Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything: 42

As almost always the case is, I am assigned an reading assignment and questions on it. However, this time, I have four questions at hand, rather than the general three. For this post, the article is The Future of Retail by Nicholas Negroponte.

1. Does Negroponte explicitly state his thesis? If so, identify it. If not, write your own thesis statement for his essay.
   
   Negroponte does not have an thesis explicitly stated in his article. My thesis statement for his article would be: "Retail is going to shift into digital in the future because it is, or will be with a few changes, more convenient than what retail is now.
    
2. How does this reading relate to Norman's concepts of user-focused design?
   
   Negroponte's main reason for thinking in such way is that online shopping is more user-friendly. The buyer does not need to go to the store, does not need to walk around the store, does not need to carry the stuff he bought back, etc... Also, if the store does not have the product or if they are out, the user saves a trip. Negroponte also implies that the price of the products online are cheaper than in a store. These all apply to Norman's user-focused design concept: according to Negroporte, online shopping is more friendly to the user in every way. He further states that it is more convenient for the stores to switch to online retail, since they won't need to pay rent anymore.
    
3. Negroponte published this in 1998; to what extent do his ideas remain relevant today?
    
   Negroponte's ideas have became true for today in the core. People are inclined more towards online shopping, however, not in the extend he predicts. Negroponte almost says that all the retail stores are going to be closed, however, if not more, there are as many retail stores and retail store shoppers as there was in 1998. His point about the bookstores is quite a description for the situation today. However, his predictions fail when it comes to online food shopping: we do not have refrigerator-mailboxes. It might be because people still like the physically feeling or seeing their product, or another reason, but online shopping for food is not a big trend. Negroponte further says peer-to-peer buying and selling will be more popular since people will want to buy homemade food. Yes, people dare more careful with what they eat now, however, rather than peer-to-peer homemade food shopping, we have huge companies selling organic food. Overall, he does successfully predict that there will be an in increase in the use of online shopping, however his guess is way too higher than the situation nowadays.
    
4. What predictions would you make about the Future of Retail?
    
   I do not believe there will be drastic changes in retail. There will most likely be alterations. Since the humankind is more caring towards the environment now, to save energy almost through every aspect of retail shopping, online shopping might become more popular. On the other hand, people will still want to feel their clothes or food, these things will still be bought from stores. Other items however, like electronics, might be bought online more. Also, computers and internet access will be even more common in the future, which will affect this topic; probably increase the popularity of online shopping.