[Cattle Rustler]

(08-08-2016 05:52 PM)Leo_Decashio Wrote:  

(08-08-2016 04:50 PM)Cattle Rustler Wrote:  

The ultra rich don't prize "inefficiency", they value "experience". Efficiency is in the eyes of the beholder, much like beauty. The Chanel/Lambo store experience might be a bitch to us but great to Mos Def or *InsertRichPerson*.

This article explains perfectly the current state of malls, the average malls are in life support while the luxury ones are on steroids when it comes to traffic and earnings.

http://www.racked.com/2016/8/2/12290506/...oast-plaza

Instead of fighting "the man", join in.

Great article about the growth of luxury retail in general and South Coast Plaza in particular, thanks for the link. Brought back memories of the bar at charlie palmer, which is a good spot for upper class OC chicks.

Some telling quotes from the article:

"upmarket meccas account for 44 percent of all mall value, despite only representing about 10 percent of the entire American mall pie".

Follows the same trend predicted by Robin Hanson/Tyler Cowen/et all a decade ago that luxury industries catering to the ultrarich will start to take bigger and bigger slices of the economy as advances in automation and globalization solidify the gains at the top.

"One leg-up for brick and mortar, specifically luxury brick and mortar, is what retail experts call "touch factor." Trying on a Valentino gown, feeling the weight of a Cartier tennis bracelet on your wrist, climbing into a BMW and smelling the new leather upholstery. "You don't mind walking into those high end retailers. You don't mind being seen in one of those stores," says Gold. "Those brands have been able to be the one exception where you want to touch it, feel it, be a part of it."

Interesting to see what the technological limitations are on replicating this "touch factor" at home through VR/AR. There are already apps out there that scan your photos and then overlay clothes you may want to buy on top of your figure, but they are ridiculously rudimentary. How real will the simulation get?

VR/AR is making great strides and is just learning how to walk, as seen in Pokemon GO. A head honcho at Dreamworks recently stated in a conference that within 10 years we will be able to interact with movies, as in talking to the movie and the movie will respond. To me that seems stupid, a bunch of different people talking at the same time inside a cinema but beats me. So we're about to enter the "iphone app" phase where simple stuff get launched easily (tic tac toe on iphone) and then innovation will be the differentiator (Pokemon Go).

Some rides at Six Flags are now "4D" where you get to experience things through touch. There's a SpongeBob Square-pants ride in their Dallas location where mist is sprayed during the ride and the floor shakes as well giving you a "full immersion" experience. Now rides want you to "feel" as well or even interact with you, such as XBOX kinect. I think the last stage we went through was online gaming, where previously played with their friends on one TV.....people could now play with Lin Lin in China.

If you're gonna sell, sell to the following: Rich old white women. They are scared of their fading looks and will throw money to fix the issue.

Touch factor will be cool for window shopping or those who want to experience how it feels to have luxury items. Luxury consumers won't take VR as a substitute even if the experience were the same, they want the real deal. It's hard to substitute "dem feelz". A VR Cartier bracelet won't give her the tingles as much as the real deal will, and as we know....women will go to great lengths to satisfy their hamster. This is coming from previous experience in dealing with this demographic, you can throw them a great discount, free shipping, great customer service but they would rather drive somewhere and try it out because if it doesn't fit and they don't like it then their time was wasted. They value their time more than anything since they cannot get it back and they could have been having spa/country club time....or mojitos at some "see and be seen" spot

Would you rather try a BMW in Gran Turismo 6 or on Pacific Coast Highway?

Edit: In the end we will end up with two things....Walmart for the masses and South Coast Plaza's for the ballers. People can only complain about "the elite" so much, join them (get rich by selling them what they want) or be their serf (worker) because there won't be a middle class.