BY: Amy Sharp
With growing dismay I read articles about bookstores closing in Memphis. Most recently, Davis-Kidd Booksellers. http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/apr/22/davis-kidd-landlord-urged-make-concessions-save-bo/. I am just now getting over the Barnes & Noble chain “Bookstar” closing in Poplar Plaza and now this? To some extent I don’t believe it. Just walk in Davis-Kidd at any time of the day and you’ll find an almost rabid following. From moms slurping Starbucks while their toddlers drool over everything in the kids’ play area (the children’s section is not for the faint of heart) to a three-hour wait for special events (I mistakenly tried to breeze in for a purchase during the Michael Oher I Beat the Odds book signing). I know, I know – e-books – amazon.com – blah blah blah… Save it.
First, in the Davis-Kidd case, I firmly believe that it’s all smoke and mirrors obscurring the even more depressing, greedy power struggle over the bookstore. Second, believe me, I recognize everything’s going digital. I buy books online, but the message that seems to be screaming here is: “Bookstores of the world, it’s time to reinvent yourseIf.” Anyone with a brain and some start-up money is about to have a unique opportunity in Memphis. Davis-Kidd proves there are still emotional, cultish bibliophiles out there. Spend five minutes in that particular store and you’ll realize it’s as much about the atmosphere and community as it is about the books themselves. Start building your business around that. Throw the mega-bookstore plan out the window. Develop a new, smaller community – include e-book/reader sales – start a storewide book club – focus on customer service and build that brand loyalty. All the depressed Davis-Kidd lovers are looking for a place to shelve theirs.
BY: Keith Essary
Last weekend I purchased a video camera in order to film one of my son’s tennis matches. Not much of a shopper, I simply stopped in a Wal-Mart and asked the video clerk to recommend the cheapest quality camera they carried. I was referred to a JVC for $199 that fits in my pocket.
After recording the match, I uploaded the video to my computer and was astounded at the quality of the video. The picture was crystal clear with bright colors and zero distortion. I couldn’t believe it.
Through personal use and services such as youtube, I have been conditioned to mobile phone video quality. I suspect the same is true for audio as I often listen to my iTunes library on my phone or streaming over Bluetooth. I was sacrificing quality for convenience and I didn’t even know it.
This situation is telltale of perhaps the biggest change to the website development in recent years – maybe ever. Traditional web surfing from a computer and high-speed bandwidth allowed websites to be “experienced” and the best sites were those with quality pictures, video, and flash transitions. The mobile internet might best be summed up by a quote from my teenage hero The Lizard King, “We want the world and we want it, NOW!” Mobile phone internet usage is less about the quality of the experience and more about quality content, which is partly defined as how fast one can get the content.
This shift or morphing of internet content is evidenced in many current happenings such as Apple’s stance (aka refusal) on Adobe’s Flash for mobile devices, the enormous growth of info based mobile “apps”, and even the decline of traditional journalism.
Human nature, or maybe “the American way”, is that once we have something fast, we rarely go back to waiting, even if it’s for the sake of quality (let’s all say “fast food” together three times). Therefore, even when on a computer, users are bringing back the experience they have on a mobile device and traditional websites are being forced to adapt. The next year is going to be big for redevelopments and adjustments.
