shopping frenzy

Like you, I can feel the shopping tsunami coming.

It’s been a slow built-up.  But it’s here. Amazon, Best Buy and even Kohl’s (the ad says it opens at 4AM this Friday).

The industrial world produces. The consumers, with wages or not, shop. The system grinds along, and if lucky, gains traction instead of slowing to a halt. That’s what we hope for: a collective amnesia or a suspense of disbelief so we can once again succumb to mob mentality and mass merchandising.  93% of those surveyed said they would shop just as they did last year (i.e. getting up early, getting in line, and the run of the bulls). So chain stores are hoping for the best.

My guess is people will wait out until after Christmas. By then, laggards or beggars, everyone will have been sufficiently induced by the music, the mood and the mob ( bargain gone fast, especially in Long Island.) Let’s hope Chinese consumers

catch the American affluenza and start their own shop-aholic cycle.

Shop, baby, shop.

Susan Boyle CD is now available in stores. The tag line:  “Dreams can come true”.

Sing, baby, sing.

Sarah from Alaska still appears for book signing. The title: “Going Rogue”.

Sign, baby, sign.

And GE is contemplating an IPO to spin-off Universal?

Sell, baby, sell.

The echelon of ad, content and media outlet have fumbled over the years due to Pay-per-click, pay-per-view,

user-generated content (Current TV), user-participated ads, and user’s remote control (Tivo).

But  WSJ  had an article (for subscribers only) about Wikipedia volunteers leaving in drove (revolving door?).

What do you expect? people get their dose of psychic reward, then leave. Or they have exhausted their knowledge on a particular subject and get passion-fatigued.

Either way, it’s a phenomenal if not monumental human project, our 21st “prosuming” Tower of Babel.

Mission Control for the Global Village library.

With million of contributors.

May the latest evolving version of the truth win (check back often though).

Back to shopping (for merchandise, not ideas).

In today’s economy, pricing pressures are so intense that Thrift stores compete with Discount stores, Discount stores compete with Outlet stores, Outlet stores compete with Department stores, and Department stores compete with Boutique stores (and Department store cafe competes with Starbucks, who competes with McCafe or other Starbucks).

And thriving malls edge out ghost malls.

In one word: gladiatorial.

But one thing is sure to stay: e-commerce. First, B2B, then, any combination of B2C (Amazon)  C2C (E-bay) and

C2B (job sites). Online shopping helps you avoid the crowd (= no parking), the early mad dash, and the H1N1 flu.

TV Networks and Chain stores are experiencing similar pain: sharing their lunch with new comers, whose virtual faces they can’t see (even their parents could only glimpse at their backs).  These online start-up entrepreneurs might be your sons and daughters with eyes glued to the screen.

Welcome to a new decade. At least, this time around, we have worked out most of the bugs and had the benefits of hindsight (dot.com burst and derivative burst). This new decade will see a lot of collaboration and peer production.

It’s a slow build-up, but it’s here. Just like holiday buying. The bulls are restless, waiting for the virtual gate to open.

This time, innovation and shopping will be wherever there is an internet connection. And it is always opened, not just one day at 4AM. Relax, there is no need for all the frenzy. We are so “pavlovian” and so conditioned to shortage mentality.

It’s a new century, and a new decade. I heard French President is pushing for GDP index to include happiness metric.

That’s been long overdue. Unless you rely once again on Christmas sales revenue as sole indicator of American bliss.