Roads? Where We're Going, We Don't Need Roads

This is a guest blog post for my sister's former company, Prizmiq. Surprisingly, I found the draft unpublished from November of 2014. So, here it is. I hope it feels as if you are stepping into a time machine.





When I was younger, I used to HATE going to a shopping mall. The endless walks from store to store and the amount of time spent in each store was nauseating. Maybe I am exaggerating a bit, but it was not my favorite thing to do on a Saturday afternoon. And normally, we ended up not buying what we came for which resulted in a purchase of something completely different or nothing at  all. We wasted valuable time I could have spent catching more Pokemon on my Gameboy, and that made me pretty distraught. 

Flash forward to the present, and I can tolerate shopping now. However, I limit my time in malls and retail stores because I can find better things to do than walking around mindlessly wondering what to buy with my money. I make better decisions shopping online. The internet has become my best shopping buddy with countless sites to research anything from smartphones to plungers. The internet also gives me the opportunity to compare products which I use to make my decision. But even after all of the tools the internet  has to make a purchase, there is an advantage to shopping malls that give consumers a reason to travel to the stores' location. That advantage is being able to touch the product before buying it. It is the lack of confidence in our online purchase that forces us to go to the store in the first place.

Buyers will drive on average 25 miles to a shopping mall and spend about two hours inside spending money on items for which they did not plan to purchase. Sound familiar? Call it retail therapy or whatever you like, but everyone can agree we can spend less time in malls if we knew exactly what we we wanted to purchase before we left the house. Given the fact that about 80% of consumers in the U.S. research a product before they make a trip to the store shows that we all want to shop online. Again, it is the lack of confidence that deters us from clicking the "checkout" button.

I Don't Know How To Tell You This, 

But We're In A Time Machine.

What if there was a way to shop online with confidence that the product we just bought will show up on our doorstep exactly how we expected it? Something that will allow us to view the product at every angle and inspect each detail that we believe is important in each product. What if you were able to see what that watch looked like on your wrist from Rolex's website or swing that Louisville Slugger bat while in your living room? Will that change your mind about shopping online? This is where online shopping is going and Prizmiq is paving that "road" in 2015.

As we near closer to the inevitable future, our shopping lifestyles will change for the better. Say goodbye to long car rides to congested malls that just stress us out anyway. Shopping with confidence is what we yearn, and it will get delivered right to your doorstep. All of a sudden, there is a strong feeling that comes over me that I have never felt before. I can't wait to shop!