Over the years, technology has slowly become a dominating force in various businesses. Businesses view technology as a necessity to improve efficiency and productivity. For some sectors, the rise of technology has changed the entire business model. Some companies have lowered the number of workers they use, seeing technology as a cheaper, more productive alternative. Others have seen the demise of their physical stores and the transition to online stores.
Below, we will examine where technology has taken over physical shops and storefronts.
What businesses have been affected by technology?
Retail shops
While retail stores like Walmart and Target still exist and are thriving. Some businesses have either been fully pushed out of the market or transitioned to online. Companies like Sears and Kmart, two companies that once dominated the retail market, have transitioned to primary online shops, holding on to less than twenty physical shops between them.
E-commerce shops like Amazon or Shein have become one of the top destinations for people to buy personal items, further eroding the need for customers to go to a physical store. Even previously mentioned companies, Walmart and Target, have emphasized their online shops to their customers, seeing how people are increasingly turning to online shopping instead of in-person shopping and the financial benefit it can bring to their businesses.
Grocery Stores
While grocery stores still exist, they have endured a transitional period. Automation is slowly creeping into the industry, and more shops are adding self-checkouts instead of the traditional cashier-centered model.
In addition, grocery stores are facing increasing competition from delivered grocery options. As mentioned in the previous section, Walmart has been placing more emphasis on its online shop. Walmart sells groceries, so this is only increasing the rate of people looking to use online shops for grocery shopping instead of traditional shops. Also, sites like Amazon and Uber have their grocery shopping options. All of this is eating into the share of sales that come through brick-and-mortar shops in the grocery industry.
Sports Booking/ gambling shops
There used to be a time when if you wanted to bet on a game or a race, you had to go to a sportsbook or gambling shop. However, this need to go to a brick-and-mortar sportsbook or gambling shop is no longer necessary, thanks to technology. Now, most gambling and sports bookings gets conducted through online betting shops. The transition has been slower than other sectors mentioned earlier because of some state laws. Despite this, online betting shops are growing in their prevalence and dominance in the gambling market. In 2023 alone, Americans spent over $119 billion on various sporting events in America through online shops. Thanks in part to more states allowing online sports betting.
What isn’t so clear is the rise of offshore betting, for instance you can visit these sportsbooks for the best offshore betting sites and access them from pretty much anywhere in the world, but as they aren’t paying tax in the US it’s harder to track where the money goes.
Record Stores
Once music began circulating in physical form, the rise of record shops coincited. For generations, record stores, aside from the radio, were the primary way a person could access music. A musician sought the most physical record sales possible through cassettes, vinyl, or CDs.
But now, with options like Spotify, Apple Music, or YouTube, the need to buy physical records and the number of record stores is declining. Currently, only 1,914 record shops exist in America, but more than 82 million Americans have a subscription to a music app. Technology has changed how we listen to music and thus made the record store obsolete.
Conclusion
Technology has become an increasingly important part of every human’s life. There is barely anywhere in this world a person can go where they will not see some form of technology, whether in their pockets or at a grocery store. Companies are increasingly seeing the benefits of technology and questioning the need for physical stores. This transition is also taking place with the rise of remote work; fewer companies need to construct buildings for employees and choose to allow them to work from work. An option that less than ten years ago would have seemed unthinkable, but the rise of technology is creating a new reality.