All shops going online eventually.

[Mr Bump]

I have to be honest I am a big fan of a great deal of my online shopping.
most of the stuff i buy is "product" i don't need to fondle it or go get it personally.
most of the food shop now is online with iceland or coop because its just easier even without covid.

i am looking forward when we can all go out not going to these places, i never did.

however bars and pubs and resaurants, yes please !!!!

 

[jonbeeza]

I totally share your sentiment. At least for non-food this may become a reality sooner rather than later. As a sign of things to come brick and mortar Debenhams is no more, and the only thing left will be the website domain redirecting to some sweatshop enterprise. I am not particularly picky in terms of fashion but I can tell you buying a suit is next to impossible online unless you are just reordering a tested and tried one... Same even goes for shoes... different brands - slightly different sizes and any number of odd issues. So that realistically leaves me with CAT and CAT s10 only as that seems to always work.
Maybe there will be some small specialist retailers left operating from their own premises but high street is likely doomed already; the car access removal / taxing to city centres was already one of the last few coffin nails. I can't wait to see what these greedy developers do with the now useless properties like ex-shops and ex-offices.

Food is likely going that way but it will be much slower or will require some newer and fancier COVID-23 where you are not even allowed to go outside without the permits from the Sanitation department. Who is betting on that becoming a reality?!
You know what, we don't need Tescos in that case. A good delivery network should happily facilitate direct trade between consumers and farmers giving the best deal to both parties.

It is ridiculous to read news like there are rotting fish and lamb stuck at the EU customs. Why the hell can't we buy that fish or meat and instead get fed crap from NZ or China?! It doesn't add up. As much as this Boris' version of brexit is a mess and PITA, domestic trading is just as insane and all of us will be paying for it with our money and health.

Me and the missus like going to Cheshire Oakes for our coats and shoes, and various other items. Nothing beats looking at stuff and trying it on, and coming away with your purchase. We have been buying online a great deal more, current regulations. But when it is all over, can't wait to get out to the shops, while they are still there.

 

[lindsay]

The bulk of our food is bought directly from farm butcher and organic veg/dairy cooperatives through either farm shops or online. We only use the supermarkets for household products in the main, with the odd top-up of bad-food "treats". For other stuff, I always try to avoid Amazon for whatever I want, sometimes even if Amazon is cheaper.
If only business rates could be abolished for businesses turning over less than say £500k. Then small retail might be worthwhile for the shop owners.

 

[jonbeeza]

I have to be honest I am a big fan of a great deal of my online shopping.
most of the stuff i buy is "product" i don't need to fondle it or go get it personally.
most of the food shop now is online with iceland or coop because its just easier even without covid.

i am looking forward when we can all go out not going to these places, i never did.

however bars and pubs and resaurants, yes please !!!!

We did do an online supermarket shop a few times, but were not too happy with it. Tins arrives dented and bashed, bread squashed and fruit bashed about. I hated waiting about for it to be delivered. Now if Amazon delivered it, it might be a different thing.

 

[jonbeeza]

The bulk of our food is bought directly from farm butcher and organic veg/dairy cooperatives through either farm shops or online. We only use the supermarkets for household products in the main, with the odd top-up of bad-food "treats". For other stuff, I always try to avoid Amazon for whatever I want, sometimes even if Amazon is cheaper.
If only business rates could be abolished for businesses turning over less than say £500k. Then small retail might be worthwhile for the shop owners.

But the good thing with Amazon is, you can see where your stuff is. You can even see the man person walking to your door.

 

[jakeblu]

We did do an online supermarket shop a few times, but were not too happy with it. Tins arrives dented and bashed, bread squashed and fruit bashed about. I hated waiting about for it to be delivered. Now if Amazon delivered it, it might be a different thing.

Amazon deliver groceries from Morrisons for Prime Customers.

