Sunday is here again. Going to Church? Good if you do. If not, Calvin brings you another interesting message from the Holy Bible.
The Bible has many prophecies. Some short range. And some long range.
It is easy to predict something within months or just a few years. It is very hard to predict the outcome of a few days. Like who will win the US President Election within the next few days. Clinton or Trumph?
So it is far harder to predict something that will happen 2,000 years later. Unless God is the One who does it. Now look at the Book of Daniel 12:4
This Book of Daniel was written in 600 BC when The King Nebuchachadnezzar captured The Jews from Israel & brought them back as slaves to Babylon. So it has a history of 2,600 years. And 2,600 years ago God inspired prophet Daniel to write these words
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophet
In religion, a prophet is an individual who has claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and to speak for them, serving as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people.
So a prophet is one who speaks on behalf of the supernatural on some newfound knowledge.
Before prophets arrived on the scene there were first called "SEER"
See 1 Samuel 9:9
(Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, thus he spake, Come, and let us go to the seer: for that is now called a Prophet was beforetime called a Seer)
SEER comes from the root word "SEE". To be able to "SEE" into things which others cannot. To "SEE" the future events as given by either through visions from God, through dreams or revelation by angels or just plain divine illumination of the Holy Spirit.
Now Prophet Daniel saw our End Times so clearly that he wrote:
1) "MANY SHALL RUN TO AND FRO(M). There will be a great increase of transportation by virtue of
inventions of airplanes, fast moving high speed cars, trains, high speed trains & other new form of inventions" Today, one billion people travel on planet earth as tourists every year.
2) AND KNOWLEDGE SHALL BE INCREASED
At the outbreak of the 20th Century radio was invented, then the telegraphic machine, and TV, the computer, then followed by mobile phone, iphone (computer operating through a phone or phone operating through computer?) youtube, whatapps, viber & the world wide web, google, yahoo, facebook, webe.
Fiber Optic Cables have made the transmission of information at the speed of lightning! Now we have Email, then EConference & ECommerce!
This is a whole new world system of the end times as men discover better & more efficient usage of precious time and resources. Those who embraced the new technology will survive and prosper. Those who are slow to response or obstinately stick to the norm will be left behind and perished.
For thousands of years mankind have been using horse, mule, donkey, camel, reindeer and carriages as the only form of land transport. With the arrival of the first motor car men were appalled! How to trust our lives to machines? Machines that could travel faster than horses? How unsafe? Better resist the idea & reject it!
So how to compete against these modern inventions? Build better carriages! Implement better cusions for the carriages! Get a breed of stronger horses! Invest in a better horse whip?
As we look back at their stumbling reactions we are now amused. The advance of the car has rendered these ancient mode of transport obsolete for ever. Motorbikes replaced all running horses. In the name of progress all these are swept aside!
Yesterday in Singapore, I attended a wedding function with my wife among her relatives in Regent Hotel near Orchard Road. My sister-in-law said, "Last week I received a parcel which my daughter has ordered through RedMart. When I opened it I was surprised to see it contained groceries"
Ha! This is the new trend of ECommerce in Singapore, which will eventually move to Malaysia.
Why ECommerce? What is the ultimate benefits to consumers
2 main reasons:
1) IT IS CONVENIENT
Instead of searching for food items from section to section and from shelves to more shelves in the Supermarket the ease of clicking on the keyboard saves time and hassle. And no need to queue for hours at Supermarket checkouts. No need to transport it by cars. In Singapore, no need to carry all these heavy groceries on bus and MRT as RedMart delivers straight to your homes.
2) IT GIVES HUGE SAVINGS!
Now in Malaysia, Calvin has bought Airconds, Fridge, Water heater, Bed & Mattresses & Many other stuff at 30% to 80% Discount through LAZADA & 11STREET.
How could they make monies if they give such good discounts?
Let me give you my past experience working in a Church's Bookstore
I worked in BEREAN BOOK CENTRE before. This Book Store operates a Book Club called BEREAN BOOK CLUB OR BBC. By being a non profit organization we distribute books and bibles from both USA & UK. It takes about 6 weeks to 3 months for a book to arrive be seamail in those days.
As our cost is low & we purchase in bulk we are able to offer 30% to 50% discount to Book Club members through Mail Order Delivery. Every month we sent out a list of Special Offers through the post to Bilble Seminaries, Churches, Pastors & interested individuals. We shipped them out by local lorry transport companies & also through the POS Office. There is a "Printed Matter. Reduced Rate" Offered by POS Office.
Now we act like the wholesalers as cost is cut to the bone.
Let us SEE the cost structure of a printed book.
