Kassi Jata

Interesting article Kassi! I often feel like Amazon has taken over, and I find myself actively trying to find what I need at other stores instead of giving in to what’s convenient. Especially with the pandemic, I’ve tried to buy things I want or need from local businesses or smaller-scale stores to help out the non-billionaires in the world. As for how smaller stores should compete with a giant like Amazon, I’m not sure where to begin with suggestions – especially given how smaller businesses lack the resources to compete on the same playing field as Amazon.

I think it feels as though online shopping may take over completely, but I believe there is still a large portion of the population who enjoys the experience of going to stores in person – whether that’s for the experience of shopping as an activity, or simply for the ability to try on clothes before they purchase. I personally prefer trying on clothes before I buy them (I struggle a lot finding clothes that fit longer-limbs) and I have a hard time believing that an online experience will replace the experience of in-person shopping once and for all. While it’s easy to buy things online and not have to leave my home, I actually find it to be more inconvenient to buy something that doesn’t work out for me and have to go through the hassle of returning it. But who knows – with the rise of AI and other innovative marketing strategies, maybe there’ll be an easier way to address that pain point in the future!

Nice Kassi! I agree, most companies should be gearing up to present themselves to the online shopping market- if they don’t do it willingly they will be swept along later or they’ll be missed altogether. According to the National Restaurant Association, 1 out of 6 restaurants will be forced to closed within the next six months if the same restrictions remain across the country. The restaurants that are staying open are forced to find new and creative ways to serve customers with about 70% of the staff they would normally add on. The best asset to struggling restaurants and foodservice businesses are the various *free* digital platforms you can promote your business on. These platforms don’t just offer promotion, but various services that can cater to your business like drop-off, delivery, no contact service, etc. Restaurants during the pandemic now have become less “What is their food like?” and become more “Are they open? Can I get my food safely?” These answers can more or less be answered with just a presence on the internet, with a benefit of being able to directly sell to customers.

Thanks for posting this Kassi! You definitely make a lot of good points about Amazon’s dominance with e-commerce. They certainly are the first place I turn to when I need to order anything at all. However, there is one way that I think retailers could position themselves to compete with Amazon – quality. Especially since the pandemic has started, I’ve noticed a lot more fake/low quality products popping up on Amazon all the time. For example, we have been looking to buy weights and build up the amount of exercise equipment we have at home. However, when trying to find a quality product on Amazon, it’s clear that the items posted are fake by looking at the branding and reviews. I also recently ordered a Halloween costume that came nothing like it was advertised. If Target or Walmart was able guarantee that their products were as quality as they advertised and position themselves this way, I think they might have a shot at taking back some of Amazon’s market share.

I think the future is combining online with in person. As has been discussed in other posts, Target has some great AI to learn their customer’s buying behaviors. Providing a coupon through the app for someone’s favorite dinner ingredients as they are getting ready to leave work. The person can check out right there. By the time the person reaches the store they have there stuff. Even Amazon has a delay. They are working to eliminate that, but in the process are opening up stores and looking more like Walmart and Target.

Great article Kassi! I definitely think Amazon was disruptive when they entered the market and had unique selling prepositions that made them stand out from the other online retailers you mentioned, although a lot of that has changed just over the last two years. I am a HUGE Amazon Prime fan but a lot of times I find myself ordering from Target because the items may be cheaper, and as a Redcard member you get an additional 5% off plus free 2-day shipping. At this point my number of Target boxes are pretty comparable with my Amazon ones! I also think because of the COVID pandemic, the amount of brick and mortar stores that are still around (and barely) have really hit their breaking points and are being forced to close or just operate online. I think smaller stores can continue to compete with Amazon if they can offer item and shipping prices that are comparable. They need to have a way to stand out from Amazon but also give customers a reason to shop there instead.

This was a great article to read Kassi, Amazon has really taken over in the past couple years and at first I thought it was a big thing until I realized that it is not. Amazon has destroyed so many small businesses. It is great that Amazon is so convenient but at the same time small businesses are not getting any service. American Express did a great job of bringing in Small Business Saturday, the day after Black Friday. It encourages people to shop at small businesses to support them since Black Friday is mainly about the larger stores. If Amazon continues to grow the way it has been their will be no competition. Small businesses cannot benefit as much from online because they do not have the resources to sell online or ship to customers. This is where Etsy comes in. They are great for helping small businesses expand their customers and services to people around the world! Etsy has been a great boost for small businesses unlike Amazon. If Amazon continues to expand we could potentially see a lot more small businesses go out of business for good.

