In the late 90s, internet retailers were looking and saying, okay, there's a lot of stuff that people just don't want to buy online because it is like on its face ridiculous. So what they did is they found ways to eliminate the price of shipping and the price of return shipping from what the consumers see. And over time, they got more and more people inured to the realities of doing a lot of their shopping that way. They ate enough of the cost of this process to get enough people on board with it that they started to affect the financial realities of brick and mortar retailers.
Paris Marx is joined by Amanda Mull to discuss the history of consumerism and where ecommerce goes in the next few years as interest rates rise and its market share stalls.
Amanda Mull is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where she writes the Material World column. She’s also a shop steward at The Atlantic Union. Follow Amanda on Twitter at @amandamull.
Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.
The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.
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