"FutureConsumer.com," a book by renowned futurist Frank Feather, takes a fascinating and sometimes frightening look at the world in 2010.
Feather predicts that by then, "the Internet will gobble up 31% of consumer spending, leaving most brick-and-mortar retailers in rubble."
His message for your business? Adapt or die.
Here are 15 ways the "Webolution" will affect your business – and your lifestyle.
1/ By 2010, 40% of the North American workforce will work from home -
either for themselves or someone else.
2/ "By 2005, people will spend twice as much time with their PCs as with
their TVs." – Andrew Grove, chairman Intel Corporation
3/ Of the 115 million North American households in 2010, 83% will have at
least one computer, 79% will be online and 66% (or 76 million
households) will actively shop and buy online.
4/ There will be 500 million Internet users world-wide by 2010.
5/ The number of automobiles purchased completely online in 2010:
5 million.
6/ By 2020, "fifty percent of everything we read will be in electronic form."
- Dick Brass, Microsoft’s Vice-President of Technology Development
7/ By 2018, newspapers will stop publishing paper editions.
8/ Online learning will replace schools as education takes place at home.
9/ "Greeting cards will become museum curiosities" as sending electronic
greetings become the norm.
10/ A "Webphone" – part cell phone, part palmtop computer – will replace
everything you now carry in your wallet. Coins, cash, checks and credit
cards will become obsolete.
11/ By 2010, 92 million North American households will bank online.
12/ Your digital refrigerator will automatically reorder your groceries for you,
via the Web, when you run low.
13/ By 2010, tele-medicine, where patients and doctors interact online, will
be a routine part of daily life and health maintenance.
14/ By 2010, all software will be downloaded – or rented on a pay-per-use
basis.
15/ Mass advertising will become a thing of the past. Instead, e-marketers
will pay consumers to receive their advertising messages.
Think about how these changes will influence your life and your business. Then, modify your marketing strategies accordingly to prepare for what lies ahead. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
To read more of Frank Feather’s insights, get his book "FutureConsumer.com" by going here:
www.amazon.com
