Consumer Behaviour with Information Technology

The first major impact of information technology, as we think of it
today, was the facilitation of commercial transactions electronically,
usually using technology like Electronic Data Interchange (EDI,
introduced in the late 1970s) to send commercial documents like
purchase orders or invoices electronically.

Later, with the development of the internet, the effect of information
technology on consumer behavior could be seen in the purchase of goods
and services over the World Wide Web via secure servers   with
e-shopping carts and with electronic pay services, like credit card
payment authorizations.

The Internet Boom:

"First we must confront the question of what happened during the late
1990s. Viewed from 2003, such an exercise is undoubtedly premature,
and must be regarded as somewhat speculative. No doubt a clearer view
will emerge as we gain more perspective on the period. But at least I
will offer one approach to understanding what went on.

I interpret the Internet boom of the late 1990s as an instance of what
one might call ``combinatorial innovation.''

Every now and then a technology, or set of technologies, comes along
that offers a rich set of components that can be combined and
recombined to create new products. The arrival of these components
then sets off a technology boom as innovators work through the
possibilities."
http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~hal/Papers/mattioli/mattioli.html

"The Internet for us was like air. It was there all the time - you
wouldn't notice it existed unless it was missing. But the Internet as
a major social phenomenon didn't enter our radar until the advent of
the World Wide Web, which was developed in Europe at CERN, beginning
in 1989, by a team of physicists that included an alumnus of the Media
Lab. That was what provoked the big change in the Internet. "
http://archives.obs-us.com/obs/english/books/nn/bd1101bn.htm

----------------------The impact of information... [continues]

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