Fifty years ago when I was a boy my Father was a merchant (That’s how he like to describe himself). The population of our home town was about two thousand people. At that time there were three retail clothing stores and one shoe store on main street. Four families were being supported by retail apparel or shoes in this small town. I remember a conversation between my Dad and a salesman, they were saying that the failure rate of new business, within the first year, was over fifty percent.
Today there are no more retail apparel or shoes stores in my old home town. Big retailers eliminated most of them and online shopping has finished them off. This scenario has been repeated through out the south and I suspect the rest of the country.
I seriously doubt that the entrepreneurial spirit has died. In my day if someone wanted to try their hand at business most would rent a building and open some type of business. Today if you want to try your hand at business your first choice will probably be to open it online. The failure rate was high in my day and it will be high today. Some will survive and thrive, some will close. Then someone else will get bitten by the entrepreneurial bug. High failure rates for new businesses is not new. I believe Shop will be one of the first places the next generation of merchants will turn for help to get up and running. Shop will appeal to merchants world wide.
My hope is that Shop truly helps the next generation of Merchants to succeed. Also that Shop will achieve success in acquiring larger, existing business accounts. If they can succeed in these two areas I believe they have a bright future.
Kindest Regards,
Steve