I’ll meet you (online) at the (Wal)mall

If Starbucks had been our 3rd place, then Amazon-like Wal-mall would like to be next, our 4th place (Miss Congeniality?).

On the eve of EBAY selling 2/3 rd of its interest in SKYPE (SKY was sold, just PE is left) we saw the construction of a new type of mall, the online mall, our 21st century cathedral.

Long tail.

One million items.

We all need a higher debt to income ratio to shop at this mall. And two life times, because it’s not closed early on Sundays. It’s not closed EVER (it is just a broker of others’ merchandise besides its own, hence achieving better costs factor: no inventory cost, no Open sign to turn off).

This makes 7/11 look  like a relic of the Cold War.

I am not against online shopping. It’s just that I  miss the fountain of a real Mall, where my kid would nag for some change and proceed to toss it into the water while making a wish for Daddy. And the food court where the Chinese lady behind the Panda X press counter kept urging me to “try” the chicken sample (try to “puppy dog sell me?”)

Or the Merry-go-round, or the seasonal pre-paid photo session with Santa.

And what are we going to do with our “Mall cops”?

It’s a smart play for Walmart to evolve online into Amazon’s space. Its bricks-and-mortar stores face limitation in expansion ( Northeastern corridors could only accommodate that many  Super Walmart. Then,  North to Canada, or South to Mexico (not too good at this juncture. There is also a category 5 storm in Baja).

America has been infatuated with enclosed Malls: from teenagers to seniors (who even came early before the stores are opened inadvertently turning the Mall into a gym), from the professionals to the unemployed. It’s a democratized

space. The call of the Mall.

Now, things start migrating online, in our new Web 2.0 environment, where trust agents and thought leaders share their opinions and exert their buying influence. So and so read this, or wanted to read this. A mini-version of Book TV

and QVC, except this time, whoever clicks on could also click off. The online Karate Kid: click on, click off.

In control (w/ the remote and the mouse)

or are we?

I just know that years ago, folks were glad to have wheels so they can go into town to shop at Sam’s five-and-dime store.

Then came the Sears catalog so that housekeepers (mostly women) could order by mail most of the items they would ever needed (The softer side of Sears). Now, we are witnessing the launch of on-line  BN and Walmart.

One competes with Amazon over readership and the other, everything else. Watch out Amazon before you become the thing of the past, that is, if you don’t let me peak more inside the cover. How about a book club that meet online?

That way, I have some place to go, cause these days, it’s not cool to say “I’ll meet you at the Mall” since everybody is online, browsing instead of window shopping. By the time I join those early birds for a walk , there might only be a few left . The rest will already have been abandoned, for the lack of better word, turned “ghost malls.”