For those watching technology trends that have the potential to impact or disintermediate smaller businesses, you may wish to track the entry of Amazon into the hair salon business.
Although Amazon claims to be opening a single 1500-square-foot high-tech upscale hair salon in West London (Spitalfields), England as a technology test platform, the findings can have a severe impact on the hair care business.
Essentially, other than great haircuts at an acceptable price, the salon features a virtual reality system that allows a customer to model hairstyles and colors prior to "doing the deed."
The implications are vast, consider using artificial intelligence to match face and shape, coloring, and hair type (possibly from a small electronically-tested hair sample) to recommend the optimum cut, color, and maintenance products.
What if this type of for-fee service was deliverable free or at low cost when combined with a product order, using nothing but your phone's enhanced camera system? Allowing Amazon to become the largest hair product distributor in the world -- until they decide to create their own private-branded price-controlled products?
One can easily see salon-tested advanced technology to be used to sell more "product" as it is known in the industry. Such as pointing a phone at a QR code for one-step ordering and payment, with one or two-day product delivery?
Or directing its attention and huge financial advantage towards the personal care industry as a one-stop shopping experience.
Not to mention the captivity factor where an individual’s attention may be captured and controlled for a specific amount of time, perhaps for education, entertainment, or e-commerce exposure.
It is unlikely that Amazon is looking to open a retail salon chain as a business using licensed hair technicians is hard to staff and scale.
Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?