Electronic commerce plays a big role in my life. From banking online to buying music and clothes online, it has almost entirely replaced shopping in stores or banking at my local branch. Mostly, it’s because it’s convenient; I don’t have to fight traffic or wait for the cashier to ring up my merchandise. But, it’s also because the internet offers reviews of products, something I find very helpful in purchasing certain items. You can even start a sort of conversation with any other people who you may agree or disagree with. On iTunes, for example, I’ve seen it several times where one person really likes a certain album and gives it five stars, but the next person responds to that post and totally disagrees for so-and-so reason and gives it only one star.
The internet also makes it possible to very easily compare products, and find the best price available. I’ve never been someone who likes to drive around for bargains, because it’s so time consuming. As a result, I used to simply settle for whatever price showed on the tag and be done with it. Now, with e-commerce, not only do I save time by going to stores, I also actually save money! I am not sure what the benefit is of creating many online communities for shoppers like Murphy mentions in her article about Circuit City. I think there could be a market for that if there are rewards, but without any of that, what’s the point? Why would you spend so much time creating a profile with avatar and no real reason to do it (besides killing time…)?
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How do online communities improve the shopping experience online?
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What type of businesses should focus on e-commerce more and which ones less?
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When will we become “over-e-communified?”
“Over-e-Communification” | Online Reviews Said:
on February 24, 2008 at 4:57 pm
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“Over-e-Communification”-music downloads Said:
on February 24, 2008 at 5:38 pm
[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptFrom banking online to buying music and clothes online, it has almost entirely replaced shopping in stores or banking at my local branch. Mostly, it’s because it’s convenient; I don’t have to fight traffic or wait for the cashier to … [...]
jaw333 Said:
on March 14, 2008 at 4:17 pm
I am starting to feel just slight “over-ecommunified,” as you put it. I remember a few years back when I started shopping online, there were really only a few logical choices and it was easy to compare. Now, even just a few years later, a pricing comparison will pull up hundreds of different websites, and often the top 20 or so will have the exact same price. So you no longer have the option to just simply select the best price, you have to start digging through user reviews and third-party websites to figure out which site will give you the best service, provide the fastest shipping, make it easiest to buy, etc. I do believe more choice is a good thing, but I think we’re getting back to your old-school method of just picking the store you like and going with whatever the price tag is. Information overload is everywhere!