Morrisons on Amazon | Same-day grocery delivery with Prime

Morrisons groceries delivered by Amazon is included with your Prime subscription when you spend over £60. Check your postcode and start your shop today.

www.amazon.co.uk

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

It is ridiculous to read news like there are rotting fish and lamb stuck at the EU customs. Why the hell can't we buy that fish or meat and instead get fed crap from NZ or China?! It doesn't add up. As much as this Boris' version of brexit is a mess and PITA, domestic trading is just as insane and all of us will be paying for it with our money and health.

We certainly could eat the fish that we send to Europe.... but we only seem to eat cod and haddock in any quantity. as a nation we have forgotten how to prepare most other fish dishes.

We have always eaten a proportion of frozen New Zealand lamb and it is delicious. However we eat far more British grown lamb.
Europeans do eat some new Zealand lamb as well, but prefer fresh.
They will also eat pretty much any sort of fish that comes out of the sea. where ever it comes from.
It seems many of our boats are landing it directly on the continent now.

Food Trade between us and Europe had pretty much stabilized and was seamless, Brexit has complicated everything and nothing is certain any more. But give it 40 or 50 years and every thing will be sorted again..... different but sorted.

 

[jonbeeza]

Amazon deliver groceries from Morrisons for Prime Customers.

Morrisons on Amazon | Same-day grocery delivery with Prime

Morrisons groceries delivered by Amazon is included with your Prime subscription when you spend over £60. Check your postcode and start your shop today.

www.amazon.co.uk

Trouble is, I am a cheapskate Aldi man.

 

[Mr Bump]

We did do an online supermarket shop a few times, but were not too happy with it. Tins arrives dented and bashed, bread squashed and fruit bashed about. I hated waiting about for it to be delivered. Now if Amazon delivered it, it might be a different thing.

We don't use online for fruit and veg and things like bread, we have a large coop within 300metres of us so its a wander round after work during the week to keep topped up.
We use Iceland mainly for online shopping, great quality stuff in the freezer, really good service.
as for tins we don't use many tins at all, the wife has soup for lunch at work and thats about it.

 

[lindsay]

Well, most of the time you can see where your stuff is with Amazon, unless the delivery person has stolen or "mis-delivered" it. That has happened to me a few times, including with high value items. I wasn't out of pocket but I don't like that people seem to get away with that. But my main beef with Amazon is the same as with most big tech - they have squeezed the smaller operators out of business because people just default to Amazon rather than looking for a local or smaller supplier. Think bookshops, especially - my nephew worked for a smaller equivalent to Amazon based in Glos, then they were bought by Amazon and most people lost their jobs.

 

[john.margetts]

For the Cornish?

I was bought up on Carmenellis Moor south of Redruth and moved to Redruth in my early 20s where I lived until my early 40s.

 

[jakeblu]

Well, most of the time you can see where your stuff is with Amazon, unless the delivery person has stolen or "mis-delivered" it. That has happened to me a few times, including with high value items. I wasn't out of pocket but I don't like that people seem to get away with that. But my main beef with Amazon is the same as with most big tech - they have squeezed the smaller operators out of business because people just default to Amazon rather than looking for a local or smaller supplier. Think bookshops, especially - my nephew worked for a smaller equivalent to Amazon based in Glos, then they were bought by Amazon and most people lost their jobs.

But, that's the way its always been, the supermarkets caused the demise of the corner shop and online shopping is causing the demise of high street. Not saying it's a good thing but I always understood capitalism was based on the creative destruction model, from the ashes a Phoenix rises.

 

[Marc]

But, that's the way its always been, the supermarkets caused the demise of the corner shop and online shopping is causing the demise of high street. Not saying it's a good thing but I always understood capitalism was based on the creative destruction model, from the ashes a Phoenix rises.

Exactly. It's inevitable and trying to stop it is like trying to stop a train by sticking out a foot!

 

[jonbeeza]

I know some see Amazon as a bad thing, but a family member or two deliver for them. So by us being lazy and get Amazon to deliver, we are keeping delivery drivers in employment. As for the bigger picture, I have no idea what the answer is.

