Retail Isn't The Only Industry At A Tipping Point. Get Prepared For The Economic Tsunami To Come.

Michael Corkery's recent NYT's article, "Is American Retail At A Historic Tipping Point ?" describes a world where;

"E-commerce players, led by the industry giant Amazon, have made it so easy and fast for people to shop online that traditional retailers, shackled by fading real estate and a culture of selling in stores, are struggling to compete. This shift has been building gradually for years. But economists, retail workers and real estate investors say it appears that it has sped up in recent months."

Michael isn't the only one describing this tipping point, as the witty Professor Scott Galloway of L2 shared in his recent Winners and Losers Video below...

As Scott points out, "When the book industry hit 20% E-commerce penetration in 2006, book seller Border's sales plunged as Amazon's took off."

The same impact occurred with consumer electronics, toys and now apparel as Under Armour's stock has been destroyed recently from the same E-commerce dynamic and closure of chains like Sports Authority.

This is hardly a U.S. only phenomenon as global shifts to E-Commerce abound with China leading the way. In 2016 China saw its E-commerce sales reach 47% of all global E-Commerce. Meanwhile, according to Corkery, "more workers in general merchandise stores have been laid off since October, about 89,000 Americans. That is more than all of the people employed in the United States coal industry, which President Trump championed during the campaign as a prime example of the workers who have been left behind in the economic recovery."

While retail is certainly being exposed to mega trends that are reinventing its very core and wreaking havoc on employment, it isn't the only industry that's going to get turned on its head. Even greater economic reengineering is coming to the mammoth economics of health care, where costs have risen in the U.S. 98% since 1997 (13% of all U.S. jobs are in health care). Also in the cross hairs is education where U.S. college costs are rising at 3 times the inflation rate (while non-profit university presidents like Lee Bollinger of Columbia rake in $4.6 Million in annual salary). The economic models for these and many other industries are unsustainable and irrational. Did you realize that today people buy cars to use them less than 5% of the time ? Even private car ownership is on the road to becoming a rarity. Hence the term "Economic Tsunami". You get the picture. Every aspect of our economy today will be reinvented significantly through technology in the next decade. In the end this will unleash great opportunities for all but on the way there many will feel great pain and struggle through the change if they don't prepare.

So what should you do ? Get prepared. As my recent post Yes Technology Does Liberate Human Capital. The Future Of Work Is Here described start "skating to where the puck will be" and prepare for massive changes in your life, career and industry all of which are coming faster than you might realize. Rethink all of your assumption. First, stay informed. Read books like Leading Digital , Digital Sense , The Second Machine Age , and The Inevitable. Follow credible thought leaders on Twitter. Listen to great podcasts. Second, start thinking about your organization, career, and life with a 3-5 year minimum perspective. In other words what you are experiencing today will be vastly different in a 3-5 year window. Make sure you are preparing yourself with education and continue to upgrade your skills and knowledge. Also start preparing financially by saving more and lower your fixed costs. Check Mr. Money Mustache out to learn how . Finally, seek to align with organizations and people that see this future coming and have adopted or are adopting new paradigms of the future of work. Surrounding yourself with advocates and industry experts who are talking the new talk will help you embrace the upside of disruption. For my latest on how this is impacting the health club and fitness industry checkout my EHFF 2017 and my IHRSA 2017 presentations and more.

Bryan O’Rourke is a #CEO, #board member, #advisor, #keynote #speaker, #author and #investor, who has successfully expanded global brands for over 30 years. He and his partners launched Vedere Ventures, a boutique private equity firm in 2016 . Bryan along with the Fitness Industry Technology Council support the Fitness + Technology Podcast . Check it out today. Get his recent book the 9 Partnership Principles written with his partner Robert Dyer and other top fitness industry leaders. Bryan also released with Europe Active the book Customer Engagement and Experience In The Fitness Sector. To learn more visit bryankorourke.com or follow him @bryankorourke . #Economics #Career #Industry #Technology #Disruption