Here in 2018, technology has become a mainstay. It now has its hands in everything we do from how we cook to how we sleep. Along the way, the evolution of technology has made the need for some markets negligible.
For example, when was the last time you shopped in a video rental store like Blockbuster? Thanks to companies like Netflix, Hulu, and Gamefly, we simply don’t have the need for them anymore. There are, however, some markets that are thriving in the advancement of technology. Below are three of them.
Gaming
There are probably very few of you have never heard of a video game before. Matter-of-fact, if you are reading this, you’re probably not on that list. Gaming has become one of the largest markets in the world over the past two decades.
As it continues to grow, it draws the vast majority of its success from technological advances. As the gaming world has declared its presence in the sports world, much of the globe is taking this market more seriously than it ever has. Gamers are no longer just the unmotivated, lazy youth of the planet.
They are successful game designers, tournament preparers and winners, voice over experts, and alpha and beta testers. This market has grown and the fertilizer was the advances in technology. Esports is a great example of how gaming is taking the world of tech by storm.
Realty
The history of the realty business dates back to before 400 BC. Everyone needs a place to live and in that sense, this market will always be difficult to kill off. With that said, it has been to the school of hard knocks.
The Great Depression of 1929 brought the realty market lower than it ever has been. However, in 1994, the first online realty listings became available via the public internet. This market has done nothing but explode since then.
Adding companies like Zillow and Trulia, where you can tailor your search to exactly what you are looking for, gave consumers a much faster way to cover a much larger area of land when looking for their dream home.
The age of technology also made way for businesses that feed off the realty market. Property management companies, home improvement stores, and maintenance companies are a few that have shared in the wake of success in the realty market.
Independent Bookstores
How many of you remember going to the public library to check out a book or do needed research in the periodicals for a school report? How about visiting one of the vanishing comic book stores to find that #1 issue of the Spectacular Spider Man?
It seems the only popular bookstores to survive the takeover of technology are stores like Books A Million and Hastings. Be that as it may, books have found a new river of life on the internet.
The independent online ebook stores are making it cool to sit in the bay window of your home and curl up with a good book on a rainy day again. As technology has advanced, the need for paperback and hardback books has become almost obsolete and many feared the extinction of books, in general.
However, the book market took the opportunity to morph into a power play that has proven much more difficult to snub out. Just because our public libraries are disappearing doesn’t mean that the need for information or they want to take an adventure with our imagination has dissipated.
With the advance of technology, there will understandably be markets that become a thing of the past. That said, watch out for the ones that won’t go down without a fight. They’ll be the ones that lead us to the next age, whatever that might be.
Originally posted on February 5, 2018 @ 2:56 am