Assignment 2 task 1 - How consumers use technology and its impact on their lives

The Brief
Elizabeth Carey - 76996469
Unit 1 – Evolution of Marketing
Digital technology has impacted the lives of consumers and businesses around the world. With access to the
internet and the lowering cost of smart devices, audiences use the internet to improve their daily lives. In this
connected world, access to information is seen as a necessity rather than a convenience. You will learn how
audiences use technology to find information, to be entertained/informed and to live their lives.
Following on from your previous assignment, you are developing a reputation as being knowledgeable in digital
marketing. Now, the international interactive media festival South by Southwest (SXSW) are interested in having
you speak at their next conference. They have asked you to prepare a presentation document and short video
pitch to give them an indication of your knowledge of how audiences use technology and its impact on their
lives.

How
consumers use
technology
and its impact
on their lives
Fig 1,Start up stock photos, 2015. Pixabay. (Photograph)

Introduction
Today I am going to discuss how consumers use technology and its impact on not only their lives but how it also effects businesses and
marketers, along with how they will need to adapt to fulfil today’s consumer expectations.
Technology is forever changing and daily becoming more and more important in our lives, so I will be looking into the changes over time
on how we access internet and by which devices. Not only that but how we search for information, and how e-commerce and video
consumption has changed and adapted over time.

Access to the internet
e.g. changes in the number of people accessing the internet, internet speeds, ect.
Fig 2, Households with access to the internet, 2018.
CSO Statistical release (Graph)
The internet was officially born in 1983, in the 90’s the world wide
web was created as well as internet companies such as Amazon,
Ebay and google which saw the rise of over 255 million internet
users by 1999. (Pew research centre, 2014)
June 2019 has seen over 4.5 billion internet users. (Internet world
statistics, 2019)
As seen in Fig2 below – in 2018, 89% of households had internet
access – which stays unchanged from the year before but with a
17% increase from 2010.
In 2018, the most common reasons for not having access to the
internet were - no need for it, lack of skills or access to the
internet elsewhere. (Central Statistics Office, 2018)
Fig 3, The path to gigabit internet, 2017. ncta.com (Graph)
In 2018 download and upload speeds began rising with 5G and Gigabit
expanding. Mobile speeds increased by 15% while fixed broadband increased
more than 26%. (Isla Mcketta, Speedtest.net, 2018)
Gigabit internet is the next generation of broadband internet service which is
believed to be 100x faster than today’s average broadband connection.
(ihiji.com, 2014)

Access to the internet
e.g. changes in the number of people accessing the internet, internet speeds, ect
In 2017, over 70% of the worlds youth (ages 15-24) are using
the internet which is significantly higher than the proportion
of the total population using the internet. (itu.int, 2017.)
Using the internet is a big part of the younger generations
lives, as its something they have been brought up with. 92%
of teens going online daily and 71% having more than one
social media platform such as; Instagram, snapchat, Facebook
etc as well as more access to games and instant messaging.
Teens are typically more likely to stay online for longer than
adults, as well as accessing the internet in different locations
through their smartphone. (Extension.umn.edu, 2018)
Fig 4, proportion of individuals using the internet, by age, 2017. Itu.int (Graph)

Digital devices used by audiences
e.g. people can access the internet via different devices
Fig 5, device usage, 2019. globalwebindex (Graph)
On average the typical consumer owns around 3 different digital devices. (Katie Young,
Global Web Index, 2017) However in 2018 computers, tablets and game consoles were
used a lot less with the rise of smartphone technology. (Viktoriya Trifonova, Global
Web index, 2018). As shown in Fig 5 above, the rise of smartphones being considered
to be the most important to access the web rose over 30% in 3 years, whereas a
desktop or laptop declined by 15%. In this time smartphones became faster and an
easier way to access the internet, especially with the use of apps and the ease of
instant messaging, this shows desktop usage is on the decline compared to other
portable devices.
Fig 6, Top online behaviours where tablets and PC’s are
falling behind smartphones, 2019. Globalwebindex (Graph)

How customers search for information
e.g. people use various online channels to search for information and recommendations
Generally, people tend to search the web by using three different key ways; Navigational queries, Informational queries and Commercial/ transactional
queries. (Marcus Miller, 2019, bowlerhat.co.uk)
Navigational queries is a search with an intent to visit a specific site or page. Informational is a question looking for an answer either at a specific or
broad level and thirdly commercial is typically driven with an intent to buy.
Go - Navigational Know - Informational Do - Commercial

