One of the most time consuming activities in my life is “online shopping.” My money, concentration, and time, are all spent searching my computer for shoes, jackets, pants, etc. It’s astounding to me that this phenomenon only began the year I was born, 1994. When I typed “online shopping” into the ProQuest database, I found a bunch of articles surfacing circa 1990, however, they all pertained to surfing the web to look at clothes or pizza, or banking. It was not until I scrolled down a little further to ’94 where I saw the first introduction into the realm of consumer and product experience interchanged on the web. The article entitled “Ideas & Trends: Staking a Claim on the Virtual Frontier,” talked about how A.T.T. and Apple Computer Inc. were planning to uncover an online system that would offer electronic shopping and other marketable services. The article also discusses how the Internet will soon make it possible to “glide electronically through vast virtual shopping malls” (John Markoff, NY Times). Lastly, the article predicts that online consumerism will buy out and replace mom and pop stores. I believe that online websites have definitely altered the “brick and mortar stores,” but I wouldn’t say they have completely bought out these small local companies. Many people still enjoy the familiar ambiance of a small local store.
Looking through the many articles from the 90s featuring
“online shopping,” I noticed they all included some kind of fear. Whether it
was a fear of competition with brick and mortar stores or even real estate
brokers and their able dread of competing with the rapid transformation of
technology and training their employees to use it. Similarly, in the 21st
century, we have a growing fear of online shopping with how our credit
information is stored virtually and where that information is going. With the
recent scandals involving credit theft from huge companies like Target and Home
Depot, the fear is very relevant and disconcerting. Another difference I
noticed was the way they spelled “online.” In the 90s they put a dash between
on and line (on-line) like the person is on line for the database or
information being relayed to them.
2 comments:
I completely agree with the way online shopping has absorbed our daily life (especially money and concentration as before mentioned.) In addition, I agree with the ease that online shopping allows. The "glide electronically" ability to view clothing options online, has definitely allowed our society to access more information. I do agree with the fear that was ensued in society about older "ma and pa" shops being eliminated. I have seen a great effort in my neighborhood from Chicago to reinforce community run stores. I think this fear is definitely overstated. Although a problem in long term if nothing is done about this virtual shopping fad, I don't think immediate termination is necessary. Online shopping proves to benefit many. With the ability to not have to go into a store, and have an item shipped to you, many more customers can access the same information. It adds ease to the consumer process and provides a greater access to society.
I think your topic is very interesting and relatable to LIS. Shopping shifted form local to national markets with the culture of print, and now national chains like Target seem to be hurt from hacking amid the Information Society. This type of database hacking might scare consumers away from Target, but I wonder if they will instead search online retailers or simply change brick and mortar store preferences? Maybe they don't change at all. To me, the question seems to be a matter of trust and time. Can you trust companies with your credit information in stores? If not, why should you trust similar stores online? At the same time, trying clothes on might save time spent dealing with returns, but increase the travel time needed to shop. The etymology of online shopping is an interesting point of reflection.
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