Shopping Made Easy
Everyday millions of Americans shop
in everyway possible. Today customers
can shop at stores, online, over the phone, off their phone, they can shop in
malls and now they even have outlet malls.
The ability to shop and spend money is available and encouraged in every
facet of our lives. Blaszczyk clearly
illustrates the evolution of the means of shopping in her book. Earlier in class we read about the small
shops and peddlers that paved the way for the stores we shop at today and have
many more ways to access these goods.
Blaszczyk states, “… cities witnessed the birth and growth of these
suave stores, which transformed the downtowns and made shopping into a
fashionable pursuit (Blaszczyk 77).”
Starting out that people had to leave the house in order to purchase
things slowly evolved into, giving money to the mailman to have your purchases
dropped off at the house, now Americans are able to lay in bed and spend
thousands of dollars and have them dropped off at their doorstep. With all of the advertising on the streets
and item placements in television and movies in addition to the accessibility
of goods ready to be purchased makes it nearly impossible for Americans to not
grab their credit cards and order away.
Reading this journal, “An Analysis
of Factors Affecting on Online Shopping Behavior of Consumers,” by Mohammad
Hossein Moshref Javadi, Hossein Rezaei Dolatabadi, Mojtaba Nourbakhsh, Amir
Poursaeedi, and Ahmad Reza Asadollahi, I took in a lot of information on why
people spend so much time shopping online.
“Compared to physical stores, online stores have many advantages: They
are convenient and time saving and no more traveling and waiting in lines is
needed. They are open in all time and they are accessible anytime and anywhere
(An Analysis of Factors Affecting on Online Shopping Behavior of Consumers
83).” With all of this convenience and
accessibility at our fingertips, how would the United States be different if we
still had to go to stores and shop?
Thinking more into it what else could evolve and change in the way we
shop? In movies people have things materialize right in front of them out of
thin air. What do you believe will be
the next step in consumerism?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kugv8UQ1hWU
Blaszczyk, Regina Lee.
American Consumer Society, 1865-2005: From Hearth to HDTV. Wheeling, IL: Harlan
Davidson, 2009. Print.
Moshref Javadi, M., Dolatabadi, H., Nourbakhsh, M.,
Poursaeedi, A., & Asadollahi, A. (2012). An Analysis of Factors Affecting
on Online Shopping Behavior of Consumers. International
Journal Of Marketing Studies, 4 (5), 81-98,. Doi:10.5539/ijms.v4n5p81
--Taylor Williams
I completely agree with you that shopping through online resources and the easy accessibility of apps on smartphones and tablets has not only expanded how the American consumer shops, but how frequently as well. I know speaking for myself that this Christmas I did not step foot in a mall or store. Not because I hate to go shopping, but because I found shopping online through major retailers like Nordstrom and Amazon, who offered me free shipping so much easier and it took the hassle part out of the shopping game about dealing with crowds and wondering if the product you want will even be at the store when you get there.
ReplyDeleteI think if the United States Consumer still had to go to the store to buy goods instead of having these convenient online resources, I think the National GDP would be down and that total sales and revenue from merchandising and manufacturing companies would be significantly lower than it is today. I also believe that if the volume of shopping decreased along with the availability of online shopping that the GDP per Capita, which is the indicator of the United States Standard of Living, would also decrease, because adding that extra hurdle of having to go to the stores, fight off shoppers, and be at the mercy of stores inventories would cause Americans to spend less on consumer goods and therefore decrease their standard of living by just decreasing the amount of luxuries their able to purchase.
I think the next step in consumerism is going to be through applications on tablets, like the iPad, and smartphones like the Android and the iPhone. I do not think we are at that stage of evolution in technology to be able to have products appear out of thin air, but I believe that applications on these tablets and smartphones that allow for shopping on the go and virtually anywhere will be used by innovators as the next marketing and sales stepping stones to bring more convenience to shopping and to the overall consumer experience. I also believe that another step in the future for consumerism, like it always has been in the past, is going to be through innovations developed due to competition between companies to provide the consumer the lowest prices and the fastest and cheapest ways of shipping goods to consumers. I think shipping wars on prices could be the next medium through which manufacturers and retailers can compete for business, because we all know that extra $6.99 or $3.99 shipping costs on items can sway us to buy goods somewhere else cheaper. All in all, I think competition through shipping wars and the further development of shopping applications on smartphones and tablets is the future of consumerism and that developments and innovations in this field will not only raise our National GDP, but they will also raise our GDP per Capita and our standard of living as a country as a whole.
-Michelle Tobeson
Online shopping is the epitome of convenience for today's American consumer. You made an extremely valid point with the use of the quote from the International Journal of Marketing Studies which spoke about the convenience and accessibility of online markets. Online stores typically have a wider range of products and can almost always guarantee that a desired product/service will be in stock. I know from experience that shopping online can save a great deal of hassle such as wasting gas money to wait in obnoxiously long lines especially during the holiday and gift giving seasons. With the way that our consumer society is trending technologically, I predict that within the next few decades the majority of our shopping and consuming will occur on the internet as opposed to browsing in physical on-site stores.
ReplyDeleteSeriously you hit some valid points. I know I shop off of my phone and on the internet. That is really all I do. It would be very different for everyone if we had to go to the store to shop at it. Personally I buy things that are made all the way out in California. How on earth would I get that product if we could not shop online.
ReplyDeleteAlso I do not think I could just trust my mail man to get my money to the people I would need it to get to. Not saying that I do not trust him because personally I do not know him; but that is just it.. I do not know him..
So yeah that would be very different.