 

[popcorn]

It's 10 months since any of my household went in a shop, which would have been unthinkable as I used to call for groceries at least 3 times a week on the way home from work (I haven't been there for all this time either) but now we have a once a week delivery and are completely used to that. In fact the only online shopping I really don't like is clothing, as I want to try stuff on, and don't want the hassle of returns. Although I hate shopping centres, Meadowhall is my nearest and I've avoided the place for years, but high streets have been dying for a long time.

I am fairly antisocial though and fully understand many people like the face to face interaction. So I think we're many many years away from a shopless society.

 

[broc]

Trouble is, I am a cheapskate Aldi man.

Aldi have started rolling out click & collect across their stores in the UK, you will be able to shop online & turn up at the store and collect your groceries, power tools & whatever else they happen to have on offer at the time. Pre-pandemic we shopped at both Sainsburys & Aldi, at the moment we are using Sainsburys C&C, as & when our local Aldi offers C&C we will go back to them again.

 

[KIPAX]

eventually. Thats the keyword... So i would agree it will... Long after all us are in the ground though I also believe nobody will have a pet dog and nobody will be smoking... Eventually...

But for now.. there are some good reasons to shop in a shop and not online..

 

[jonbeeza]

It's 10 months since any of my household went in a shop, which would have been unthinkable as I used to call for groceries at least 3 times a week on the way home from work (I haven't been there for all this time either) but now we have a once a week delivery and are completely used to that. In fact the only online shopping I really don't like is clothing, as I want to try stuff on, and don't want the hassle of returns. Although I hate shopping centres, Meadowhall is my nearest and I've avoided the place for years, but high streets have been dying for a long time.

I am fairly antisocial though and fully understand many people like the face to face interaction. So I think we're many many years away from a shopless society.

Possibly, but it may come much sooner than we think. The 90s was not that long ago, but I remember City Centres heaving with shoppers. City Centres are no longer like that, all of the well known chain stores have now gone.

 

[jonbeeza]

Aldi have started rolling out click & collect across their stores in the UK, you will be able to shop online & turn up at the store and collect your groceries, power tools & whatever else they happen to have on offer at the time. Pre-pandemic we shopped at both Sainsburys & Aldi, at the moment we are using Sainsburys C&C, as & when our local Aldi offers C&C we will go back to them again.

I think I would still like to have a nosey around our Aldi, although I will look into the click and collect option a little later on, even though I am doing an Aldi shop tomorrow.

 

[cambsno]

Possibly, but it may come much sooner than we think. The 90s was not that long ago, but I remember City Centres heaving with shoppers. City Centres are no longer like that, all of the well known chain stores have now gone.

Thinking back to pre lockdown days Cambridge Grand Arcade was heaving at weekends.

But I cant see why people would want to do all online food shopping. Fine for your tins, bottles, cleaning stuff etc... but for fresh fruit, veg & meat... If things are out of stock I will amend my meal plans so think in store what I need to get, I may plan on getting steak but if they are not that nice (too much fat) then I wont. I may choose fillet normally but if there is a nice sirloin or even rump I may go for that. It will also be based on dates, so if stuff is out of date sooner i will again rethink plans.

 

[munch]

All shops going online, is a view, of how things may pan out. It may happen, it may not, but it certainly won't happen in the next 5 years.

Just look at the expansion of "dark kitchens" (basically a kitchen that produces food for home delivery) Some supermarkets are already looking at/doing home deliveries from "central" type hubs. cutting out the need to deliver to a local store only to have a member of staff pack it for home delivery.

 

[jonbeeza]

Thinking back to pre lockdown days Cambridge Grand Arcade was heaving at weekends.

But I cant see why people would want to do all online food shopping. Fine for your tins, bottles, cleaning stuff etc... but for fresh fruit, veg & meat... If things are out of stock I will amend my meal plans so think in store what I need to get, I may plan on getting steak but if they are not that nice (too much fat) then I wont. I may choose fillet normally but if there is a nice sirloin or even rump I may go for that. It will also be based on dates, so if stuff is out of date sooner i will again rethink plans.

I don't do online food shopping, I prefer to visit the shop. I am doing my shop tomorrow, I don't like my bread squashed.

