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Originally Posted by cass I can understand your viewpoint but in regards to eCommerce this is the way i feel it will go.
In the not too distant future we will all be ordering direct from the far east via the web and getting stuff delivered by air within 72 hours. As the customer requires lower and lower purchase costs the industries will have to adapt by cutting out as much fat as possible, this is just a natural progression.
Those goods which require quicker shipping will be pre-shipped to holding warehouses in each country then shipped on to the end users after each transaction.
Some factories i visit now have sales pits of 50+ $300 a month staff sat on eB, they are clearly serious about it.
Yes it really makes it unfair when Chinese sellers sell on eB in other sales territories and undercut you but what are you going to do? complain about it? or try find a way to level the playing field? that's why i moved here. |
Cass is right. More and more, borders are meaningless. Soon, we will be one world - or at least several major nations will be like one world.
The internet has changed everything. Several industries have felt pain.
Travel agents are pretty much gone. Newspapers are on the the ropes. Bookstores are going fast. Blockbuster has closed. The music industry has all but collapsed. It is just a matter of time before anything that can be delivered digitally (news, books, magazines, music, movies) will ONLY be delivered digitally.
The days of the Postal Service, DVD's, Cable Companies and more are numbered.
But take heart, It has always been this way. Old industries die and new ones take their place.
My mother used to tell me about the Ice Man, who delivered ice house to house every few days so that people could keep their food cold. She would shop at the butcher shop, the fish store, the canned goods store, etc. Now, they are all under one roof.
At one time, more than 50% of American adults smoked cigarettes. The milkman used to deliver milk, ice cream and other dairy products. The music scene was much more localized. Rich people flew on airplanes, the rest of us had to make do with buses and trains.
All of these things caused much distress for a lot of people. Yet, most people today still find a way to make a living. We humans will adapt. We may adapt GRUDGINGLY, but we WILL adapt.
Laws to prohibit Chinese sellers from selling in the US are not the answer. Markets have a way of evening things out. Capital flows where it wants to flow. Legislation restricting change never works over the long term.
Just ask the movie studios. They tried to stop the introduction of the VCR into people's homes. They lost. Gas companies tried to stop electricity. That didn't work. I'm sure the newspaper industry would be very happy if the internet would just disappear - but that will not happen either.
Things change. They always have and they always will.