The Intention Economy

8

Complications

Virgo: You will take the first hellish step down a dark path from which there can be no return when you agree to get updates on Carnival Cruise specials and discounts.

—The Onion¹

THE ARGUMENT

We have made business—especially retailing—too complicated, and we’ve done that by distancing business from human beings, especially customers.

In October 2000, I had the good luck to be joined at lunch at a retail conference by one of the other speakers there: Lee Scott, then the CEO of Walmart. One of the questions I asked him was, “What happened to Kmart?” His answer, in a word, was, “Coupons.” As Lee explained it, Kmart overdid it with coupons, which became too big a hunk of its overhead, while also narrowing its customer base ...