Ah yes, the internet, the place where you can buy an actual box of nothing, watch a video of a man eating chips, and discuss how much you hate onions with other people who also hate them (no joke). But in all seriousness, the internet has drastically changed the way business is done nowadays. It’s helped small businesses find success, big businesses continue to grow, and weird businesses like professional wedding guests to, well, exist.
It’s also changed the way we shop, discover companies, and interact with other organizations. It’s even altered the way we work through changes in software and online cloud services. As a result, there have been both positives and negatives to advancing so quickly. We discuss the biggest changes, and what to watch for in the future.
Communication
Every second, tons of Facebook messages, emails, Instagram comments, Snapchat snaps, and more are sent and received in an instant. We’re in an age where communication is almost received as soon as you send it (depending on the quality of your wifi, and whether or not you’ve turned your router off and back on again).
No longer do we have to wait days, weeks, or months for letters in the mail. Paired with smartphones, we’re constantly being notified about communication, to the point where it can become a chore to stay on top of everything.
On the other hand, instant communication has led to the ability to collaborate more easily than ever. Social media has made it possible to continue to build on connections from cities, provinces, or even countries or continents further away. As internet speeds increase, we’ll likely have the ability to view communication in the highest quality, maybe even trending more towards video calls (since they are typically the most intensive in terms of internet speed requirements).
Marketing
Without a doubt, marketing has dramatically shifted in recent years. With the ability to reach people exactly at the moment they’re ready to buy, it’s caused many businesses to rethink their marketing strategy. Gone are the days where the focus is solely on selling. Now, companies have to focus on providing value to potential customers or clients before they even ask for an email address.
No longer can businesses ignore the internet either. Customers or clients expect organizations to post consistently on social media, write blog content, and at the very minimum, have a website that works. Those that don’t are quickly left behind, or at least, are completely missing out on a huge amount of new business and corporate growth.
On top of all this comes a whole swath of metrics to analyze (that’s right, a swath, there’s that many). Just about everything about your customers’ behaviour online can be tracked and privacy about personal data is a very real concern for many people. Never before have our actions been tracked so heavily.
Marketing will probably reach the point of identity where each person has ads custom-tailored to their preferences, job, hobbies, and more. Businesses will also likely continue to manage data carefully and ethically to ensure they build trust with their consumers or risk losing them entirely.
Purchasing
While physical stores likely aren’t going to be going away anytime soon, the way people buy has changed through the internet. E-commerce is a term that really only exploded into existence recently with the rise of titans like Amazon. Instead of going to stores, people can now buy just about anything from their desktop computers or even purchase their next order of groceries through their phone while walking.
Bookstores have been one of the biggest industries to take a hit from e-commerce. Many books have been digitized, or converted into audiobooks for easy-listening, so there’s less reason to buy a physical copy. Plus, because digital books and audiobooks don’t cost anything to produce in physical materials, they are also cheaper. This means many bookstores have had to close up shop in their physical locations.
Another industry that has taken a hit from the rise of e-commerce has been the fashion industry as well as retail stores. Whereas it might take hours of searching in a physical store to find something you liked, e-commerce makes it simple and easy to do a quick search for exactly the clothes you want. Of course, this means there’s less reason to have physical stores, so many business locations have suffered as a result.
In future, we’ll likely see many physical retail stores trend towards being focused on demos or showcases of their products. In fact, Best Buy is already doing this in certain locations.
Overall, the internet has drastically changed the way business is done, and will continue to make waves with new changes and updates as time progresses. It’s also a weird and magical place, so be careful while you’re out there or you might just navigate from video of puppies trying lemons for the first time to some pretty strange content like a godzilla-mothra romance story.