 

[jonbeeza]

I finally found out why cars go to the bottom of our Asda, and then line up in a queue. The are picking up their click and collect. It says avoid the queues and use click and collect. But they still have to queue and wait for their orders to be packed and brought out. lol

 

[Nod]

Possibly people arriving too early for their slot and refusing to get out of the queue until they've got their shopping.

 

[jonbeeza]

Possibly people arriving too early for their slot and refusing to get out of the queue until they've got their shopping.

Could not move last time, especially with the social distancing. They blocked part of the car park, with the queue snaking all the way around.

 

[Nod]

The C&C at our local Sainsbury's seems to work well - or did the last time we went to the shop (before we managed to get a home delivery slot). People were given a 5 minute window, drove up to the door, loaded their shopping and left. Someone was managing the queue, making sure that people were in their time slot. Only there for a couple of minutes - the C&C door is right by the EV charge point.

 

[lindsay]

Whilst capitalism can be cited as leading to the inevitable demise of shops, I don't think so necessarily, because there are a significant number of people (I believe) who like to physically attend shops for the social experience, personal advice and interaction, etc, and niche shops provide that which big shops and online don't. We have seen the demise of department stores, because in the search for cost efficiencies they went down the road of bringing in franchises to the exclusion of own brand and indeed their own brand marketing. Dept stores became virtual marketplaces rather than one stop shops. It's ironic because at one time, largely middle class shoppers treated the likes of a House of Fraser store as a bricks and mortar Amazon; but the dept stores failed to capitalise on what they had to offer - personal service and expertise - and offer it to a new demographic. John Lewis has done better than the majority, but I think they are managing a downward trajectory of their business.
I believe the younger generations are rediscovering that which made the High St successful in the 60's and maybe 70's - specialist shops leading fashion and design, tech and niche hobbies, because leisure is (notwithstanding CV19) the new growth sector - outdoor pursuits, sport, e-sports; I'm probably too old to identify most of the cool things, but I believe this is the direction of travel.

 

[Dave Canon]

And it will take a very long time before the computer-illiterate generation has died out and everyone can shop online, ignoring the very real problems that people who don't have and can't get bank accounts face, and the problems of extremely poor internet in many rural areas.

Who are they and why are they computer illiterate. My mother was over 80 when she got stuck into a computer and certainly mastered Microsoft Office, Google searches, on-line shopping, family tree research and emails. My wife runs a Townswomen's Guild and many of their members are coping well. Recently she helped a 90 year old member to use Zoom who soon afterwards was advising her elderly neighbours. During the Blair administration there was free computer training for unemployed and retired folks. My wife took advantage and obtained a C&G and this is where my 80+ year old mother learnt the basics as well. Unfortunately, Blair pulled the funding and that was that.

It does not have to be poor internet in rural areas. We were comparing performance at a Camera Club Committee as we need high upload speed for running/hosting certain AV shows on Zoom. One of the guys lives in a country village and has 700M b/s both ways. It seems that his local Parish Council arranged with a contractor and they have a satellite dish on the church spire and local high speed links to various homes. In my camera club the average age is over 60 and a relatively small number are still not used to Zoom meetings. Attendance at our Zoom meetings is about the same as when we physically met. However, we have been able to hold international meetings, one we shared with a club in the USA and a lecture form Georgia on the Black Sea, a judge from Dublin and in a few weeks a shared session with Australia. When things return to "normal". while we will meet in a Hall again, we do not intend to drop Zoom completely as it has had several advantages and has been enjoyed by members.

I do not have an answer for those who do not have bank accounts but surely they could be helped in some way. The number is 1.3M and the main reasons are that they cannot open an account because of identity reasons or just do not want a bank account.

Dave

 

[Garry Edwards]

Who are they and why are they computer illiterate. My mother was over 80 when she got stuck into a computer and certainly mastered Microsoft Office, Google searches, on-line shopping, family tree research and emails. My wife runs a Townswomen's Guild and many of their members are coping well. Recently she helped a 90 year old member to use Zoom who soon afterwards was advising her elderly neighbours. During the Blair administration there was free computer training for unemployed and retired folks. My wife took advantage and obtained a C&G and this is where my 80+ year old mother learnt the basics as well. Unfortunately, Blair pulled the funding and that was that.

