Online Commerce and Consumer Experience
It is amazing how the internet has evolved the act of buying and selling. I cannot forget how I purchased my own stuff backed by an online platform, OLX.COM. I could not remember well whether I placed an order to sell my TV set a few months ago until I received a call from the company to shift it to the provided address. I remember it was on Sunday, as I usually get busy on my computer playing games as we buy time for boring Sundays to end quickly. I saw a notification reading buy at a discounted price and win an OLX platinum card. It was an amazing price and well-packaged TV set, almost similar to what I wanted to buy after selling my original TV set. I got excited and placed an order to purchase the TV set as indicated: “Buy now when the offer is still valid and win the card.” It was an amazing advertisement appearing over and over again. I therefore made a decision to purchase the TV set and win a platinum card, as well as get a discounted TV set (Federal Trade Commission, n.d.).
I made a choice and placed an order, keying my personal details, physical address for delivery, and payment details from my debit card. The key details went successfully without noticing anything unique. I was so excited to have ordered a TV set at a discounted rate and won a platinum card as well. A platinum card comes with a lot of advantages if you are the kind of person who loves online shopping. A few minutes after completing the payment process, I received a text message of congratulations from OLX for winning a prestigious platinum card with 100 U.S. dollars inside. You can guess the kind of questions that were lingering in my head as I waited for a delivery guy to knock on my door after 24 hours. However, instead of a knock to deliver the item, I received a phone call instructing me to send the TV set or item to the buyer. Still, I could not recognize that I had purchased my own TV set in my living room.
It was a double win when I received a call to send the package to the buyer and send the tracking number so the company could transfer the payment to the account. I was so happy, and I started counting myself as the luckiest online user. I could not imagine winning a platinum card, purchasing a TV set at a discounted price, and celebrating the final sale of a TV set for which I had placed a selling notice months back. I was in a celebratory mood, and everyone could notice something favoring my living methods. However, 30 minutes after sending the package, I received a message with the tracking number of the item I had sent to the buyer. First, I wondered why a company would send me a TV set and tracking code. It was shocking news when I got the first briefing from the delivery company about where the item had reached.
Marketing Communication and Consumer Confusion
Strangely, I started to receive double messages from the company notifying me where the product had reached and that it would be on my doorstep shortly, as well as another congratulatory message for using OLX to sell a product online. I was receiving constant updates until I received two messages indicating that the item was at my door and that the item had reached the buyer. I picked the item, and I discovered that I purchased my own TV set online without knowing. As usual, you can return the product within 24 hours and receive your full payment back. The fact that I purchased my item from an online platform because of being influenced or enticed by offers and the way a product was packaged could not make any sense to me. So the question I asked myself was whether I should send the item to the seller or just keep the item and consider myself lucky to win a card for buying my own item. I felt quite embarrassed and naïve. I took the item, packed it, and sent it back to the seller.
I sent it back so that I could receive my funds back and keep my platinum card. However, immediately after I signed that return package and left the post office where I went to ship it back, I received a notification that my item had been successfully delivered, and the money had been sent to my account. It was funny and amazing to receive payment for the item you sent back to the seller. It is obvious that when items are returned to the seller, the seller has to refund the money to the buyer. Remember, I had just received a payment notification on my phone before receiving another notifying me that the item had been rejected by the possible buyer due to a different item being delivered.
In the same message, I was told to transfer funds to the company OLX immediately to avoid charges. I immediately transferred the funds back with a lot of anger. I completed the transaction and waited to receive my money back and my item as well. It was a complete letdown, and it shows the manner in which consumerism influenced people’s choices of the kind of items they purchased. It was more painful because I had to wait for a few days to receive the funds back and also to receive my TV set back from the buyer. However, during that period, I came to two facts: I stayed home for 24 hours without my TV set, and I also had to wait for 48 hours to receive my payment back.
Consumerism, Purchase Decisions, and Buyer Autonomy
It was a clear indication of the way decisions to purchase items are being influenced by consumerism to the extent that buyers do not have control over what they buy online or from a physical store. This is a fact shared by many people. However, from this experience, my friends gave me a nickname “Mrbuyitall”. However, I did not lose the platinum card because when a client returned a product safely without any damage and the mistake was the seller’s, the buyer kept the card. It was the reason I went through a torturing event to send my TV set back to me so that I could earn points and keep the platinum card as well. It was a lesson I learned through hardship and taught me to be careful online, especially with items being advertised online on any platform. It is possible that someone can buy something for himself without noticing. It is more like a story of a man who attended an online burial of his father without knowing after his friends announced the death of his father online and invited their friends online for the burial. He attended the burial but never knew that it was the burial of his father after prayers, and everyone was now leaving.
The confusion shows the manner in which consumerism makes people purchase things they do not need, and some people even purchase things they have never been interested in buying, but because of an offer, decisions are made fast, and an order is placed. Since nobody could believe my story, I decided to keep the tale of life for myself and my future audience, and it is a fact that consumerism has affected me. It is obvious that nowadays, we are influenced by advertisements and promotions more than taste or experience to make a choice to purchase an item, and this happens every day. It defines the extent to which consumerism is after the market, and most people who purchase things from an online platform usually fall victim. It is also obvious that it has increased the rate at which people do impulse buying. First, I had no plan to purchase a similar TV set, but I made that decision based on the advertisement I saw, and the fact that I was going to get a platinum card made me put in an order, not knowing that I was purchasing a similar TV I had placed on the platform.
In conclusion, consumerism is here with us to stay, and it affects the way we purchase and sell. It also determines the prices of things we purchase and how we sell our items both on online platforms and even through physical stores. It is because most of the items we purchase are advertised online and through TV, radio, and other outlets, and therefore, it is good to be careful not to fall victim to purchasing your own kidney and thinking you are selling to someone else while you also need one. However, since the day I sold and purchased my own TV set, I have been very careful with every advertisement and have been very suspicious as well. I would never want to be without a TV set for 72 hours and let my money be stuck for 48 hours due to my ignorance and failure to read the advertisement well. If I had read the advertisement well, I would have seen my physical address as the address of the owner of the TV set who was selling it, and I would not have bought my own TV set from myself (Solomon, 2018).
References
Solomon, M. R. (2018). Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being (12th ed.). Pearson. https://www.pearson.com/en-us/subject-catalog/p/consumer-behavior-buying-having-and-being/P200000005951
Federal Trade Commission. (n.d.). Advertising and marketing basics. https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/advertising-marketing
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