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There always will be some need for physical retail, though. The pattern seems to be:

1. Many Speciality retailers 2. Single speciality retailer 3. single speciality retailer with limited stock 4. general retailer or substitute

With each step the market shrinks some, but it's still possible to capture profits.

Like you can chart videogames in this way

1. funcoland, electronics boutique, software etc, gamestop 2. gamestop (expansion) 3. current gamestop (limited game selection, focus on other high margin goods) 4. (future) gamestop folds, wal-mart and general retailers become focus of physical game retail.

In my town, bookstores are like this:

1. Waldenbooks, B Daltons, Books a Million, Borders 2. BOrders, then BAM 3. BAM, limited book stock, focusing more on high margin accessories 4. (in my local area) Goodwill, tiny book shelf at Walmart

The market will contract as Amazon increases to fit the reduced need for physical. So Micro Center is able to fulfill the demand by themselves, and it was just who had better business governance that chose who survived to take over the shrinking market, i think.




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