Great question Angel, I believe bricks & mortar commerce and e-commerce are closely coupled under the banner of general consumer spending. While I think we might see a shift to online shopping in the short term, as the price index of core goods increases we will see both online and real world luxury item spending decrease. I'm a bit of a pessimist so take what I'm about to say with a pinch of salt. I believe we are just at the start of a major correction in the model of unlimited 'economic' growth. The concept of peak-oil has been preceded by a dramatic increase in global demand for fuel and petroleum based products. Demand has, and from here forward, outstripped supply on a finite resource. There will be no return to cheap petrol. To underline the impact on the US economy, at $2/gallon the average household spent around 10-12% on petrol, at $4/gallon we're spending around of a 1/4 of our disposable income. Those figures are not going to improve. Now, a little out of left field but I highly recommend watching this ted talk on why the US is going to have an extraordinarily hard time adjusting to higher petrol prices. http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/james_howard_kunstler_dissects_suburbia.html
While I'm a pessimist and the direct answer to your question is a forecast of tough times ahead for anyone in the consumer space I would like to turn the issue around to; how are we part of the solution, what has the general realization that we cant continue #$%ing the planet over got to do with interaction design? http://designersaccord.org/about/da_dd.html "At this cultural inflection point ... we need to do more than play corporate catch-up or throw our hats into the ever-enlarged PR ring of greenery. We need to stimulate mass change. In the same way that we approach design challenges - not by purporting to have all of the answers, but instead by assuredly asking the right questions - we must recognize that we don't have the solution yet because our formula has been wrong. Our addiction to sweeping change has hobbled us from seeing the most obvious opportunities for improvement ... Our first green products must be ourselves." Who do you work for? Why? Is you work going to leave the world a better place for your children? /pauric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=31262 ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
