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7 Jun 2001, Sri Lanka

Dear Sir,

What is the impact of ecommerce on the consumer?

Thanks,

Upul Jayalath

Dear Upul:

That depends on which consumers you are talking about.

For most consumers, e-commerce has provided more choice: choice between various products as well as choice between various suppliers of the same product. For the consumer living in a big American city, that choice may be negligible - although unusual products, such as Sri Lankan handicrafts, may be more accessible.

Consumers living in rural areas, however, may find that they can suddenly buy all kinds of things that had never previously been readily available. Consumers in some countries, particularly countries with lots of intermediaries between the importer or factory and the consumer, can often purchase goods more cheaply via the web than at the shops.

The downside is that consumers are paying for this choice through loss of privacy. On-line shops are collecting as much data as they can about every customer in hopes of being able to use that data to sell more products to the consumer or being able to sell the data to marketing firms.

In Europe and some other countries, we have data protection legislation, which helps protect consumers. But many countries do not have such legislation and even where it exists, it is difficult to police.

Good luck,

Dr. Ecommerce