What consumers buy online
e.g. people purchase different products/services online
Fig 7, Global e-commerce spend by category, 2019. Datareportal.
In 2019 the biggest selling e-commerce
category was Travel and accommodation
spending a combined $750 billion over the past
year, however Fashion & beauty had the
strongest growth over the past year with a 17%
increase. (Datareportal, 2019)
The number of e-commerce has also grown
over the past year with more than 2.8 billion
people around the world now shopping online.
(Statista, 2019)
E-commerce affects businesses both positively
and negatively. On one hand e-commerce
makes businesses a lot more accessible to
more people around the world, but equally
makes the retail stores less necessary.

Online video consumption
e.g. changes in the amount of video content consumed
Video content used to be confined to your TV where
you would need to flick through the channels to find
something you wanted to watch, now with mobile the
online video game has changed and you can tune in
wherever and whenever.
One in three adults aged between 18 and 54 will use
their smartphone as their primary choice for watching
online video. (Megan Potgieter(thinkwithgoogle) 2016)
People will tend to change what they watch on with
what they’re watching, for example YouTube videos
tend to be watched more from a smartphone, and
others would rather switch on their tv to watch the
news or sports.
Fig 8, Amanda Zantal-Wiener, Online video device consumption, 2018. (Pie Chart)

Consumer trends
e.g. how consumers’ use of technology has changed over the past 3-5 years, reflecting on the areas above
• The rise of social media.
With so many consumers now signed in with multiple social accounts, businesses are having to up their online marketing game and have more of a
presence to be able to keep up with their competitors. However, social media has made it easier to interact with potential customers and get their name
out to a wider audience.
• Artificial Intelligence.
The technology of AI has been constantly improving every year for the past 20 years. We’ve seen AI-driven driverless cars to facial recognition software.
AI is still being worked on to be made more consistent and more practical, and could pose a threat in the future by putting employees out of work, if it
can be proved to be able to do the same job as a human can.
• Voice Assistance.
Voice technology has improved over the last few years from mobile voice technology with Siri to the Amazon Alexa echo.(See Fig 9 below.) Businesses
can benefit from voice assistance – for example when searching on google consumers will tend to go and look on the first page of results, if you ask voice
assistance it will bring up one option- which is the business’s opportunity to stand out from their competition if they can manage to get that position.
(Falk Rehkoph, 2019 ubermetrics-technologies.com)
Fig 9, REUTERS/Elijah
Nouvelage (2019) ‘Prompts
on how to use the Amazon
Echo’ (Photograph)

Consumer trends
e.g. how consumers’ use of technology has changed over the past 3-5 years, reflecting on the areas above
A few examples of how technology is changing and the hottest new consumer trends in technology for 2019.
Fig 10, Smart Pet Feeder, 2019. ABC News. (Photograph)
A smart pet feeder which recognises individual pets using
facial recognition technology.
Fig 11, Translating earbuds, 2019. ABC News. (Photograph)
The pilot of these translating earbuds were shown at CES 2019 in Las Vegas. These use the
latest technologies in speech recognition, machine translation and wearable technology
allowing users to have conversations without a language barrier. Used with a mobile app
to able to switch to different languages.
Fig 12, Intelligent Toilet, 2019. ABC News.
(Photograph)
This toilet features built in mood lighting,
heated seat, surround sound speakers,
water cleansing and dryer options as well as
Alexa voice control commands.

