Internet and Web 2.0 offer an authentic ocean of information in which to compare different products and services, and in which the opinions and recommendations of other users acquire even greater relevance.
Conteneo, the company that develops and promotes its own innovative businesses on the Internet, analyzes how consumers have modified their information search habits before deciding on a purchase in the current era of the Internet, through a meeting with experts in the field.
Internet has become an authentic ocean of information where you can analyze and contrast, in a comfortable and immediate way, features, prices, advantages and disadvantages of an infinite number of products and services. While it is true that companies are one step ahead in terms of the use of the Internet as a tool to boost sales, due to its greater speed of adaptation, more and more users are accessing the Internet to compare information before buying a product or contracting a service.
On the Internet consumers access a global market, and sometimes it is true that they are in a certain situation of helplessness in their online purchases, as they can find companies that hide in this distance to take advantage of the consumer with bad practices or making difficult the claims The consumer has to be aware of it and act accordingly. But we must recognize that today, consumers, increasingly, find on the Internet the source of information that they use the most to decide their purchases: the opinions and recommendations of other consumers and acquaintances.
In this sense, and with the arrival of the massive participation of consumers in social networks, the Internet has become a bidirectional channel between companies and users, where the first ones have to convince their potential customers that their information is reliable and your choice the best. All this offers consumers greater transparency and allows them to have more knowledge to make purchasing decisions with more criteria.
Digital divide between large companies and local businesses
From the point of view of the companies, there is a great difference between the use of the Internet by large organizations and smaller companies or local SMEs, which often do not have the knowledge or experience to take advantage of the advantages offered the Network to attract new clients or promote their services. Thus, there needs to be greater competition and supply of products and services, which can also have a positive impact on consumers, so that it would be very beneficial for the market as a whole to be facilitated, even more by the different administrations, in the participation of small businesses in online commerce.
Nowadays, alternatives have emerged from the private sector, such as collective shopping websites, which allow small and local businesses to “get on the train” of electronic commerce with companies experienced in online business.