It does not have to be poor internet in rural areas. We were comparing performance at a Camera Club Committee as we need high upload speed for running/hosting certain AV shows on Zoom. One of the guys lives in a country village and has 700M b/s both ways. It seems that his local Parish Council arranged with a contractor and they have a satellite dish on the church spire and local high speed links to various homes. In my camera club the average age is over 60 and a relatively small number are still not used to Zoom meetings. Attendance at our Zoom meetings is about the same as when we physically met. However, we have been able to hold international meetings, one we shared with a club in the USA and a lecture form Georgia on the Black Sea, a judge from Dublin and in a few weeks a shared session with Australia. When things return to "normal". while we will meet in a Hall again, we do not intend to drop Zoom completely as it has had several advantages and has been enjoyed by members.

I do not have an answer for those who do not have bank accounts but surely they could be helped in some way. The number is 1.3M and the main reasons are that they cannot open an account because of identity reasons or just do not want a bank account.

Dave

There are innumerable people who don't understand computers, don't want one and don't know how to use them. I have a friend like that, we all tease him but he just doesn't see the point of computers and he will never change.

We have a small farm in North Yorkshire, we do have internet but it can sometimes take several minutes just to load a simple webpage. Our mobile phones often don't work there either, there are certain spots where they do and plenty where they don't. It doesn't matter what governments say, providers won't spend a lot of money on providing an efficient service in an area in which only 34 people live in a 25 mile square area.

 

[JohnC6]

Just to break it down

What's good health got to do with it? If you're not in good health, online shopping is an advantage I would've thought. It certainly is for me.

Why would you need a credit card?

Internet access? I would imagine 99% of people have this now.

One word that seems to have been missed from the OP's post is 'eventually'. As in the thread about electric cars, people seem to be saying that we can't do something in the future because the infrastructure isn't there now.

I can't find the thread on electric cars but on January 19th this article was in the Guardian.I can't recall how I came to see it, though. A big step in the right direction.

Electric car batteries with five-minute charging times produced

Exclusive: first factory production means recharging could soon be as fast as filling up petrol or diesel vehicles

www.theguardian.com

 

[wyx087]

Online shopping is great, before the 'rona, I already do vast majority of buying online. Big rainforest for most stuff, also look on 'bay for price, Screwfix for DIY stuff and others.

The only times we, as a family, used to go out to buy stuff is when wife wants to buy clothing or grocery. The former does require trying on and I don't think posting and returning majority is a sustainable way to go about things, so high street cloths shops will still be required. The latter can be done online, we now do weekly click+collect, and it has been wonderful, no more time wasted in the supermarket and anything we need over the week can be quickly added to the cart.

I can't find the thread on electric cars but on January 19th this article was in the Guardian.I can't recall how I came to see it, though. A big step in the right direction.

Electric car batteries with five-minute charging times produced

Exclusive: first factory production means recharging could soon be as fast as filling up petrol or diesel vehicles

www.theguardian.com

Again, the question is sustainability. The quicker these super fast charging cars become available means higher risk of no consumer behaviour change. There is no way the grid infrastructure can sustain similar amount of throughput as current petrol stations if most cars are recharged in 5m and sit doing nothing rest of its life.

For sustainable uptake of EV, we need them to be plugged in whenever possible. They can then help the grid to push up renewable energy mix when they are not being driven. I hope that behavioural change happens for everyone who can plug in, before these 5m charging cars become available for those who can't. As the saying goes, old habit die hard.

Your car could act as a giant battery to power your home

We’re trialling this tech now with our groundbreaking Powerloop bundle, one of the world’s first mass domestic V2G projects, and the most cutting-edge work being done by Nissan in this field. Click here to read about Nissan’s work with this technology.

octopus.energy

Back to this thread: Old habits like visiting shops

 

[jonbeeza]

Online shopping is great, before the 'rona, I already do vast majority of buying online. Big rainforest for most stuff, also look on 'bay for price, Screwfix for DIY stuff and others.