Summary
Provide a concise overview of the key points and emphasise the impact of technology on consumers’ lives.
As shown in my first two slides we can see how much more consumers use the internet on a daily basis with it becoming so accessible on
different devices and no longer being tied down to one location to access. With a larger audience and plenty of social media platforms it
means businesses have the chance to strive and reach a brand new audience along with having instant communication with customers to
meet needs and wants.
Consumers are able to search for information in 3 key ways – go, do and know. With artificial technology and voice assistance on the rise,
again this can be a pit or peak to businesses. When searching online on average most people will go with what’s on the first page of their
search engine, however if using voice assistance it will choose one company or page to direct you to, which for that top spot is a great way of
getting ahead of their competition, but if you’re lower down on that first page you will not get that voice assistance redirection.
The rise of the internet is very evident and especially looking at this years consumer trends at how technology is developing rapidly I believe
that voice control and artificial intelligence will be a big part of future technology. Not only that but I believe from my findings that video
consumption is now, and more businesses and marketers will need to jump on the trend to stay relevant whether that’s with more video ads,
or more customer interaction on social platforms, for example with Instagram and Facebooks Live video tools to connect instantly to their
audience.
E-commerce is proving more popular also with ages 25-34 who are the most active and on average shop online eight times a month.
(Ecommerce News.eu, 2018) 51% of consumers also preferring shopping online than going to a physical store – meaning if you don’t have a
presence or a online store you could be missing out on a lot of business.
In conclusion I believe business’s and marketers will need to keep adapting to meet consumer trends and be able to keep up with any
competition. With smartphones continuously upgrading and them being the number one device consumers use to access the internet the
idea of what's next will always need to be in the forefront of their mind. What the future has in store is hard to know but I believe AI will be a
huge part with computers learning what humans know. Chat bots may start taking online customer service jobs. Voice control may take over
the use of keyboards and video and images will become a more vital search tool than text.

Summary
Provide a concise overview of the key points and emphasise the impact of technology on consumers’ lives.
The impact of technology on consumers lives definitely depends on the generation. The youngest generation (Gen Z) has grown up with a
world of smartphones and social media platforms, where you can get in touch with whoever whenever and wherever you like.
Millennials have equally grown up with the evolution of the internet and have seen how it began along with dial up and the birth of the world
wide web. These two generations have this information as second nature, whereas the older generation are more likely to continue to shop
instore, choose not to have online banking and prefer to call a friend or relative by landline instead of WhatsApp.
In summary I believe the impact will be mainly positive looking forward with convenience and saving both time and money, being able to
control your home remotely – switching heating on and off when you’re not there and checking into security systems as well as an increased
insight into behaviour with being able to track your sleep, eating and health habits by wearing a watch that can monitor all and that I believe
is just the beginning.

Reference list
Fig 1,Start up stock photos, 2015. Pixabay. (Photograph) Available at https://pixabay.com/photos/student-typing-keyboard-text-849826/
[Accessed 7th October 2019]
Fig 2,Households with access to the internet, 2018. CSO Statistical release (Graph) Available at
https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/er/isshh/informationsocietystatistics-households2018/
Fig 3, The path to gigabit internet, 2017. ncta.com (Graph) Available at https://www.ncta.com/positions/the-future-of-super-fast-internet
Fig 4, proportion of individuals using the internet, by age, 2017. Itu.int (Graph) Available at https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-
D/Statistics/Documents/facts/ICTFactsFigures2017.pdf
[Accessed 5th November 2019]
Fig 5, device usage, 2019. globalwebindex (Graph) Available at https://blog.globalwebindex.com/trends/device-usage-2019/
Fig 6, Top online behaviours where tablets and PC’s are falling behind smartphones, 2019. Globalwebindex (Graph) Available at
https://blog.globalwebindex.com/trends/device-usage-2019/
Fig 7, Global e-commerce spend by category, 2019. Datareportal. Available at https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2019-global-digital-overview

Reference list
Fig 8, Amanda Zantal-Wiener, Online video device consumption, 2018. (Pie Chart) Available at https://blog.hubspot.com/news-trends/online-video-
consumption-preferences-data
Fig 9, REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage (2019) ‘Prompts on how to use the Amazon Echo’ (Photograph) Available at
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/07/voice-technology-personalization/
Fig 10, Smart Pet Feeder, 2019. ABC News. (Photograph) Available at https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/photos/ces-2019-preview-hottest-trends-
consumer-technology-60214107/image-smart-pet-feeder-60214237
Fig 11, Translating earbuds, 2019. ABC News. (Photograph) Available at https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/photos/ces-2019-preview-hottest-trends-
consumer-technology-60214107/image-translating-earbuds-60318783
Fig 12, Intelligent Toilet, 2019. ABC News. (Photograph) Available at https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/photos/ces-2019-preview-hottest-trends-
consumer-technology-60214107/image-intelligent-toilet-60318720

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