Evolution of Shopping

VO: Get ready for your semi-regular dose of random ideas from the guys at codelation. We like to talk about big ideas companies that are winning, and those that aren't along with current events in our crazy world of software startups. So come along with Eric and Josh, who challenge you to think big, start small and turn your ideas into something on this episode of, from idea to done.

Josh: Hey everyone I'm Josh

Erick: I'm Erick. And this week's idea is holiday shopping in 2020. So cyber Monday is on my birthday this year and it's right after black Friday and small business Saturday. And so I feel like in our lifetime shopping has just like crazily evolved. And as an app development company, I kind of just wanted to chat about that evolution. So Christmas is coming. How has Christmas shopping changed for your family, Josh, since your first Christmas with your,

Josh: Um, so if I can do math, our first black Friday was 12 years ago and I I'd say it's changed a good deal. You know, that was very much a time that people would go stand in line something I obviously never did, but you know, I, I hear people do that or didn't do that.

Erick: Yeah. And I came from a retail background and I remember getting up at 3:00 AM the day after Thanksgiving to go work on black Friday and fighting crowds and lines and lines all the way around the store and waiting for two hours. And I even remember there was like people in line, outside the store, talking to people in other lines at different stores, like via walkie talkies, which is just kind of crazy. It was absolute man as an, I actually loved it, but I tend to embrace madness more than others.

Josh: For me. I worked one black Friday in college at best buy. And I think I lasted four days after that. That was the end of my retail experience,

Erick: You know, and when I was a manager that was like throwing people into the fire and see if they would make it it's those that weekend. And it's completely changed. And I full disclosure, I kinda miss it since I always had to work them. What I would actually do as I'd go out the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and I'd look for anything that was on an end cap and just buy it at full price. And then I would stroll back in to target on black Friday after working my 3:00 AM till noon shift, I'd take my receipt and say, oh, magically some of these things I bought when on sale. And then it wouldn't like literally take hundreds of dollars off of my purchase and I didn't have to wait three hours in line to check out like everyone else. And there, I kind of felt like a boss. I won't tell anyone Eric let's okay. Target target. No.

Josh: Yeah. You know, I never did any black Friday shopping getting up super early to stand in line, wait in the cold. And you know, just for the chance of a cheap off-brand TV, I I'm I'm okay.

Erick: And you know, everything with that statement and everything, that's an annoying problem to some people turns into a different way of doing things and, you know, changing things for the better like that as our whole business model, it's just a build solutions. And so to combat how stupid it was to wake up at three, put people in actual danger and pull people away from their families just to get rid of the excess inventory stores had going into Christmas. They came up with cyber Monday and I actually rarely have ever bought things on cyber Monday, Josh, as a complete opposite shopper of me. Do you participate in some of that stuff?

Josh: You know, if I go back 10, 12 years, yes, we did do a lot of cyber Monday deals. However, you know, now it just seems like any Amazon Walmart, anyone online can run their own cyber Monday specials anytime they want to. So I think it kind of lessened the impact of it.

Erick: Well, and inventories have just evolved so much too. You know, you buy a train full of family guide DVDs because people still have DVDs, right. And he put them on sale for one day. Now you have that train fall. And if it doesn't work out, you can send an email saying, oh, we have a train full. And it's still at train full of family guy DVD pricing. And so it's kind of changed a lot, but I think it's good. I did end up doing a little online shopping and I had to get all of them up at babies for my niece.

Josh: That's that's fair. Um, yeah. You know, there, there is this thing called Amazon. I know you're not a huge fan of, but

Erick: I all these mega companies, I mean, it's okay when we become a mega company, but until then I just, they kind of created a new problem though. And I mean, even when Walmart came into places and they brand small businesses out of town, Amazon's business model is doing the exact same thing at like a grocer rate. And that's kinda why I don't like them to be honest, this is fair, but the solution to that problem ended up being small business Saturday. And so what are your thoughts on that as a small business?

Josh: You know, I think it's a good thing to, I'm talking out both sides of my mouth here, but I think it's a good thing to support small business. I don't personally do as good of a job as I'd like. Um, you know, it's, for me, it's kind of the excuse of convenience and everything versus taking the time, getting down to the store and, and really shopping. I'm a, I'm a convenience buyer. So again, I'm talking to both sides of my mouth, but I, I do like the concept of it.

Erick: I it's too convenient to do everything. And I avoided, um, doing the target contactless pickup until there was a pandemic. And now I don't, I don't know if I could go back, but at the same time this year has brought its own weird challenges. And so I'm, I'm kind of going to get back into asking for gift cards and things from restaurants I'd like and get video games from our friends, CJ. And this is just kind of how I want to do things. So how are you going to approach shopping a little differently or will you do it any different?

Josh: You know, over the last few years, we've kind of gotten into the habit, at least for the, the adults. Um, we'll make like a lot of different granolas or candied fruits or homemade chocolates. And that's been kind of a fun thing to do cause it is, you know, personal, it's not something we just grabbed off a shelf for, um, for the kids. I mean, we still spend too much money on gifts for kids and things they don't need, but

Speaker 4: My baby, they need them.

Erick: And yeah, this kind of gets back to just the evolution and I, it just, it's crazy to me. How much shopping has changed in her life? What do you think like the next big step is?

Josh: You know, that's, that's a good question. Cause I mean, right now we're in the middle of like same day delivery for Amazon and Walmart. Like we've tackled the convenience of not having to leave your house and put pants on. We've now tackled the, I want it quicker and faster. Like, I don't know, like it just gets 3d printed in your, your kitchen and no time or gets beamed to you. Like I'm not sure what the next thing would be. My

Erick: Thoughts are it's going to be delivering things via drones that look like Santa slate, but that's probably enough of our thoughts on shopping.

Josh: Thank you for listening. We are hoping, you know, a startup that could use our advice and random thoughts, send them over to codelation-bedrock.flywheelstaging.com to hear the next podcast.