The only times we, as a family, used to go out to buy stuff is when wife wants to buy clothing or grocery. The former does require trying on and I don't think posting and returning majority is a sustainable way to go about things, so high street cloths shops will still be required. The latter can be done online, we now do weekly click+collect, and it has been wonderful, no more time wasted in the supermarket and anything we need over the week can be quickly added to the cart.



Back to this thread: Old habits like visiting shops

I can't really buy things like shoes online, as I like to try shoes on. I can be in a shoe shop and try ten pairs on, before I find a pair that fits comfortably. No way I could try 10 pairs online, then send them all back, it just would not be cost wise for the retailer.

 

[wyx087]

I can't really buy things like shoes online, as I like to try shoes on. I can be in a shoe shop and try ten pairs on, before I find a pair that fits comfortably. No way I could try 10 pairs online, then send them all back, it just would not be cost wise for the retailer.

Yes. shoes, clothing, even mattress and chairs. Anything that needs trying, because everyone is different, will need to stay around in brick and mortar.

But kids clothing store, I'd argue can be online only. They will grow into it!
Furniture? I can see bigger sections dedicated to sofa/chairs and mattress, Everything else can be ordered from catalogue.
Electronics and electrical? definitely online only (though bots for high demand items might be a problem)
DIY store? Screwfix model works really well. IMHO.
Car dealers? Service department will have to stay, but I can see sales shrink to just handling deliveries and pre-booked test drives.
Car parts like Halford? Become like Argos/Screwfix/EuroCarParts, catalogue ordering and collection only. Halford shrunken down to essentially just service bikes.
Supermarket? More delivery slots would be great!

Of course, Camera shops? I don't know, I haven't been in a physical store for years. All my camera gear were bought blind based on its capabilities on the spec sheet and reviews. If you use it professionally, you could rent one for a week before deciding, this will obviously give you more feedback than 2 hr in a shop.

We have a small farm in North Yorkshire, we do have internet but it can sometimes take several minutes just to load a simple webpage. Our mobile phones often don't work there either, there are certain spots where they do and plenty where they don't. It doesn't matter what governments say, providers won't spend a lot of money on providing an efficient service in an area in which only 34 people live in a 25 mile square area.

Satellite internet provider?

Elon Musk's Starlink given green light in UK

The satellite internet service is already being offered to a small number of UK consumers.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Garry Edwards]

Yes. shoes, clothing, even mattress and chairs. Anything that needs trying, because everyone is different, will need to stay around in brick and mortar.

But kids clothing store, I'd argue can be online only. They will grow into it!
Furniture? I can see bigger sections dedicated to sofa/chairs and mattress, Everything else can be ordered from catalogue.
Electronics and electrical? definitely online only (though bots for high demand items might be a problem)
DIY store? Screwfix model works really well. IMHO.
Car dealers? Service department will have to stay, but I can see sales shrink to just handling deliveries and pre-booked test drives.
Car parts like Halford? Become like Argos/Screwfix/EuroCarParts, catalogue ordering and collection only. Halford shrunken down to essentially just service bikes.
Supermarket? More delivery slots would be great!

Of course, Camera shops? I don't know, I haven't been in a physical store for years. All my camera gear were bought blind based on its capabilities on the spec sheet and reviews. If you use it professionally, you could rent one for a week before deciding, this will obviously give you more feedback than 2 hr in a shop.



Satellite internet provider?

Elon Musk's Starlink given green light in UK

The satellite internet service is already being offered to a small number of UK consumers.

www.bbc.co.uk

From the link " UK consumers will pay £439 for the gear and a further £84 a month to receive Starlink's broadband. "
So no, it's unaffordable for a small charity that operates from a small farm. The main concern is the phone reception, for safety reasons, but we've covered that by having a licensed two-way radio system. We just have to live with the internet problems.

 

[wyx087]

Fair enough, each to their own.

