2030: A shopping Odyssey

We live in an era of extraordinary opportunities for innovation, creativity and social contribution that seems to have been triggered, much like a primordial life sparking event that changed the face of this earth, by an eclectic mix of ever morphing technology, faster and more powerful data capture & processing abilities and the ubiquitous Internet.

In markets like India this process is getting accelerated, the phenomenal growth of eCommerce in India is coinciding with that of internet explosion and growing flock of young shoppers looking for variety and convenience of shopping. This young population is tech savvy and their motto ‘right here & right now’ seems to nicely fit in the scheme of things. So online shopping is growing by leaps and bounds and the technology is evolving rapidly to keep up with consumer taste & preferences.

With this kind of background it is not hard to crystal gaze into the future and see where the future of online shopping will be around 2030. Consumers will obviously have a plethora of options to shop online through a multitude of devices and platforms to increase the pleasure, speed and ease of shopping. I foresee the following changes in this space;

1. Super Smart phones will arrive on the scene with interactive touch screen interfaces that will provide a 3 Dimensional viewing experience. Enabled with seamless and slick touch pads, they will provide 360 degree navigation and walk through virtual stores

2. Consumer portals will offer advanced analytics with product comparisons, user ratings, offers and other packages that will just pop up on the screen ‘as you go’ on the net. An avalanche of information will be available to the consumer at every click.

3. To enhance the user buying experience, shopping portals, credit rating agencies and finance companies will be come together to offer the discernible consumer with instant buying option without any loan/finance paperwork. Virtually updated credit status of the consumer, on a real time basis will enable these companies to make you offer-by-the minute as you strut the online space.

4. Consumer will have various tools & options to design their own products including new ones altogether, pick and source the right kind of material, and select the finishing vendor to order their products from anywhere around the globe. The consumer will have a virtual control on the entire production and procurement process as a norm and not exception.

5. Specialized accessories like design tools and 3D printers will provide instant gratification to the online consumer. He may like something on the net, say a new product and may download it in a physical form onto his 3D printer after executing the online transaction formalities.

6. Aggregation of consumer data and cloud data warehousing and churning will mean online sellers will have a complete virtual demographic & psychographic profile of the consumer. Online sellers will use this to offer customized user experience based on consumer taste & preferences. So no two customers might get to see the same GuI (user interface) and preferences in any given consumer portal.

7. The all pervasive Internet may morph into a Hypernet and may provide user access to the Products and Markets on Television, ATM machines, hand held devices and ready to access touch screen terminals at offices, clubs, and neighborhood corners.

The future is exciting and the online shopping 2030 odyssey is filled with unlimited possibilities and exciting prospects . Like Artur C Clarke’s journey in his magnum opus 2001: A Space Odyssey, the now familiar story of online shopping will change the way we shop & buy in future. 

Dork: The Rise and Fall (and Rise?) of Robin Einstein Varghese - A Review

What They Actually Teach You in a Consulting Firm could’ve been a more fitting title for Dork, because author Sidin Vadukut takes readers on a laugh-out-loud journey through the chaotic life of freshly-graduated-from-an-Ivy-league-business-school Malayali hero, Robin Varghese. This "consultant in the making" takes his first shaky steps into the world of management consulting, and boy, does he stumble. Vadukut’s sharp wit cuts through every page, making the book an absolute hoot from cover to cover.

At its core, Dork is kind of like a desi take on What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School - only with a hefty serving of absurdity, a dash of slapstick, and a whole lot of ridiculous plot twists. Just think: take the basic consulting principles, add one hilariously clueless protagonist, stir in some laughably outrageous mishaps, and voila! You get Dork: The Incredible Adventures of Robin Einstein Varghese.

So, what exactly does our hero, Robin, learn in "Consulting Land"? Quite a bit, actually…mostly about the absurdity of the industry itself:

1. First up, presentations: Turns out "high-end consulting" means recycling internet slides with a few fancy tweaks.
2. Next, jargon: At consulting firms, layering your speech with impenetrable corporate-speak is practically an art form. If your sentences don’t sound like an AI-generated business generator, are you even consulting?
3. Ethics? Overrated. After all, fleecing clients with a straight face is practically in the job description.
4. Real solutions? Meh. Robin learns quickly that many consultants create more problems than they actually solve.

Robin’s journey through consulting’s "black box" rings uncomfortably true for anyone familiar with the industry, even as it’s wildly entertaining. Along the way, our hero tumbles through bouts of hilariously inebriated escapades, stumbles through projects he doesn’t remotely understand, and slowly grasps that half his firm’s partners know absolutely nothing. The rest? Mostly just expert backstabbers.

Yet, just as Robin’s about to lose it all, he somehow pulls off an improbable transformation: one day, he's a barely competent newbie; the next, he's an unexpected hero and even a media darling. How does this happen? Well, let’s just say it involves plenty of blunders, a good bit of luck, and some solid "fake it till you make it" philosophy.

Dork is much more than an office comedy - it’s a peek into the mind of a cubicle-bound consultant as he navigates (or stumbles through) the absurd culture, petty politics, and sometimes nonsensical practices that come with the job. Vadukut’s debut is a hilarious, insightful, and downright entertaining start to the Dork trilogy, making it a must-read for anyone who's ever felt out of place in a corporate jungle.