With today’s mobile culture, the satisfaction of one’s needs and wants has never been easier. Purchasing goods can never be easier; this can be done by sitting on the bus, standing in line, working in an office, etc. Below are a few examples.
One of Instagram’s newer features is the shopping button. Stores can set up their Instagram store and users, like us, can click and purchase the item.
An app called Shopthing was something new that I discovered recently. This company hired shoppers to shop at luxury stores and host live events for shoppers to buy items.
UberEats, Skip the Dishes, and Door Dash has been very handy to satisfy hunger needs and cravings.
In a recent analysis done by Smart Insights showed that there is a growing popularity to purchase goods through a mobile phone (Chaffey, D, 2021). However, most people are still using computers or desktops to purchase their items. Although there is an appetite in using the mobile phone to purchase goods is growing in popularity, many consumers are not entirely confident of the process. Some consumers are finding it hard to see all of the product details, navigate the website, browse on multiple screens to compare items, enter in details, and trust the security settings (Chaffey, D, 2021).
How do you think the accessibility of our mobile phones impacts our consumer behaviour and what does this mean for our future generations?
Reference:
Chaffey, D., 2021. E-commerce conversion rates 2021 – how do yours compare?. [online] Smart Insights. Available at: <https://www.smartinsights.com/ecommerce/ecommerce-analytics/ecommerce-conversion-rates/> [Accessed 23 September 2021].
Hi Sarah,
Having lived the last four years in Shanghai I got very used to using my phone to order everything from food to items from Taobao. When I first arrived in China I used my computer to place my orders but I soon discovered that it meant using my phone regardless to scan a QR code to pay and type in the verification code the bank sent to my phone. When I began using the apps directly everything became more seamless probably because the companies intended us to use our phones to begin with. As I delved further into Shanghai life my physical wallet became unnecessary as digital financial transactions through WeChat and AliPay dominated my payment method – everything from 5 RMB street food to more expensive purchases. Your quote by Chaffey (2021) which highlights consumer confidence as it relates to mobile payments was very much my lived experience in Shanghai. I shifted my North American perceptions and lack of confidence both out of necessity but also out of sheer convenience guided by the cultural norms of mobile technology use within China. Now that I have left China and am dealing with cash transactions again I genuinely miss the mobile payment culture.
Amazon Prime Now; Where the gluttony of almost instant met consumerism. I might be wrong by this might have been scaled back to be more key items like food. I’m actually not against a service like this as most stores are built on the “you can buy now” model anyway but it is new to have something delivered to you before your next coffee break. I would feel better if it were delivered by a robot or a drone over a large truck and delivery person. Many shopping excursions are fairly time consuming and truthfully, not necessary. What if we were able to be more efficient, reduce parking, driving and store footprints with more mobile purchasing. Would this be that bad?
I do prefer some of these purchasing apps on mobile devices. Facebook Marketplace and Amazon are both simplified and intuitive on a mobile device. I think that mobile consumerism will become more streamlined and specialized as we are seeing already. I do think that an app has a connotation of being more legitimate and secure than some of the random websites that sell products. I am reluctant to put my credit card information onto a website unless it is going through a reliable source like Paypal or Shopify but an app gives the sense that the company has, in some sense, been vetted by being included in the app stores whereas websites can have less gatekeepers and regulations.
To add to your point, Ryan. I have Amazon Prime and I ordered 3 items from them. When I checked out, it said my packages were going to be delivered 1 day apart from each other. It turned out they were delivered on the same day. I feel companies are valuing the speediness of their delivery times instead of balancing that with the environmental piece. My packages came in 2 large boxes, where I can fit all my items into 1 large box. Does the society really value speed over environmental impact? Can companies find a balance between the two? What is there was an option when we check out that we can have all the items ship at the same time?
Yes, the packaging piece bothers me. We have Prime as well and have the same experiences periodically. I was pleasantly surprised the other day when three completely different items came in the same small package as one unit. We will see a change though reusable packaging and different delivery methods (drones et al.). Part of this problem is the packaging but also our perspective in the situation. Many of these things happen regardless of our ordering practices, we are just the ones that end up with the box, instead of the storefront. One truck driving around a community to drop off 100 packages is still more efficient than 100 cars heading out to buy those packages.