A Smart Shopper has Nothing to Fear :: Essays Papers

A Smart Shopper has Nothing to Fear In William Creek life is easy. Of the five residents two are named John. The town consists of nothing more than a bar/convenience store. The outsiders seen are only the truckers who pass though. Once a week, one of the Johns drives 100 km to a more established town to pick up provisions and mail. As he sifts through his mail he finds a couple packages. Inside is the new shirt he ordered from J Crew and the French perfume his wife wanted. In another package is the hot Cajun sauce for jambalaya. He asked the local grocer to carry it for years, but they didn’t see a need. John is experiencing the luxuries of technology, even in his rural area he is able to connect to the Internet. John like millions of others has access to almost any product he cares to buy. Meanwhile in Chicago, Mindy is renting movies online for a romantic weekend. The web site brings up an ad to shop at one of its sister sites. She orders some lingerie and continues to compulsively buy items. Now h er email box is full of spam, or as companies have one believe â€Å"special offers.† Two days later the movies arrive, but one of the DVDs is scratched and unplayable. The nighty turns out to be a bit over the top and Mindy wouldn’t be caught dead in it. Luckily Mindy had been convinced to buy three other outfits. Frantically, Mindy races to the video store to get what she really wants. The previous two cases, like so many others, capture some the main issues facing businesses on the Internet. The idea of having a global market, while still capturing the safety of home, presented a unique opportunity for the business world. Many people believed that the dot-com collapse indicated the direction of the Internet, but they were far from correct. Customers still have an affinity to use traditional means of shopping, but this too is changing. Businesses have the opportunity to serve a large market, and customers have access to more merchants than ever before. While security issues and criminal behavior is on both the merchant and the consumers mind they are willing to take the risks to evolve to the new business model.