GameStop is one of the very few stores where I can buy used games, so seeing the stores close would be a tragedy. If they want to stay a physical store, they need to rethink their strategies. How can a store appeal to a digital market? It's a difficult challenge, but one that is not impossible to manage.
Think about it. If we were to become a digital-only world, where everything relies on the internet -
and then the power grid shuts down. Any number of reasons can cause that to happen, from a cyber-attack to something as simple as a solar flare. We'd not only be set back a hundred years or more, but it could actually cost the lives of millions! So many computers in hospitals, schools, and homes...
While this article is about GameStop, it's not just GameStop that's laying off workers. Sam's Club, Costco, Walmart, Kroger/Fred Meyer, Barnes & Noble, Target, Kmart/Sears - these and many more stores are being threatened by internet services like Craigslist, Ebay, Amazon, and several other online shopping services. These online services are convenient, but perhaps
too convenient. In fact, one indie movie called
Craigslist Joe is about a guy who tries to buy absolutely everything off of Craigslist!
We don't want to leave home, so we rely on stuff from Amazon - but at what cost? Digital services like PayPal are actually less secure than having the paper bills locked away in your safe at home! So many times, internet banking services have been hacked. The net has never been 100% secure, not even via a VPN. Want to be 100% secure on the net? Don't use it, then. So we send the checks, but we already know that mail can be mishandled. What then?
I'm not saying that we shouldn't use internet shopping services, nor am I saying that they aren't reliable. I'm just stating that
there is such a thing as too much of a good thing, being too convenient. By making everything easy and convenient, you actually set yourself up for a potential threat! Better to have the "inconvenient" stores than to not be able to buy anything at all. However, being able to buy from stores is not always easy, since
some countries like Venezuela make it very difficult to shop, period. In that case, either stand up against the dictatorship or leave the country.
There needs to be a balance between digital and physical. They
can coexist, but one does not need to dominate the other. Relying only on the physical has been done for centuries, but continuing to do so might hinder progress. On the flip side, a digital-only "utopia" presents a security and privacy risk, and can easily be hacked, attacked, and destroyed, since data is mostly fluid anyway (by fluid, I mean that it's consistently changing). Only the smartest of businessmen can learn to use both well. In GameStop's case, I'm afraid that management doesn't know how to make this possible. At least, not yet. Only time will tell.