But the argument that rural area lack acceptable internet infrastructure will soon become invalid.

Personally, I think over 150Mbps for £84 a month is not expensive, as long as it's reliable. A few years ago I was still paying £46 a month for 50Mbps and I'd happily continue to pay for this because I've had zero downtime since install back in 2014.

Starlink Internet From Space: Faster Than 95% Of USA

At least one early Starlink internet service customer says he is getting 161 megabits/second download and 23 megabits/second upload speed.

www.forbes.com

I'd happily pay more than that price if I can upgrade my home FTTC to FTTP with same level of reliability (not Virgin). 30ms ping for satellite internet is no good to me for gaming.

 

[robj20]

Fair enough, each to their own.

But the argument that rural area lack acceptable internet infrastructure will soon become invalid.

Personally, I think over 150Mbps for £84 a month is not expensive, as long as it's reliable. A few years ago I was still paying £46 a month for 50Mbps and I'd happily continue to pay for this because I've had zero downtime since install back in 2014.

Starlink Internet From Space: Faster Than 95% Of USA

At least one early Starlink internet service customer says he is getting 161 megabits/second download and 23 megabits/second upload speed.

www.forbes.com

I'd happily pay more than that price if I can upgrade my home FTTC to FTTP with same level of reliability (not Virgin). 30ms ping for satellite internet is no good to me for gaming.

Must be mad I pay £35 a month for 300Mbps/30Mbps. I wouldn't pay much more for any speed.

 

[Nod]

But the argument that rural area lack acceptable internet infrastructure will soon become invalid.

They've been saying that rural internet will be improved for years. Even some city centres have relatively slow connections despite continual promises from BT that they're working on the problem.

 

[hashcake]

Most of my shopping for years had been done via the internet except for food shopping.
I do tend to buy clothes from shops as I like to try an item on such as trousers before buying but I've started to buy trainers online.
I use scan & go in Asda as I loathe food shoping so the sooner I can get in and out, the better.
Amazon are my prefered choice if cheaper than elsewhere and prime more than pays for itself.
I don't feel guilty about no using a staffed checkout in the supermarket as I still think we are years away from a totally self service set up.
I don't think the internet can be blamed for all the shops that have closed, sadly Debenhams have been in trouble for years before being sold off and I do think a large
part of that is perhaps less footfall through the stores.
I still know people who like to go into town and browse shops but I would say generally most of these are older people rather than youngsters.
It is a shame we've seen quite a few big companies go tits.up.com but then people told me the likes of Toys R Us and Mother Care were quite expensive.

 

[Major Eazy]

Just saw the news this morning, and more high street shops are struggling, and more have gone out of business. A business analyst was saying, "eventually all shops will be online only, even the supermarket will be online only". I hope not, as I love going and picking my own shopping. I like to see what I am buying, before I buy it.

I have seen threads about online shopping on here, but nothings about all shopping being done online eventually.

I don't think so.

A lot of people would prefer to be able to pick up a production, and have a proper look at it, like reading the small notices on the packaging. Some would prefer to weight it and see how large it is. If it's clothes, some would want to feel it as well as try it on.

Websites may fail to display all the information on the box. A website may give the measurement of a new model DSLR, but once it arrived by post and you pick it up, you may find it too small or too large. That jumper you ordered got the wrong kind of cotton or wool.

I believe shops will be still around for many years to come, it will take a long time before shopping is online only.

 

[jonbeeza]

I don't think so.

A lot of people would prefer to be able to pick up a production, and have a proper look at it, like reading the small notices on the packaging. Some would prefer to weight it and see how large it is. If it's clothes, some would want to feel it as well as try it on.

Websites may fail to display all the information on the box. A website may give the measurement of a new model DSLR, but once it arrived by post and you pick it up, you may find it too small or too large. That jumper you ordered got the wrong kind of cotton or wool.

I believe shops will be still around for many years to come, it will take a long time before shopping is online only.

I do hope that food shops stay around for a while, as I just ran out of Coffee. I quickly ran over to the shop and picked a jar up.