article submitted by Erik
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I know you can get anything you will ever need at amazon, but I still enjoy hunting through the shelves at an old bookstore.
These businesses are definitely in decline as we know them, but niche businesses within this sector will continue to thrive, and possibly explode if they put their niche online
A lot of the businesses you’re mentioning can survive just fine (and many have) by substantiating their competitive advantages, getting on the technology bandwagon (for Video Stores, look at BlockBuster Total Access - perfect example). You are right though in the fact that these traditionally older businesses can maintain themselves operating the same way they did 10 years ago.
Maybe I am missing something but how are grocery and drug stores being phased out? The whole buy your groceries online hasn’t exactly taken off. However, drug vending machines are taking off where they have been placed thus far in California. I’d say watch the pharmacy business but I believe the grocery business is here to stay for awhile.
I’ve caught you guys skimming through my article! I am talking about brick-and-mortar video stores. This aspect of the industry is being phased out. Blockbuster is obviously smart enough and big enough to realize this and adapt to change. They will probably survive, but there stores may not.
T-mobile, I am talking about “mom and pop” grocery stores and pharmacies. These stores are being overrun by walgreens, CVS, drug mail-in plans, and the biggest killer of them all, SUPER WALMART. Yuck. I used to work at an independent pharmacy, and it was a great place. People received individual care and counseling from pharmacists. The only reason the pharmacy survived is because it was one of the first on the block and its loyal customer base kept it going.
I think many of these businesses can survive with high-end business models in appropriate locations. Travel agencies that offer high end services have felt much less pain than ones that book simple and cheap trips. CD stores that specialize in classical music would have more of a chance than ones focusing on top-40 hits.
Suggesting that on-demand movies will phase out high definition video formats like HD-DVD or Blueray is simply put: stupid.
Internet connections will not be even close to realistically streaming high definition video any time soon. And by the time they can, TV’s will be capable of viewing much higher resolutions in current “high definition” and thus connections will never catch up to video technology.
Remember, the majority of the population is not savvy enough to setup a media streaming theatre system.
Anyone who believes the garbage you just wrote is probably not smart enough to stream video anyways, so I think the high definition video market is safe for now.
Danny,
who said anything about an internet connection? I am talking about on-demand digital cable. Last time I checked, they offer on-demand movies for $3 - 4 dollars and they offer them in high definition that is just as good as the HD-DVDs. Make sure you know what I’m talking about before you call me stupid.
This was a great post…
Thanks for the headsup. It really makes sense to take note of the direction of technology and its effect on business before you jump into a startup.
Usually someone should just open a franchise. Like white castle, people love those.
I realize this is a place for articles, research, and all that jazz, but I just have to say that Danny is an asshole for assuming that anyone isn’t smart enough to stream a movie simply because they read the article and believed it. For those of us whom are new to this whole technology thing it seemed like a pretty valid concern. Lack of interest and therefore lack of working knowledge does not mean lack of intellect, it simply means we are not interested enough to try it. But if you are so “smart” why don’t you catch everyone up on exactly how to stream videos.