Web2.0 and Mortar

We all know the story of the dot-com boom and bubble. Ecommerce sites were popping up with hopes of becoming successful businesses. The hype grew so big that people were predicting the end of malls and regular retail stores. Now that the hype has come and gone and regular retail still remains. Now most businesses have an online and a store presence or also known as “click and mortar”. Turns out, having both a store and an eCommerce site is the best strategy in retail.

Now we have web2.0 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web2.0). I guess web1.0 was the checkout feature and now web2.0 is the wiki, social networking, customization, blogs, and more. Websites are now appearing that are web2.0 businesses. Myspace, wikipedia, igoogle and other sites are set to be the next thing. These technologies are not necessarily profitable but companies are paying big money to buy them up for fear of missing the web2.0 boat (the purchases of friendster and youtube come to mind). But what if the conclusion of web1.0 turns out to be the proper conclusion of web2.0? What if the profitable outcome of these web2.0 business models is not just to create a website but to incorporate the features of web2.0 into a physical store. We can call it “web2.0 and mortar” or “wiki and mortar”.

Could web2.0 move to the real world? Could the experience I have when I walk into Wal-Mart be different for me that for you? Could the isle next to the milk be coffee for me but cereal for my wife? Probably not. But I can see large communities of people change the how a store operates or what it sells? a wikistore? Stores are constantly doing market research to find out what their customers want. Why not just let them define it for the store. Customers logon to the stores website and edit the wiki-inventory and add and remove new items.

Or what if you can network with other customers in the store? Would the social networks that myspace creates be created for a brick and mortar store? If a community forms around your store are they more likely to buy? Will they feel like it is their store? (i.e. a more loyal customer base.) Just like communities and social groups helped make Ebay what it is today, could the same happen for the local grocery store or for the local pizza shop? Are we as consumers on the verge of having more control or say in what we buy and what services are offered to us? Will web2.0 become a profitable business model for Brick stores? I think the answer to this will be if the large collective knowledge of customers make companies more profitable than the a few very smart executives. I think we are not far away from finding out.