Apparel Manufacturing, Newspaper Publishing Industries Have Been Hammered Over the Past Decade

Some incredible technological advances have been made over the past ten years.

Many of the products that are probably a part of your daily life didn't exist ten years ago. iTunes. Netflix. The Kindle. The iPad.

Hear a song that you really like? Open up iTunes and you can own it within 30 seconds. Want to subscribe to the Wall Street Journal but don't want to waste paper? No problem - simply sign up for an online subscription and the WSJ will be downloaded right onto your iPad.

The downside of all of these technological advances and cool new products is that some industries will have to suffer as a result. People just don't read newspapers like they used to. People don't rent DVDs like they used to, preferring to consume their movies through Netflix or VOD or a dozen other options. Many people choose not to get their pictures developed, instead choosing to upload their photos to sites such as Flickr and Facebook.

IBISWorld recently released a report titled "Dying Industries".

In this report, IBISWorld details the 10 key industries that are currently in the biggest state of decline in the United States. Not only have these industries taken a beating over the past 10 years, but more pain is forecast over the next 6 years as well.

Let's take a look at the 10 industries that have suffered the largest % decrease in revenues over the past 10 years:

Apparel Manufacturing, -77.1%
Record Stores, -76.3%
Manufactured Home Dealers, -73.7%
Photofinishing, -69.1%
Wired Telecommunications Carriers, -54.9%
Mills, -50.2%
Newspaper Publishing, -35.9%
DVD, Game & Video Rental, -35.7%
Formal Wear & Costume Rental, -35%
Video Postproduction Services, -24.9%

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Some of these declines are pretty obvious and you probably named them before you even read the list.

A few of these industries may be surprising to you. Apparel manufacturing, for one, seems like an odd choice to be on this list. Its inclusion becomes obvious when you realize that many apparel manufacturers have moved their operations outside of the country to keep costs down.

Wired telecommunication carrier revenues have suffered greatly due to the increased adoption of VoIP and wireless technologies. Video postproduction services revenues have suffered as a result of greatly improved technology which allows many companies to handle this work in-house.

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These industries are not expected to bounce back anytime soon, if at all. Let's look at the revenue projections for these ten industries from 2010-2016:

Manufactured Home Dealers, -62.0%
Record Stores, -39.7%
Photofinishing, -39.1%
Wired Telecommunications Carriers, -37.1%
DVD, Game & Video Rental, -19.3%
Newspaper Publishing, -18.8%
Formal Wear & Costume Rental, -14.6%
Video Postproduction Services, -10.7%
Mills, -10.0%
Apparel Manufacturing, -8.5%

It's hard to imagine some of these industries making a comeback. Industries such as record stores, DVD, Game & Video rentals and photofinishing seem to be dead in the water. Other industries, such as newspaper publishing and manufactured home dealers, are desperately trying to reinvent themselves before it is too late.

Source: IBISWorld Inc.

Filed under: General Knowledge