There’s a quaint charm to the shopping experiences of yesteryear, when consumers would take a gentle stroll into town to visit various specialty stores to pick up their necessities.
Yet on balance, it’s unlikely that anyone from the modern world would voluntarily return to that way of consumerism, at least not on a full-time basis. While there’s still a need for in-person shopping, the rise of the internet has utterly transformed the consumer’s experience, making it not just better than ever before, but better than what could have even been imagined just a few decades ago.
It’s opened up the world
In the pre-internet era, consumers were limited to purchasing whatever items were available in their local area. In some cases, such as in instances when people lived in rural areas, getting their hands on the latest technological devices would require a trip into a major city.
The internet changed all that. Consumers can get their hands on virtually every product that exists, regardless of location. If it exists in China, the United States, or anywhere else, it’ll not only be possible to buy in the United Kingdom, but easy to buy. Simply enter your details, and it’ll be on its way to your front doorstep.
It’s easier to find the right product
Consumers have long had an array of product options at their disposal. In the past, though, they had very little information to work with when it came to making their product selection. Even if the packaging listed the technical details of the product, you’d need to know what those details actually meant.
The internet didn’t just make it easy to buy products. It made it easy to buy the right product. Whether it’s a microwave, smartphone, tent, or anything else, consumers can easily access in-depth reviews that give them the information they need to make an informed decision.
Deals are a click away
Businesses have long offered deals, but there’s a crucial difference between the deals then and now; the ones in the past may not, in fact, have been very good. After all, with minimal competition among businesses, owners weren’t incentivized to offer deals that benefit the user — they were incentivized to offer deals on products that were not selling well.
The internet has allowed consumers to take advantage of deals that are genuinely beneficial. There’s competition for consumers among all industries, and it’s generally only the businesses that provide good value to customers that get ahead. We see this especially in modern industries, such as iGaming and telecommunications. In iGaming, companies like Casumo offer generous welcome bonuses to their new customers, who can easily claim the bonus through Oddschecker. For internet packages, providers offer no setup costs and speed upgrades as a way to get as many households as possible to join them.
These deals and others like them could only exist on the web since there would be no reason for businesses to offer them if consumers couldn’t find a competitor with a few clicks of a button.
There’s power in reviews
It’s not just in the pre-buying stage that modern consumers benefit from the internet. They benefit after the sale, too. If they have a bad experience, then they have a lot of power when it comes to forcing the business to make things right.
That power is their voice. Businesses, ones that have an eye on long-term success, anyway, understand the importance of having positive reviews (or, at least, not having bad reviews). A customer is much more likely to get a company’s attention if they leave a bad review since the company will be more willing to make amends in exchange for the review being taken down/altered. Even if that outcome doesn’t happen, the consumer will at least have the satisfaction of letting other customers know about their bad experience.
And the most staggering aspect of all these advantages? Modern consumers can get them all while sitting on their couch in their pyjamas.
