We live in the Information and Technology bubble. You, me and many others are the ones using, building, developing and implementing the technology into reality and vice versa. Those of us that will embrace it will thrive. The others will follow shortly or fall behind as we have already experienced in 1999 with the technology and internet boom.
The world has reached 7 billion people in 2012 and is on its way to 8 billion people within the next 12 years. (See the Wikipedia chart below)
All those 1 billion new people, in the next 12 years, will demand clothing, food, energy, shopping, and shelter and only emerging technology will be able to satisfy that demand.
World population milestones (USCB estimates) | |||||||||
Population (in billions) |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
Year | 1804 | 1927 | 1959 | 1974 | 1987 | 1999 | 2012 | 2026 | 2042 |
Years elapsed | –– | 123 | 32 | 15 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 16 |
Businesses are now using marketing techniques that seemed impossible 20 years ago!
Some sophisticated shoppers prefer online shopping to save time and have more choice. They use laptops, tablets and mobile apps which 10 years ago did not exist.
According to the eMarketer, an online study available at: http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Global-B2C-Ecommerce-Sales-Hit-15-Trillion-This-Year-Driven-by-Growth-Emerging-Markets/1010575) that shows that the B2C online retail business has reached a value of 1.5 trillion dollars in 2014 and is set to go over 2.357 billion by 2017. Now remember, this business wasn´t here 15 years ago, and most of it was only created in the last 10 years.
Imagine webpages… every business I know has one, even some of them that have declared 15 years ago they will never accept this innovation.
Companies keeping up to date with technology and information are gaining market; a fact that stuns the conservative party and amuses the tech open minded party.
Some children growing up 20-30 years ago took over, took over multi-billion dollar companies that have done the same business for decades or even centuries and haven´t changed the strategy or tools too much. Other children grew up embracing the technology, developing themselves as they developed their businesses.
Here are few examples:
- Airbnb gained about 50 billion dollars slice of the accommodation industry in about 5 years, compared to Hilton, Marriott and many other large businesses in the arena, businesses that have not get there in decades. Why? Technology and a new mind set.
- Facebook took a large share of the advertisement industry
- Google, eBay, Travelocity,…
- Amazon gained over all book and product selling companies and took large portion of business from those traditional non technology embracing companies.
- Travelocity – gained a large business share over all travel agencies by adopting new techniques and new technology.
- CISCO, a Telecommunications hardware provider– Adopted and created VOIP technology about 17 years ago and bypassed the older conservative SS7 technology companies, leaving a burning hole in the pockets of large conservative businesses like AT&T, Bell, Sprint, Verizon, and so many more… Because they first refused the new technology, they all lost billions of dollars in business before they opened their eyes… and now everyone in Telecom industry is using VOIP!
- I know this because around the year 2000 I was one of the first adopters of VOIP technology through one of my first companies, NECC Telecom inc, followed by five other companies. This VOIP technology brought me over 500 million dollars in business ever since, and continues to do so.
So, 3D and Virtual Reality are here. Most of the businesses and retail stores in B2C will soon have a 3D website that will enable their customers to immerse in this new technology we call Virtual Reality so they can experience, view, try, feel and purchase the products. Why wait the second wave?
A lot of hotels, real estate, properties, businesses, cities and countries will soon be in 3D. Users will flood the virtual malls, shopping areas and the virtual tourist destinations.
Will your business be among the first to adopt this innovation, or will you wait until you see others succeed and start on the back foot?
The choice is all yours. I can only say for certain that you will one day embrace the VR and 3D technology; the question is how soon?
I just hope it will not be too late before you allow your customers to experience a positive impact with your business through 3D and Virtual Reality. The earlier you get into it, you earn time and experience and you can access a high percentage of these new billion users that will be joining the market in the next 12 years; not to mention the 7 billion technology savvies that are already here!
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Daniel Popa
CEO
TimeWalk Technologies
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