First (fun) fact: David Bell, the writer, is a pure blood Kiwi; he succeeds from the first pages of his book to mix references from the All Blacks, Lorde, and Invercargill, his home town. If you dream about the Southern hemisphere, buy the book. Yes, even if you do not care about e-commerce and/or Internet and/or academic research. New Zealand inhabitants are so few that
On the left, a map of New Zealand with Invercargill
Second (serious) fact: if you are interested by e-commerce, Internet, academic research, then familiarize yourself with GRAVITY. This is the key concept which organizes David's book
G... Geography - Where we live determine to a great extent our preferences and the way we use Internet
R...Resistance - Internet is used to remove search frictions (in big cities) or geographic frictions (smaller locations)
A...Adjacency - We are similar to our neighbors which induces geographic contagion
V...Vicinity - initial sales arise from proximity, later sales from similarity
I...Isolation - local sellers cater to the majority so the preference minority buys online
T...Topography - tax rates, delivery time, shopping environment is different in each place
Y... You - if you want to become rich then follow Warby Parker's example
David's main theory is to show that the way you shop online depends actually a lot of where you currently leave (the "real" world).
Third (fun) fact: if you are the kind of person who likes Trivial Pursuit or brainteasers, this book is a gold mine. Location is (still) everything will allow you to know why most American consumers of pornography get it from Canada and not from England; what is a TapouXT routine; where to shop for Vegemite (an awful paste adored by the UK and its ex-colonial Empire); and the very useful sheep-to-person ratio in Invercargill
Location is (still) everything makes for a fun and an instructive read, a combination that is rarely achieved in business oriented literature.
Author: David Bell
Publisher: Amazon Publishing
Location is (still) everythin g is a rare way to enjoy Kiwi humor and culture.
On the left, a map of New Zealand with Invercargill
Second (serious) fact: if you are interested by e-commerce, Internet, academic research, then familiarize yourself with GRAVITY. This is the key concept which organizes David's book
G... Geography - Where we live determine to a great extent our preferences and the way we use Internet
R...Resistance - Internet is used to remove search frictions (in big cities) or geographic frictions (smaller locations)
A...Adjacency - We are similar to our neighbors which induces geographic contagion
V...Vicinity - initial sales arise from proximity, later sales from similarity
I...Isolation - local sellers cater to the majority so the preference minority buys online
T...Topography - tax rates, delivery time, shopping environment is different in each place
Y... You - if you want to become rich then follow Warby Parker's example
David's main theory is to show that the way you shop online depends actually a lot of where you currently leave (the "real" world).
Third (fun) fact: if you are the kind of person who likes Trivial Pursuit or brainteasers, this book is a gold mine. Location is (still) everything will allow you to know why most American consumers of pornography get it from Canada and not from England; what is a TapouXT routine; where to shop for Vegemite (an awful paste adored by the UK and its ex-colonial Empire); and the very useful sheep-to-person ratio in Invercargill
Location is (still) everything makes for a fun and an instructive read, a combination that is rarely achieved in business oriented literature.
Author: David Bell
Publisher: Amazon Publishing