Futurist Jim Carroll<p>𝐌𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐝 **#19** - Temporal Commerce: "The future of commerce isn't about selling products, but selling time. The winners will deliver value before it's requested." - Futurist Jim Carroll</p><p>--<br>(Futurist Jim Carroll is writing a series on 30 Megatrends, which he first outlined in his book Dancing in the Rain: How Bold Leaders Grow Stronger in Stormy Times. The trends were shared in the book as a way of demonstrating that, despite any period of economic volatility, there is always long-term opportunity to be found. The book is now in print - learn more at dancing.jimcarroll.com)<br>--</p><p>Time is becoming the scarcest resource. Business models built around time efficiency, anticipatory delivery, and frictionless transactions create premium opportunities in virtually every sector.</p><p>Let's call it The Time Economy: Navigating the Disruptive Rise of Temporal Commerce. The full PDF report is right here.</p><p><a href="https://pdf.jimcarroll.com/Megatrend19-TimeEconomy.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">pdf.jimcarroll.com/Megatrend19</span><span class="invisible">-TimeEconomy.pdf</span></a></p><p>Consider this reality: In the 21st-century economy, a profound shift is underway. For decades, capital and then information were the most prized and contested resources. Today, a new asset has emerged as the ultimate measure of value: time.</p><p>The finite, non-renewable, and constantly depleting nature of time for every individual and organization is elevating it to the status of the scarcest resource. And from this fundamental scarcity, a new economic paradigm is materializing: temporal commerce (or time-based commerce).</p><p>What's behind it? There are several key ideas at work:</p><p>Frictionless Ecosystems. The elimination of transactional pauses through technologies like seamless digital payments, biometric authentication, and integrated ‘super-apps’ drastically reduces the cognitive and temporal cost of purchasing.</p><p>Anticipatory Logistics. The shift from a reactive to a proactive supply chain, using predictive analytics and AI to forecast demand and pre-position goods closer to the consumer, collapsing delivery times from days to minutes.</p><p>Autonomous Execution. The deployment of robotic systems—including aerial drones and ground vehicles—to execute the final leg of the supply chain with a speed and efficiency unattainable by human labor.</p><p>This trend often seems crazy to most people, but keep in mind that Amazon, as expected, is at the forefront of these trends and innovates at a furious pace. We already have much of the technology, have become used to the idea of a change in how we shop - and are now seeing the arrival of a lot of bold ideas.</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.futurist.info/tags/Time" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Time</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.futurist.info/tags/Commerce" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Commerce</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.futurist.info/tags/Frictionless" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Frictionless</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.futurist.info/tags/Anticipatory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Anticipatory</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.futurist.info/tags/Autonomous" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Autonomous</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.futurist.info/tags/Innovation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Innovation</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.futurist.info/tags/Efficiency" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Efficiency</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.futurist.info/tags/Technology" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Technology</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.futurist.info/tags/Delivery" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Delivery</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.futurist.info/tags/Future" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Future</span></a></p><p>Original post: <a href="https://jimcarroll.com/2025/07/decoding-tomorrow-30-megatrends-19-temporal-commerce-the-future-of-commerce-isnt-about-selling-products-but-selling-time-the-winners-will-deliver-value-before-its-requested/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">jimcarroll.com/2025/07/decodin</span><span class="invisible">g-tomorrow-30-megatrends-19-temporal-commerce-the-future-of-commerce-isnt-about-selling-products-but-selling-time-the-winners-will-deliver-value-before-its-requested/</span></a></p>