Prime Day is a fight for humanity

By Kathy Kyle Bonomini, Founding Partner Ampliagroup

I forgot that today was (is) Amazon Prime Day. It will continue through until tomorrow as well.

I forgot about it until I read an article about Amazon workers striking today for fairer wages. Now more than ever it is vital for us to shop local where we can and support our local grocer, restaurant, cafe, boutique, supplier of fill-in-the-blank. Our humanity might depend on it.

We all know that highstreets face the tensions associated with running a bricks-and-mortar business: the instant gratification of online shopping, a strained economy, increased business rates and rents, and parking and traffic issues. Sometimes it seems like it might be easier to "just buy it on Amazon." But before you click and have it shipped to your door, consider the people who can’t not afford to work for Amazon and the environmental impact of drivers on our transportation system. Consider the highstreet shop that might have what you are looking for.

When I think about the real fight for the highstreet, it is really a fight for humanity and local identity. When you consistently buy online you dissassociate from the highstreet retailers. Buyers have become more savyy about supply chain and ethical practices in the past decade or so. They want to know where their products come from.

The highstreet has become a battlefield and customers are losing. Shop owners are losing. Communities are losing. But they are all customers, ultimately. Shopping online has become just as exciting an experience as shopping on the highstreet - if not moreso. Now more than ever it is important to look at the impact of consistently shopping online has on the highstreet.

Unfortunately the new ethics of shopping online has shifted from who has sewn your fast fashion item of clothing to who is working in the fulfilment centre. Amazon pays their workers more than their competitors on average but it is automating it processes. On July 11, the company announced a pledge to upskill 100,000 of its associates for future positions, in anticipation of needing fewer people to run its warehouses, settng aside $700 million by 2025 for this purpose.

I see it as an internal struggle of humans versus robots. Some people care about this stuff, some people don’t and some people just haven’t the time to. (Until it affects them in some way.) Amazon itself pushes its workforce to fulfil shipments faster - needling its workforce to compete against its robots to work harder, faster. Move faster to fulfil the shipment that another human has ordered because they can’t be bothered to shop local or worse, because they can’t find it on the highstreet.

The more we shop online, the more we ‘kill’ our highstreet. The more we shop online, the faster we eliminate jobs for people. We should use online tools to celebrate, connect and engage with each other and drive traffic to our brilliant British highstreets and to our online communities.

There is something special about a highstreet shopping experience - it isn’t just the shopping - it is the history, the local food and culture, it is the independent spirit and vitality of the location…Just remember, before you thumb through a book in your local bookstore or compare prices on whatever that item may be in-store and then go buy it online, consider the implications on your highstreet.

Before you know it, your favourite bookstore will disappear and all we will be left with are nameless delivery drivers on our already congested streets. Perhaps the highstreet needs to adapt and offer what the customer wants: everything and now.

There is hope for British highstreets, and it is in the goods and services that can not be found readily on the internet - in the things that are uniquely local to our respective areas.

"Food shops and markets and malls could yet land the first punch in the retail fight back." According to Monocle, "Food can provide the succor for a sector in need of sustenance." I believe that the food industry could potentially be the saving grace for British highstreets. Together with a variety of other locally-based goods and services, they provide experiences that everyone can relate to. And they draw us in. Sustainable, unboxed, unpacked, buy only what you need-type shops could be the future. It could also be in ethical fashion or unique goods that are sourced locally. Perhaps in art or in experiences. The market will dictate what is missing and what will not only survive but excel. I can only be hopeful for the highstreet. After all, how can we let the robots win?