Just about everybody has some electronic device these days. Personal computers, iPads and smart phones have grown up around the explosion of the world wide web and social media. For the most part, these advances have brought positive benefit to the world. Social media has brought communities closer. Businesses and organizations can promote their products and services worldwide. And students can study across borders and barriers. Yet there is a dark side of the web where predators troll for victims, illegal deals are transacted and fake news runs rampant.
Still, looking at the plethora of online possibilities, it is clear that the makers of modern technologies like cell phones and computers have done a wonderful job marketing their products. For decades now, they have been insisting that everyone “needs” a cell phone or a personal computer or an iPad. The marketing gimmick is that a device is invented, then a “need” for this gadget is created to ensure its sale. In the pre-industrial age, inventions succeeded or failed on their own merit based on the development of human activities, not the other way around as we find today.
It has become somewhat of a sport to scorn those who are not handy with mechanical devices and who do not own the latest (usually overpriced) gadget. New features are revealed bit-by-bit as the public lines up to buy iPhone2 then three then four and so on. Then, owners of these devices are pilloried if they are not on Facebook or some social media revealing the minutiae of their daily living.
There is another online trend that could soon hurt small communities – online shopping. A growing number of busy people have turned to purchasing products online. On the surface, it makes sense. Shoppers avoid traveling to stores and battling line ups. With a few clicks and their credit card, products are delivered right to their door from stores located all over the world. Sites like Amazon allow for one stop shopping.
But it is precisely this online shopping that leads to the slow death of shops in small communities in rural areas. The owners of mega corporations like Amazon and Facebook aren’t investing monies back into small town Saskatchewan. They probably aren’t leaving it in Canada either. So, this is the dilemma of the small-town resident who shops to any extent online. Buying outside the community may be convenient but their dollars are not being used to grow and support the community through taxation of local business. Even major Canadian shopping mainstays like Sears are facing collapse. One of the reasons cited is their failure to navigate the online world.
At the same time, we see a “buy local” movement gain momentum. It seems the bubble has burst. Consumers want to return to the old ways of specialty shops, artisan products and hand-crafted wares along with foods grown in healthy surroundings in their vicinity. And a lot of individuals have taken to starting cottage industries to meet this demand. In agriculture, this “added value” movement to produce finished products has even attracted the attention of government programs. Buying local also makes the economy go around at the local level, creating jobs and filling local coffers. Local businesses give the added benefit of supporting charities, schools and organizations in small communities.
These two shopping trends seem at odds with each other. But they really signal a trend in the evolution of business. Some products, even local products, can better be sold online, while others prompt new directions in store front shops. Local businesses too can market their products online targeting those in their own communities. Marketing experts will tell companies to follow the trends and cater to certain generations like the Millenials. But frankly, every customer from every generation wants the same thing – low prices, good selection, prompt and attentive service. Everyone wants to spend more time with their families instead of shopping. I don’t think there is an app for that yet.