In UK the Publisher BANNER OF THE TRUTH TRUST gave us 60%. And Free Freight was thrown in if we order 10,000 pound before discount and pay cash upfront.
So we can give 30% to 50% discount to Book Club members for their Huge Savings.
For conventional type of a typical bookstore or any other retail type of business these are the structures
1) PUBLISHER PRINTS A BOOK (The Cost is 20% of the Listed Retail Price)
2) Publisher offers 60% to Wholesalers who buy in Bulk (They love Bulk Purchasing. In Singapore Shengsiong bought their goods from Malaysia in bulk). Publishers mark up 100% because they need to give 5% royalties to authors & to cushion against unsaleable inventories.
3) Wholesalers give 40% to Retailers & 30 to 90 days credit.
4) Retail Book Store sells at Full Retail Price because they have high overhead like expensive rental in malls or shops & to pay staff salaries.
So how now?
Through ECommerce, Publishers or Wholesalers give 30% to 50% discount to direct Online Orders (ECommerce). The 40% given to retailers (middle men) are cut off.
If retailers want to sell in conventional way they can't compete and will face a slow and sure dying business one by one.
So this is the new way of ECommerce (GOODS TRAVELING THROUGH THE GREAT INFORMATION HIGHWAY). Just as motorcars rendered horse drawn carriages obsolete ECommerce will render conventional business obsolete!
Note:
Our last trip to Perth City CBD showed a conventional Book Shop closing!
STOP PRESS! STOP PRESS!!
Latest News from Singapore
John Little with 174 Year History now fell prey to ECommerce & closing shop in Singapore!!
After 174 years, John Little will bring down the shutters in Singapore
A tenant in Plaza Singapura since 2013, John Little is holding a moving-out sale until it closes on Jan 2. Photo: John Little’s Facebook
Republic’s oldest department store is latest casualty of the onslaught from e-commerce.
PUBLISHED: 6:35 PM, NOVEMBER 4, 2016
UPDATED: 1:16 AM, NOVEMBER 5, 2016
SINGAPORE — By January next year, John Little — said to be Singapore’s oldest department store — will close its last remaining outlet in Plaza Singapura, 174 years after it set up shop here.
Amid the onslaught from e-comerce, the Robinsons Group said in a statement on Friday (Nov 4) that the brand would evolve into a pop-up format, with more details to be announced next year. A pop-up format usually involves the opening of short-term sales spaces.
A tenant in Plaza Singapura since 2013, the store is holding a moving-out sale until it closes on Jan 2.
The decision to shut shop was made after "evaluating the relevancy and sustainability of the John Little brick-and-mortar business", the group said. "John Little will instead evolve as a brand into a pop-up format, which is in line with the global trend for retail businesses," it added.
Owned by the Al-Futtaim Group, which is headquartered in Dubai, the Robinsons Group manages Robinsons, John Little, as well as Marks and Spencer.
Previously, Al-Futtaim said that it would shut 10 loss-making stores this year as it restructured its Singapore operations. Last year, the closures included the Marks and Spencer at Centrepoint, John Little at Marina Square and Tiong Bahru Plaza, and some Royal Sporting House outlets.
The curtains-down for John Little at the Orchard Road mall is part of consolidation efforts to focus on businesses that are growing, and to re-channel resources to bring in new brands and shopping concepts, the Robinsons Group said.
Employees affected by the closure have been briefed and the company is in the midst of deploying them to other suitable businesses within the group.
John Little is named after storekeeper John Martin Little and had its beginnings in 1842, in what is now Raffles Place. Only 14 years ago in 2002, there were seven outlets here. Patrons remember the brand for its good selection of children’s products and clothing for more mature women.
Ms Adeline Tan, 35, a communications executive, said that she used to visit John Little’s Marina Square outlet for baby items. She last stepped into the Plaza Singapura branch about a year ago, and found its range to be lacking in appeal and "not cheap" to boot. The store had a good range of vitamins, but those could also be found in Robinsons, Ms Tan said.
Mother-of-two Eileen Lee, 38, said that she visited John Little last year, when her daughter was taking piano lessons at the mall. She went "direct" to the children’s section because of the "good selection" of clothes there for home and daily wear and they were "of a good price", she said.
John Little’s range of beauty and skin products was also quite good, she added, but "if I do browse the fashion range, it’s because I’m with my mum".
"We all know how competitive retail business is," Ms Lee said. "Even I have switched to apps to do shopping. It’s just faster and sometimes they have special online discounts."
A Plaza Singapura spokesperson said that the mall is in discussions with a number of retailers interested in taking over the 38,000sqf space on the first level.
Now undergoing some improvement works, the mall will have upgraded lift lobbies, washrooms and nursing rooms by the end of this year.
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