NEWS
EVENTS
How technology has changed the way we buy
Other | Thursday 24th September 2015 | Ben
It’s just a little over 20 years since the first purchase was made online. We’ve come a long way since then, so much so that we’re all predicted to spend more than £1,000 each by shopping online this year.
The advent of internet shopping has radically altered our behaviour – from hunting around for big ticket items such as houses and holidays to clothes, food fashion and everything else you could possible imagine, barely a purchase goes past without the internet in mind.
While the web may have broken new boundaries, the ability to have the internet at your fingertips has changed the way we buy even more. iPhones may be less than 10 years old but they have been the poster boys of the waves of smartphones that help us to shop on the go.
Research
Picture the scene. You’re in a shop looking for a birthday present for your notoriously-tough-to-buy-for dad. You spot a book he hasn’t got or a CD you know he likes. What do you do next? I’ll hazard a guess you’ll be reaching for your smartphone and checking out the price online before proceeding.
This is just one of many ways in which the internet and smartphone technology has added to our decision-making process when making purchases. We can now price match - on the move.
For a while barcode and QR Code readers aimed to cater for this predicament – allowing us to scan products to find out more information, although 4G phone signal and better WiFi means it’s quicker and easier to run a query past Google.
Beyond that, the internet has allowed the whole browsing process to be carried out online. With a few clicks we can enjoy a whistle stop tour through the sort of wide range of stores that would have previously taken a full day’s shopping in a city centre. Price comparison websites ensure we can get the best value for money – something that has been especially useful when buying financial products and services.
Instant
Given that the smartphone enables us to carry a virtual high street in our pockets at all times, buying decisions can be made in an instant. That book or CD of the example above can be ordered with the press of a button should it prove to be cheaper online.
The moment your partner drops a hint about something that they would like as a present you can pounce and purchase with a few clicks. Technological advances are also helping to take this one step further. The main drawback for shopping online has, traditionally, been the wait involved in delivery of the goods you’ve order. Yet now online giant Amazon is offering a one-hour delivery service in London.
Open all hours
Every night is ‘late night shopping’ thanks to the internet. If the mood takes us we can shop in bed, while the tea is cooking or even on the toilet.
That means purchasing on a whim and making a snap decision is much easier than ever before. You no longer have to wait until the next day or the weekend when ‘the urge’ may have waned.
It adds previously unknown levels of convenience to our shopping experience – and opportunities for marketing companies to tailor offers and campaigns that are able to persuade us to part with our money during our lunch breaks or in the evening, for example, when our motivation may be very different.
As customers we now want to be catered for wherever and whenever we fancying buying a product or service. For businesses that means developing methods to reach and interact with customers on their mobiles such as those here.
Buying goods and services these days leans heavily on technology. From researching the best price to looking for things you cannot find in the shops to purchasing when and where you want, times have changed. We’re a society that likes to be able to do what we want, when we want and no more has this ‘instant access 24/7 world’ manifested itself more than in the way we buy things.
