Economics/Geekonomics

Wal-Mart: A Victory Lap and Some Cold Water

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Well I’m feeling flush with excitement.  First I got it kinda right on 3D printing, and now there’s another case where you’ll need to check my ego: Wal-Mart seems to be obviously moving forward with e-Commerce.   Awhile ago I suspected Wal-Mart could indeed “go geeky”, so I’ll consider this a partial victory.

In short, Wal-Mart clearly has to move with the times to have a presence in e-Commerce, and is clearly doing it.  I’d add that when you throw on it’s mobile investments, Silicon Valley skunkworks, and Vudu, it can play pretty big.

But since I first speculated on what Wal-Mart can do, I think their reputation has gotten worse.  I’m no fan of Wal-Mart at all, so consider my bias pre-announced, but I think that people think even less of them than they did a few years ago.

So here’s where I see a potential issue: Wal-Mart’s reputation can affect their ability to move forward.  I present this, of course, for analysis.

First, there’s a recruiting issue.  I know plenty of people who won’t even go into a Wal-Mart, so how many are going to want to work for them?  Not sure how a big of a dent this’ll put into potential talent, but I’m sure the dent is there.

Also keep this in mind – working at Wal-Mart puts that on people’s resumes.  How many people who would work for Wal-Mart would not do so due to what others may think.

Secondly, there’s the competitor issue.  Yes, Wal-Mart has a huge “install base,” but it also has penny of people gunning for it directly (Target, Amazon) as well as indirectly (virtually everyone else).  All it takes is an alliance between several ornery competitors to give Wal-Mart some pain.

Third, I think Wal-Mart may be at a demographic disadvantage.  I’m not sure how well their current demographic is going to adapt to a more high-tech Wal-Mart, and what kind of heavy e-commerce base they can count on.  I’m not sure, frankly.

Fourth, back to reputation.  Wal-Mart has a repetitional weakness that competitors, issue #2, could probably use against them.  If you think others won’t get nasty, think again – especially considering Wal-Mart could be a serious threat to them.

So quick summary of this:

  • I think Wal-Mart is moving forward.
  • I think competitors will use Wal-Mart’s reputation issues against them, and in some cases they won’t have to try.  It could lead to some very strange bedfellows.
  • If Wal-Mart gets highly aggressive, this is going to be really interesting.  I suspect they’re going to go for gradual evolution instead – far easier.

Could be a very interesting time in the Geekonomy.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

How 3D Printing Is Moving Forward

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As you have may seen on our Twitter feed, Staples is going to have in-store 3D Printers.

This isn’t one of the plastic thread printers I usually talk about because they’re well known and my friends have them.  They’re MCor’s IRIS printer (http://www.mcortechnologies.com/products/iris/) which actually uses colored, glued, and cut paper.  It’s basically making things out of faux colored wood.  At least appearance-wise these things can be more advanced than your home 3d printer with single or two colors of plastic.

Awhile ago I noted that 3D printing could spread like Print On Demand.  I noted that a store like Lowes or Home Depot could have a 3D printer, much as CVS had made a POD deal with Kodak.  I guess it arrived – though as opposed to doing 3D printing while I get PVC pipe, I’ll get it while checking out some awesome folders.

In short, I’d like to do a victory lap for predicting this could happen – then get down to the repercussions of it.

I was mostly right!

OK, not an overly satisfying victory lap.  So let’s move on – what does this mean, in my expert opinion.

PROMINENCE: This is pretty prominent.  People go to Staples for all sorts of things, which you can tell because of Staple’s at-times oddball selections.  They do a lot and serve a lot of needs, so many people are going to get to exposed to 3D Printing.  This will probably accelerate acceptance.

CONTEXT: I predicted that 3D printing would first appear in more hardware-oriented contexts, or perhaps be something CVS piled onto.  I was wrong here, but the context is interesting.  People will be exposed to 3D printing in more of an office/professional/utility context.  I think this means it will be seen as more a media/creative/business tool than as a hardware/goods tool if there’s widespread public exposure.

COMPETITION: I don’t know how well this will work, and I’m kind of easily distracted by how cool it is.  If it is a success, then you can expect others to copy it (I’m looking at you, Office Max).  What we want to monitor is if it’s rational adaption or bandwagon-jumping.

COMPETITION THE SECOND: If this works out you think other companies making (or wanting to make) 3D printers won’t jump on the bandwagon?  I expect the bandwagon has a lot of room.

OPPORTUNITIES: This still presents opportunities for people who will work with the 3D printers, those who maintain them, and those who install and teach on them.  At least if this works out – might be something to pay attention too.  You may want to start putting 3D Printing on that resume . . .

LEGAL ISSUES: Oh, you just imagine the ways people will try to keep 3D printers from printing things that are of dubious legal nature.  I note this in general, but we’re probably going to hear more of it.

MEDIA PROMINENCE: I want to watch how people react in the greater media to this – if at all.  It could bring 3D printing into greater prominence, and in a positive way, unlike the edgy issues of 3D Printed guns.

This is a big step forward in 3D printing, my geeks.  Pay attention.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Economic Common Sense Goes Derp

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You know the story.  We just don’t train people in manufacturing, and thus we’d have more people employed, but there’s just that skills gap, right?

Wrong.  Turns out the problem is that manufacturing has changed, and employers paying the properly-educated people lousy wages means they’re not interested. The skills gap is made up – but in danger of becoming a real skills gap.

Or maybe that war stimulates the economy – which is usually based on the experience of World War II, which wasn’t what we thought and really doesn’t apply to today.

We can go through more of course.  Remember when home investment was a great and unbeatable idea?  That was one ruined economy ago.  We could talk about the idea that certain degrees are always employable, or how MySpace was unbeatable, or . . . you get the idea.

It doesn’t take much work to dredge up economic myths.  Just look at how the Freakonomics guys became famous with one simple book.  Really I need to find a way to make money by telling people they’re full of it.  Maybe it can be like the Monty Python argument sketch.

I treasure these stories, in fact I seek them out, because a lot of economic common sense is just plain wrong.  A lot of us get taught many things are too good to be true, but it seems that when we dress it up with economic language, we somehow will believe anything.

We have to remember how much crap we believe, economically.  A few things I’ve found help me stay aware of real economic issues:

You Need To be Informed: Follow economic news.  Yes I harped on this for years, but trust me.  I usually follow:

You Need To Be Hands On: Do as much of your own budget and financial planning as possible (but hire or ask for help when you need to).  That visceral understanding is very helpful.

Economics Is A Religion: Like it or not a lot of people deal with economics as areas of unquestioning faith and overarching universal assumptions – and they’re often full of it.  Don’t trust someone who doesn’t show sufficient explanation or skepticism.

Economics Has Plenty of Conmen:  Merely look at Jim Cramer and why John Stewart took him apart.  Don’t trust anyone who doesn’t have some credibility, puts on a crazy show, or sells out.  There is money in selling people B.S.

It May Change:  Much as Nate Silver’s poll analyses brought attention to how many pundits are full of it, I’m hoping the trend towards reality-intensive news and analysis continues.  I’m not gonna hold my breath, but still, it’s promising.

We all believe plenty of economic myths because a lot of it is ideology, it is hope, it is information, and it is wrapped around a damned difficult science.  But for the sake of our careers, we can try and disarm it.

Besides we’re geeks.  We’re good at information and thinking out of the box.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.