There was no size 12 in stock, but there were two identical black dresses showing on ‘the system’, one in the City store the other equally far away (but not there in reality as it turned out).

In a world of infinite choices where faster and cheaper is two clicks away, and free overnight shipping makes closer increasingly irrelevant, every business must question why people will pay for their services.

The Internet has given plenty of businesses the opportunity to become more relevant to their customers and it’s forced others to question what they are really offering beyond the thing that they wrap up for customers to take home.

The value of everything was always in the meaning and the story we told ourselves about having, owning or doing the thing, the Internet just brought that into sharp focus.

If you can’t add value in the moment then the only opportunity open to you is to add meaning.
What reason are you giving your customers to bypass a hundred (or maybe 100 million) other choices, to get in their car or to cross the street. Opening your doors (even if they are virtual ones) isn’t enough any more.

Image by Filippo Minelli.