Introduction
Shopbop is an online fashion retailer operated by Amazon. Shopbop focuses on a premium segment and sells mainly designer items such as clothing, shoes, and accessories. Shopbop provides best-in-class customer service, fast, free shipping worldwide, and free returns in the U.S. and Canada. Shopbop is part of the Amazon.com Inc. group of companies. The website features a dropdown menu and search bar to help customers find the items. It also organizes items in collections such as “What’s New,” “Dress Shop,” and so on. They also offer a loyalty program for their customers, which enables loyal customers to get special discounts and another perk when they reach the next level. Because Shopbop focuses on the premium segment, they offer high-quality items for purchase. They work with contemporary designers and try to stock the trendiest items. Although on the premium level, the price point also offers affordable options and a great sale selection. Moreover, the website also offers a resale option for high-end designer items.
Discussion
Positive aspects of the website include a nice design, which is very easy to navigate. A pleasant color scheme also supports an enjoyable experience for the users. The website works on the Amazon platform and therefore offers Prime delivery to Prime subscribers. Moreover, Shopbop offers a mobile app that is easy to navigate and place orders on. Overall, the website offers a good range of products and a fast delivery option, which are essential for online fashion retailers.
On the negative side, it is a simple fashion retail website, which is not groundbreaking. It does a good job, but there is nothing innovative about the website. It is a basic marketplace, as many others are. It does not make Shopbop bad, but it does not make it stand out, either. They could have offered picture search or a vast designer base, but they are quite niche-oriented, which does not allow for much innovation.
Technology has an essential role in modern everyday life. People rely on technology to get food, order a taxi, buy clothes, watch films and shows, and communicate with others. Websites such as Shopbop are convenient for modern customers since they offer next-day delivery and a great selection of apparel. Being operated by Amazon, Shopbop is an example of an enormous technological multi-billionaire company. Amazon is a technological giant that, with the help of smaller companies, overtakes our everyday life. Theorists such as Neil Postman urged caution in adopting new technologies (1993). He stated that with the technological overtake, society would spend all their time on devices entertaining themselves. Online shopping with Shopbop is also a form of entertainment that negatively affects your bank account. Postman (1993) believed that technology is a double-edged sword because it gives society the freedom to communicate but takes away real-life communication and leaves people more alone than they were before.
Another critic of technological development in society was William Ogburn. Ogburn (1964) focused on four stages of technological development, invention, accumulation, diffusion, and adjustment. According to this theory, the modern world is in the last stage right now, adjusting to the vast technological development and experiencing cultural lag. Ogburn (1964) states that “cultural lag is a common societal phenomenon due to the tendency of material culture to evolve and change rapidly and voluminously while non-material culture tends to resist change and remain fixed for a far longer period.” Essentially, Ogburn believed that technology is a primary drive for progress, but it is altered by social responses to it. Looking at Shopbop as an example, it can be stated that online retailers were created for convenience. However, they play a therapeutic role nowadays. When people are sad and want to cheer themselves up quickly, they buy things online, which is very convenient. However, online spending does not feel as bad as spending money in a shop. Therefore, many people experience debt because of easy spending options. However, conscious websites offer free returns policies, which does improve the situation a little bit.
Modern scholars, such as Ustanti (2018), believe that contemporary society has a shopping lifestyle. With the incredible technological development, shopping is extremely available, and consumerism is a poor reality these days. Moreover, the shopping lifestyle significantly influences the impulse buying behavior of modern society in online shopping (Ustanti, 2018). Both Amazon and Shopbop are online shopping platforms. Thus, they contribute tremendously to impulse buying. Most impulsive products are new products that are excessively advertised on websites. As well as that, websites send customers emails about new releases or price drops to encourage impulse buying. Unfortunately, online retail platforms are not worried about their customers or society, and they are mainly concerned with profits. By offering loyalty programs that encourage more spending, they promote consumerism, which benefits only them in the long run.
Conclusion
Overall, online retail platforms such as Shopbop are helpful and convenient. They enable customers to make purchases at any time and place and deliver good quality products. However, such technological advances do not have only positive aspects. They badly affect modern society by enabling and promoting consumerism. As stated above, many theorists acknowledge the negative sides of excessive technological usage. Modern society is dependent on technology, which was not its initial intention. Technology was developed to help people, and right now, it is overtaking them. Major companies such as Amazon only worsen the problem.
References
Ogburn, W. F. (1964). On culture and social change: Selected papers. University of Chicago Press.
Postman, N. (1993). Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology. Vintage.
Ustanti, M. (2018). Effect of shopping lifestyle, hedonic shopping on impulse buying behavior community middle class on online shopping.IOSR Journal of Business and Management, 20(8), 8-11. Web.