2024 mega trends for the digital workplace - FINAL.pdf
Assignment 2 T1.pdf
1. Assignment 2- Task 1
The Internet, and its affect on the consumer
William Mooney
2. A brief History of the Internet
The Internet, as we know it today looked very different to what it is now when it was first created in the 1950's. In the
USA, the military needed to create a way for computers to communicate with one another.
In the 1960's the US department of defence realised that they needed a way
for two computers to be able to talk to one another. So they began funding
research in order for this to be done. The Cambridge dictionary defines the
Internet in this way "the large system of connected computers around the
world that allows people to share information and communicate with each
other ". When we simplify this definition, this is all that the internet is-
computers talking to one another. Since this point, the development of
technology has grown and of course, is open to us all to use.
There was no “Eureka!” moment. It was not like the legendary apple falling on Newton’s head to demonstrate the concept of gravity.
Inventing the World Wide Web involved my growing realisation that there was a power in arranging ideas in an unconstrained, weblike
way. And that awareness came to me through precisely that kind of process. The Web arose as the answer to an open challenge, through
the swirling together of influences, ideas, and realisations from many sides.- Tim Berners-Lee, 1999.
The development of the Internet was a slow process and cannot be pinned to one singular inventor. In our current day,
the Internet is used for almost of all of our personal needs. Our entertainment, commerce, news and even our social
lives are becoming increasingly done through the digital rather than the physical.
3. Access to the Internet
The Internet has now grown to be integrated into almost every part of our lives, in fact, over 5.16 billion people use the Internet, that is 64.4% of the
world's population! The effects of such a huge number of people gaining access to the Internet are changing the world forever.
Key statistics showing the growth of the Internet, we can see each country and their access to the Internet.
Statistics from 2017 * Statistics from 2023
4. Here we see a map of the UK showing the broadband usage, the capital and the area surrounding it has the highest average. Perhaps this
is due to higher incomes or due to the area being more connected- either way London may be a possible reason as to why the UK has an
overall higher than average Internet usage, and therefore ecommerce.
5. Digital devices used by audiences (e.g. people can access the internet via different
devices)
Our world has been completely revolutionised by technology, and therefore year upon year technology has
increasingly had a larger affect on how we live. We have seen more young people begin to use smartphones at
younger ages, and also a larger percentage of the population owning smartphones who didn't previously.
Very interestingly the amount of devices increasing in only a 10 year period. Smart
phone usage has gone from 17% to over 78%! It is therefore no surprise that a new
market of online purchasing has grown the way it has.
Different age ranges and their device use
6. Image showing what people use to access the Internet, and can also be used for ecommerce. As we can see 97% of
the population (USA) have access to a smartphone which can be used to purchase online. This is a major
contributing factor to the rapid growth of the ecommerce industry.
7. How customers search for information (e.g. people use various online channels to search for
information and recommendations)
As you can see, Google dominates the market when it comes to both
search engines and also browsers meaning they can have tremendous
power in their advertising. When you are surfing the web, Google runs
ads, and using their algroithm they influence you to purchase online.
Google's algorithm uses user's personal data in order to collect their searching habits, and then being able to market to them
extremely effectively products that they may be interested in purchasing. These companies generate huge profits using our
data and now the EU are beginning to regulate how they are able to do this. Now, companies must explicitly tell you what's
happening in their terms and conditions, and the user must accept the terms.
8. What consumers buy online (e.g. people purchase different products/services online)
Nearly 80% of consumers shop at least once a month on the Internet (article cited), so what are people buying? Here are some of the most popular.
First of all, we can see that women are slightly more likely to purchase something online, and we can also see the differences in what men and
women buy online. This is information that is very valuable to marketers in order to better advertise to different groups of people. For
example, if you were selling computing/technologies, you would be wise to advertise slightly more towards men rather than women. Using
the second image, it would also be wise to consider offering free delivery because it is the top reason why people shop online. These statistics
should be noted by marketers and shift to fit the consumer.
9. In the article cited, it shows that since Covid-19, we are still seeing an incredible rate of growth in the
ecommerce industry. This shows that we are seeing actual market changes, which in my opinion, were only
accelerated by the pandemic. E-commerce is rapidly growing per country, and as shown in the image, the UK is
above the worldwide average of weekly online purchases. This could mean that we can expect to see more
change than most other countries in terms of commerce.
10. Online video consumption (e.g. changes in the amount of video content consumed)
14.9% of Millennials Watch 10-20 Hours of Online Video Per Week
Video marketing is now more important than ever before, and it is still a changing industry. With the rise of platforms like TikTok,
videos are getting shorter and shorter to fit our reduced attention spans. A marketing video therefore, should be short and to the
point to grab the attention of the person watching.
11. Further information which can be used to market to people on the Internet. This information can be used to make advertisements.
There is no on size fits all, of course, but if you are able to create a video that may be funny while also showing off your product- you are
far more likely to engage your audience than if you just did a hard sell in your video.
Which one you may go for depends upon your business.
12. Consumer trends (e.g. how consumers' use of technology has changed over the past 3-5 years,
reflecting on the areas above)
A major consumer trend which is changing is the length of video consumption in media. As people's attention spans decrease, so do the
length of video in general. There seems to be either a demand for 1-2 minute videos or podcasts and not much in the middle of that.
Using the graph on the right, we can see that the engagement of the viewer as it its highest in the 1-2 minute range and then decreases
and then levels off. This means that people can pay attention to longer videos but with 50% engagement. For the consumer, they should
take note of this and recognise that if they maybe should listen to podcasts in more than one sitting. For a marketer, they should realise
that people pay attention significantly more in the first 2 minutes so should grab the users attention.
13. In 2022, retail e-commerce sales were estimated to exceed 5.7 trillion U.S.
dollars worldwide, and this figure is expected to reach new heights in the
coming years. Obviously this is one of the incredible trends that we are
seeing, in the last five years, we have seen this figure rise rapidly. In the
future, can we expect ecommerce to be the main method of purchasing
rather than traditional methods?
Image showing consumer trend of grocery shopping online, rather than traditionally
actually needing to go to the supermarket. I also believe that we are seeing a larger
expectancy from consumers for the range of things they want to buy, and also for
the price and also delivery times. As the Internet is so vast, and also so competitive,
I believe that the market suits the person who can provide the most possible
benefits in this competitive market- even expecting groceries delivered to
consumers houses more and more !
14. Summary
In the post- pandemic years, we are still seeing the incredible rise of ecommerce in general. Companies such as Amazon and Apple now wield massive
amounts of power not only over the Internet, but in turn in the world. With the ecommerce market now worth around $5 trillion worldwide, with the
number set to continue increasing.
Our world is now adapting to the changes we are now seeing in the Internet and ecommerce, and as technology gets better than it already is, we will
begin to see more Artificial Intelligence taking over conventional roles, take Chat GPT as an example- is this the beginning of 'the future?'
For digital marketing, businesses are able to know exactly who they are marketing to online, and can therefore create very focused marketing campaigns.
For consumers, data may be a primary concern. Huge companies are now able to know a lot of information about you if you use the internet.
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