There are occasional threads here about car buying and dealers and it got me thinking about industries that should be or are ready to be disrupted. Here are a couple that come to mind…
Car Dealerships. Fetid swamps of awfulness. No one likes going there. Everything from the high-pressure sales to the financing to the service area to parts dept just sucks to hell. There HAS to be a better way to buy a car. Already we never go to a dealer except for warranty or recall work, but buying a new car? I know there are innovative home delivery services now, and I like that as an idea, but still dealerships reign. Carmax is a decent alternative for used cars as well, but shopping for a new car means likely at least test driving a car at one and subjecting one’s self to the dealership. I think Tesla has a different kind of sales model? It would be nice to shop and test-drive different new models and compare in-person on the same day, and not have to hassle with the stupid dealerships.
Real Estate. What do realtors actually do today compared to 20-30 years ago? It seems like they to the same job, and the same amount of work, and just get paid a lot more simply because the price of homes has gone up. I have seen some innovation here as well, but I am not as familiar with everything that may be needed in this space. The realtor gets, what 3% or 4% of the purchase price - no incentive to save $$ there. It would be nicer for buyers and sellers to find each other and be able to handle things with limited realtor involvement and fees, and I know it’s possible to do that now if someone has experience and knowledge in this area, but maybe a home purchase is too complicated to make it simpler.
Anyway, what other industries are in need of being disrupted?
Movie theater concession stands are horribly inefficient. Typically one employee will handle taking your order, getting all your items (popcorn, drink, candy) one at a time, collecting the money and then on to the next customer. The line moves slower than a DMV line.
I understand this is usually the theater’s money making area, you would think they would put some effort into getting more customers through the queue faster to increase sales. Just look at a fast food joint for how to streamline things.
This thread has a great discussion on that subject.
I’ll see if I can think of any more potential industries for disruption (and more importantly, able to be disrupted without running afoul of local regulations) later.
I definitely think that the auto dealership model needs to be disrupted – most people abhor shopping for a car, because the process (at most dealers) is built around haggling for a price. While there are some car buyers who are comfortable doing so (and feel a sense of accomplishment when they get “a good deal”), they’re likely a small minority – for most people, haggling, and dealing with the dealership’s sales tactics, makes them very uncomfortable, as does the worry that they may wind up paying more than they should.
But, in most (if not all) U.S. states, dealerships (at least for new cars) are protected by state franchise laws, which prevents automakers from selling directly to consumers. So, a large part of the status quo is protected by law, making a disruption harder to implement.
Eyeglasses. No reason to pay several hundred dollars for eyeglasses. There are in fact sellers from Amazon now that are providing prescription customized glasses for a mere few dozen dollars. Time to smash the cartel.
Mattresses. You can buy a nice memory foam mattress for a few hundred bucks on Amazon which is actually more comfortable than a $1500+ mattress from a furniture store. The industry is full of anti-competition practices which make it very difficult to compare pricing between mattress models and brands.
Thank you for reminding me about that. Seems ridiculous! I like this part in the linked article:
The Federal Trade Commission recommends allowing direct manufacturer sales, which a 2000 report by a Goldman Sachs analyst projected would save consumers an average of $2,225 on a $26,000 car. In May 2014, a report prepared by Maryann Keller and Kenneth Elias for the National Automobile Dealers Association claims that franchises (such as offered by its members) offer better value for customers than direct sales.
Better value? My ass! New car dealerships seem to offer no value to consumers at all and only hassles.
Many theater chains have moved to a cafeteria line style for concessions. I don’t think that’s really a disruption, but a better model to serve.
But it seems that movie theaters may have been partially disrupted by COVID and direct to streaming.
Other disruptions that are ripe (to use the OP’s term) are wine and liquor sales. Every state (much like auto dealerships) have many varying laws about the sale and distribution of alcohol. Most of these antiquated laws are still in place due to liquor store lobbying groups in each state. You should be able to go into any grocery store or big box store in the US and buy wine, beer and liquor with your grocery purchases. But that ain’t the case.
The problem is they have no real reason to innovate, because you’re already a captive audience. Most people are going to buy concessions, regardless of how busy it is and they’ve already bought their tickets. With fast food, people are going to go somewhere else if the drive-thru line is too long.
Finding a better payer system for care seems doable but ‘all aspects of health care’ is a very broad scope. Just about everyone working in U.S. healthcare knows there is a problem but to fix it someone has to earn less money. The problem is who will earn less? And who decides who ends up earning less?
Doctors have a great deal of power and earn about 10x the average grunt in the healthcare system. They could make a impactful change by volunteering to cut their own wages. But they invest a huge amount of time and money into getting where they are so that’s not likely. You could cut the “grunts” and make impactful change but these are typically lower and middle class people doing work which is very useful to society. Are these really the jobs we want to lower wages on or cull? Hospital Administration? The C-levels make much less than corporate C-levels but there’s probably still room to cut here. But who’s going to force the C-levels to take the cut?
I’d be interested in hearing what type of disruptive healthcare you see being viable in the U.S.
We could start with health insurance. One way would be for the US Government itself becoming a disruptive player in the market, by offering the same base benefits older Americans today access, with fixed pricing, and leveraging the existing infrastructure. If people want to have a better plan then those should be available if someone can afford it, thru private insurers.
That was the goal of Haven, founded by JP Morgan Chase, Amazon and Berkshire Hathaway “to change the way people experience healthcare so that it is simpler, better, and lower cost”. It closed after about three years, partly because making changes in the American healthcare system is really hard.
It is in most states. But we have a lot of very backward places in our country. Places which relish their backwardness. See here for a quick summary of the full horror that is state-level liquor regulation in the USA:
Honestly, I’ve never thought it took an inordinate amount of time at the concession stand. I just can’t stomach the prices. Maybe I’m just a cheapskate, but I refuse to pay $14 for a large popcorn and drink. At times I’m honestly surprised anyone buys food and drink at movie theaters.
Ahhh, but can you make popcorn as greasy and as bad for you as a movie theater can? I can’t, and it’s the main reason I’ve been missing going out to a movie.
