The internet has brought much change into the role of the consumer and how he acquires goods and services. There was a time when the only way to acquire a good was to go to the store yourself and browse until you found an item that matched your needs. If you were looking for a service, you would have to look it up in the phone book. If you were bold enough, you could even ask a friend or family member what they recommended and go from there.

Luckily, times have changed, and the consumer has much more control on where they obtain their goods and services. This is mostly due to the fact that we are so connected.  In 2000, about 124,000,000 out of a possible 280,000,000 were internet users; this amounts to about 44 percent. In 2010, a little less than 240,000,000 out of 310,000,000 people were internet users, which is closer to 78%. In three years, this number has probably gone up as the proliferation of access to the internet has only grown. Here are two ways businesses have had to change because of the growing prominence of the internet in people’s daily lives:

• The Birth of the Social Marketplace: Did you know that 69% of frequent internet shoppers also use social networking sites often? Given this fact, it would make sense that eventually the two forces would come together. Now we saw this concept, sort of, with coupon deal sites like Groupon and Living Social, but the problem with this was that it wasn’t sustainable as it required a middleman to deliver the deal. Rather than go through this, the idea of the social marketplace was born to use the power of social networking to create deals. Users are able to lower prices of goods at a social marketplace through sharing with friends and followers. When enough people click on an agreed upon price, that price unlocks. It’s a win-win as sellers unload products and avoid exorbitant fees from the deal sites and buyers get the product at a reduced rate.  
• The Improvement of Online Shopping: Back in 2000, many of the people who were using the internet were not too trusting yet of the internet to get their goods and services. Nowadays, this is not the case, and they’ll gladly put in their credit card numbers and hit submit. However, once they hit submit, they expect visibility on all fronts. They want to know where the shipment is at all times until it reaches their doorstep. This means businesses have had to sure up all ends of their supply chain and invest in data translation and B2B integration software to ensure cohesion. They’ve also had to invest heavily in call centers and social media customer service to ensure complaints and issues are handled. The internet has given everyone a voice to complain.

These are just a few of the ways the internet has transformed the way companies are doing business. E-commerce is a major phenomenon, and one that will remain as people get more comfortable with security, the interface and product availability. As e-commerce becomes even more prevalent, expect more innovations like the social marketplace to emerge.

Sarah C. is a journalist and a businesswoman