Desperate Salesmen in the Desert

2010-2011

The individual Internet User:

As the first decade of the 21st century drew to a close, more and more of us got connected not only physically but also virtually. [DF: Peer-to-Peer Technology, The Increasing Use of Internet] My network of friends and associates literally became a real-time network: thanks to our mobile devices with built in GPS systems, I knew the whereabouts of my friends at every hour of the day and they could locate me too. Not only did I know where everyone was, but because we kept our status info continuously updated, (“I’m typing a scenario story…”) we all knew what we were doing and when we were doing it. [DF: Continuously Evolving Wireless Technologies]. I also used the internet for buying and selling things. I read the news from web pages, did research online and watched tv-programmes on demand over the web. I could not imagine a world without the Internet. [DF: The Increasing Use of Internet]

By being “permanently connected” my private life became more and more social. However, I also noticed the government was leaving me to deal with certain issues myself, responsibility was shifting. Where the government used to take care of many issues, these moved into my own hands. For instance health insurance was privatized and as a result, I was paying twice as much for my insurance compared to some years ago [DF: Liberalization of the Dutch health care market, Aging population puts public services under strain] Basically the government was requiring me to deal directly with large corporations and enabling those corporations to obtain information about me in order to facilitate that process. I felt legislation around the privacy of my personal information was less tight than it could be.

The Corporation:

The 2008 credit crunch and its aftermath meant we had to cut costs and look for consolidation. Increasing globalisation led to more and more companies merging. [DF: The Globalization of Culture (or Cultural Globalization)] At the same time we investigated new opportunities to increase top-line results. Our innovative capabilities increased as knowledge could be shared with people all over the world. [DF: Metcalfe's law applied to social networks]

Another way to increase revenues was by actively engaging with our customers over the online channel. The Internet enabled us to broaden our reach and market share and enabled us to engage with more and more clients than ever in real-time. More and more personal information about users was available to target market segments and even individual consumers during their online activities [DF: Increasing user-generated content]. This reduced marketing costs and enabled us to tailor our offerings in real-time. As we reaped the fruits of these developments, Europe’s economy started to pick up again during 2011.

2012-2013

The individual Internet User:

The trend of being permanently connected continued, and my real life was replaced further and further by virtual environments. In my inner city neighbourhood, even large retailers closed down their stores and stimulated me to buy their products over the Internet. I no longer needed to leave the house to work, socialize, enjoy entertainment and buy my stuff. Although was very convenient, it also raised questions. When I went out on the streets, the world often seemed to be depersonalized. Nobody left the house without their device to be online [DF: Virtual Communities] and walked the streets with their eyes fixed on the screens of these devices rather than each other. I realized that my world had become simultaneously bigger and smaller.

When I did go online, I often started to feel “harassed” by companies pushing their products and services at me. [DF: Products are Turned Into Services] I was also scared by this: how did they know so much about me and my life that they could offer me my partner’s favourite underwear just before their birthday was coming up?! I started to get really scared when a couple of close friends had their credit card and personal details stolen [DF: absence of Privacy Online] and their “virtual lives” were taken over by the online thief, who misused their details to send false e-mail to all their friends in an attempt to obtain even more online identities. I was surprised and angry that legislation and enforcement was apparently so loose that this was possible. [DF: lack of strong Internet Governance, Growing privacy and security concerns]

The Corporation:

The Internet went on offering us an unparalleled channel to interact with (potential) customers [DF: Power of Information-anywhere, everywhere]. We made use of the fact that more and more information about individuals was available in large databases and legislation to make use of this information was relatively mild. [DF: Absence of Privacy Online] This enabled us to take our offerings yet further, advertising our products and services using a push-strategy based on people’s real-time activities. [DF:Convergence of Telecommunication, Media & entertainment and Information technology, Increasing Use of e-Commerce, Products are Turned Into Services] We knew what people were intending to buy even before they reached the (online) checkout and could use that information to anticipate intended purchases.

However, although we were able to tailor our offerings so accurately, we didn’t see sales increase as dramatically as we’d expected. We also started to notice an increase in people who felt we were invading their privacy and using sales tactics which were too aggressive.

2014-2015

The individual Internet User:

I am getting tired of the 24/7 online availability and overload of information. I feel overwhelmed with the sheer volume of marketing messages I receive everyday. I feel lonely despite my unlimited number of virtual interactions, which are mainly transactional and not personal. Quality time and real personal interaction have become my new values. I made a selection in my virtual accounts and memberships and got rid of those which I don’t want to use anymore. I use the web only when I want to and only to connect to my friends and set up appointments, but our actual interaction takes place in the physical world. Same applies to my interactions with the companies. Companies keep trying to reach me online, but their messages don’t touch me anymore. [DF: Information overload] I don’t want to shop online; I would like my green grocer’s back in my neighbourhood so that I can talk to him about the weather when shopping.

The Corporation:

We make use of all the benefits that the technology is providing us with to reach our customers using many channels, including the web. Increased opportunities to reach our customers came at the expense of our customers’ loyalty. We changed our business models according to what our customers wanted making use of the customer information we had readily available online– implementing personalised offerings through online shopping, self-service kiosks, or the mobile phones. We don’t really understand what went wrong, as our customers do not embrace the our offerings/facilities we provide them with. They don’t respond to our propositions anymore – they simply don’t collaborate. We understand that there have been some incidents related with the personal privacy; but we have taken all the necessary measures against such incidents. [DF: lack of strong Internet Governance]Is a more strict regulation an answer to our current problem? Will it re-build the trust – trust in web and the corporations? [DF: absence of Privacy Online, Growing privacy and security concerns] Will the customers be willing to collaborate if web is more reliable/secure? Or do we need to re-visit our new virtual business model and re-open our physical stores to get in touch with our customers again?

Timeline