Thanks for sharing this, Kassi. I really liked the insight you pulled from the articles. You make some really relevant points about engagement. In the article “Social Media and Politics,” you point out that Trump’s strategy differed in a way that generated more engagement. I do remember vividly seeing the difference between candidates back in 2016 in terms of their respective Twitter feeds. I am not sure if Trump tweets himself or if he has his social media person there with him and he tells them what to write. But whatever the case, and whether you like him or not, I always felt like it was coming from him. With Clinton, her tweets, in my opinion had a more polished and reviewed feel to them, and maybe written from a social media person. I have no way to know for sure. I realize this has gotten the president in a ton of hot water, but it also has created a non stop cycle of engagement for the past four years, much of which can get very contentious at times. But the nature of the platform envokes fiery discussion among its users. I have also witnessed Trump retweeting normal people and supporters, meanwhile other candidates do tend to engage less. I am a big Twitter user myself, though I rarely comment, I just browse and read and stay up to date with trends. I do however, manage the Twitter and Facebook accounts for my work. My most engaging posts are the ones that focus on what we are good at. It seems to really speak to the people we serve. If the content is crafted well, and is honest in tone and delivery, people tend to really appreciate it. This gives you a real opportunity to interact with them. Sometimed I like their comments, or answer their questions. Sometimes I will create a post that asks a question straight away. But I feel like really getting good at engaging is an art and I have much to learn. I really apreciate these nuances that you are pointing out. Finally, and to answe your question, for the past several years I’ve really admired how the Philadelphia Phillies social media team handles its engagment. They are witty, they acknowledge their fans, and everything looks well branded and thoughtful.

That is a great point about engagement. Simply having a website is not enough any more. As was discussed in the Generating Capital from Social Media article for class, companies need to be able to transform different forms of capital to get true value from the internet. To do this, a company has to draw people in. Then it needs to interact with them to learn from them, and about them, building the social capital that drives the internet. Only through this listening and branding can a company get anything other than economical capital from the internet.

I think this is great topic to bring to light. I think Social Media Engagement is great for ones business and brand. Not only do they want the engagement received from ones audience or customers, I think it’s always great when the business or brand also engage with their audience. Just like you mentioned about the presidential campaigns for 2016, responding to the audience and creating an engaging conversation can help someone fo r the better. I personally follow a lot of influencers from Youtube, who I have seen grow over the past few years based on how they kept up with the change in social media and the different engagement features social media allows. Instagram stories is a great plus for a business or brand or influencer, since they can create polls, ask questions and many more, I personally do respond to stories because one it is fun to engage with a business, brand or influencer, plus I know I’m helping them expand their business and brand for the better when they ask for advice and reviews.

I’m sad to say that I definitely do not ever read the terms and conditions for anything. My fiance was even upset with me because I did not even read our lease to our new apartment. Like you mention in your post, I would rather just have access to the service (whether it’s a new social media account or my own apartment) and deal with any unintended legal consequences later (since there usually are none). However, I don’t know that it’s ethical for companies to do this to us consumers. I am sure many companies are purposefully burying important information in the T&Cs for us to ignore. It was even more immoral back before it was common knowledge that websites and social media were stealing your information. I think most people know this now, but I know my mom still calls me confused about her targeted Facebook ads!

On the other hand, at the civil engineering department I work for, we have a team of lawyers who review the terms and conditions for any new contract we pursue with our clients, so I do think it is different on the B2B side.

I am on the same boat as you Katherine, I never read the terms and condition on anything, I would rather just have access to the application or service. It hard to argue that this is unethical for companies to do because they are being transparent, we are just being so-called lazy. I think a fair compromise to this would make the terms easier to ready by breaking them into larger categories that are hyperlinked to the details within that category. Allowing users to get more information easily on topics they feel are important.

I definitely do not read the terms and conditions before signing up for most things. I kid myself by trying to scan them, but I’m not really understanding what they say. The biggest hindrances for me is that these documents are 1. usually incredibly long (who has the time to read all that?!) and 2. full of jargon that I wouldn’t fully understand if I took the time to read it anyway. I agree with Katherine and Chand, I can’t help but think this is unethical and that companies know average consumers are not going to take the time to read through these conditions.

I am in the majority that does not read the T&Cs. For me it is a “why bother” perspective. If the company has something I want. Reading through the T&Cs will only make me upset, because I can not do anything to change them. The long, cumbersome, inflexible T&Cs are a hold over from the days when large corporations did not have the time or resources to individualize the documents. In a purely online environment, like Social Media, I should have options within the conditions. If I do not want them to track my location, then I loss access to X, Y, and Z, not the whole platform. I think as privacy and personalization become bigger consumer decision points you will start seeing companies reconsider how they do this.