Short Story: The Benefits of Shopping Online


Maria's new lifestyle: Short story about the benefits shopping on the Net has given to a dedicated artist.

I've got this strange friend; her name is Maria. Maria's always been a little weird but now things have gotten unworldly altogether. You see, Maria's an artist; she's into sculpture in particular, of which she specializes in the manipulation of Perspex with a blowtorch. Lately I haven't seen too much of her as she's hooked up the Internet. Actually not many people at all have seen her recently; she says she's working on a big project.

Now that she's got the Internet she reckons she can focus a lot more on her work without distractions. She doesn't 'waste' time doing grocery shopping anymore. Now she orders all her food and household items. She says if she's extremely busy, her weekly list is saved into the computer, and she just clicks on 'order' and the usual stuff is delivered to her door every week. No more driving, parking, searching for stuff, standing in line, dealing with bored and under slept cashiers. I'm starting to think it's not such a bad idea. Maria is pretty proud. She's now organizing for a local greengrocer to deliver her fruit and vegetables too.

Maria has always had a 'thing' for Donald Duck. On the Net she's found all these rare collectable dealers like Ebay. When she's not warping Perspex into postmodern configurations representing the need for a more spiritual existence, she's thriving in the consumerist world of finding and bidding for Donald Duck comic books from the 1950's. Last I heard a friend said she's actually starting to look like a duck herself!

All this Internet shopping is pretty new to me, it sounds like it really could help a lot of people out. However for recluse artists it could be the final straw for friends and family who may never see their buddies again! Nah, its cool-I just hope Maria's new project isn't a giant Perspex Donald Duck. I don't think the world needs any more Donald Ducks!

I just got back from Maria's place. You're not going to believe what I saw. She was actually having a party, and I wasn't invited. Maybe she thinks I'm boring compared to her new friends. She says she met them on the Internet, a whole bunch of people into Donald Duck! One guy was actually dressed up like Yosemite Sam-gun belt and all! It seems I'm the odd one out.

Before I left her place she showed me her new sculpture. I underestimated her newfound love. It's a giant computer; inside it is filled with the heads of all her friends (me included). Of course none of us had human mouths, smiling duck beaks adorned all the heads, a definite sign of the Internet's powerful influence, and of the collective warping of today's society!

About The Author

Jesse S. Somer is a human hoping to show his fellow Earth citizens the beautiful opportunities the Internet is making available for all our lives.


More Resources

Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting

More E-Commerce Information:

Related Articles

Why Suppliers Should Use B2B Exchanges
Business to business e-commerce is on the rise! Worldwide B2B e-commerce revenues are estimated to reach around US$ 2 trillion in 2004. This is a significant leap from last year's US$ 1.
How To Accept Credit Cards Online
Anyone with an online business, whether for auctions,services, or virtually any type of product, has asked thesame question at some time during their quest to createthe ultimate online business - "How do I accept creditcards?"Since over 90% of all transactions on the Internetinvolve customers paying by credit card, acceptingplastic money rates a must for almost any business.The problem for most small online business ownersinvolves the high cost of setting up and maintaining acredit card merchant account.
Helping Your Visitors: a State of Mind
What does "helping your visitors" mean exactly?It means writing your sites, newsletters and emails in such a way as to help each visitor achieve his or her goal.That may sound like a simple task, but it isn't.
10 Reasons To Survey Your Visitors, Subscribers And Customers
1. To find out what type of content visitors want to see on your web site.
Home Sweet Home Page
"Your home page is the world's introduction to you and your company. Make it COUNT!" - Heidi RichardsThink of your home page as the cover of your brochure.
Getting Started in ECommerce - Part One
In 2004, Enquiro.com conducted a study of the search behaviors of men vs.
3 Powerful Concepts That Climb Marketing Mountains
You have probably heard many times how you should offerfree reports. Like many of us, the idea of putting in workto give something away may have gone through youtransparent.
Complementary-Relational Linking and How It Could Save Your Internet Business
The concept of linking is that sites with common interestsshould link to drive more traffic to each other's businessesand to increase their "popularity." Search engines, such as Google, give much higher ranking to sites with highpopularity.
Web Users Crave Familiarity
The sad truth is, general Web users would love it if all our sites looked like Amazon.com.
Six Components Of A Good E-Commerce Site
Businesses, which are still sitting on sidelines and not doing business on the Internet, should think seriously about their position! If you are one of them, chances are there, that you have to pay dearly for your indecision as you might lose significant market share to your more proactive competitors in a very short period of time.Apart from the fact that e-commerce is growing at the rate of more than 25 percent a year, the use of online features can bring efficiency to virtually every aspect of business process, be it supply chain management or customer support management.
Creating Legal Framework for E-commerce Taxation; non-tax statutes
We have to make amendments in existing substantive and procedural laws to make it compactable with changing technological advancement of e-commerce?Amending Contract Act, 1872I recommend the amendments in section 3 and 4 of contract Act 1872 so as to make the compactable with section 13, 14 and 15, of the electronic transaction ordinance 2002 related with attribute of communication, acknowledgement of receipt and time and place of the communication between the parties. Either additional section should be added for acceptance device of 'electronic communication', or words be added in matter connected with electronic communication relevant section 13,14 and 15 be evoked while interpretation of section 3 and 4 of contract Act 1872.
Looking For Free Advertising, Here It Is!
There are lots of ways to advertise for free but they are time consuming so I guess technically, they are not free because your time is worth something! But if you have the time and not the money this is for you.I posed the question of "free advertising" to a few forums and they all can back the same, but with new links to check out.
Products for a Successful Web Business
There are F words in business. We have seen many small businesses on the internet flourish and fulfil their dream, but sadly we have seen some flounder and fail because they had the wrong product.
Ecommerce - Boost Your Business ROI
Did you know that over 90% of all online orders are processed by credit cards and that web sites that offer customers the ability to pay with credit cards can achieve up to 300% more sales than those that do not?It's a fact. Not only do more customers buy, statistics prove that customers actually buy more when given the option to pay with their credit card.
One Point Two Billion
In this surreal world of the internet, anyone, even you, can put your point across to a staggering number of people inevery country on the planet.From political activists to artists and writers, can now findan audience to take notice of them where they could not getmuch attention in their local community.
7 Questions to Ask A Potential Internet Merchant Account Provider
Recently I went looking for an online merchant account, with disastrous results. I made the mistake of taking information at face value and relying on the ecommerce merchant account provider's good reputation in other areas.
What is SSL (the little padlock)?
SSL ("Secured Socket Layer") is a protocol used to encrypt the communication between the user's browser and the web server. When SSL is active, a "little padlock" appears on the user's browser, usually in the status line at the bottom (at the top for Mac/Safari users.
The Rise of Multinational Virtual Corporations
The virtual corporation is the emerging organisational form, which best combines, a fluid ability to adapt to rapidly changing markets and is able to leverage its skills with the complementary skills of other corporations.In the concept's purest form, each company that links up with others to create a virtual corporation will be stripped to its essence.
A Tale of Two Revolutions - Ecommerce: A Historical Perspective
The World As It Then WasThe dynamic economic growth of the late 19th century placed greater and greater demand on horses to deliver manufactured goods between train and local destinations. Horses pulled stagecoaches, buggies, omnibuses, cabs and even shipping barges in canals.
eCommerce, How Much Does It cost?
Making profits with your existing website design or creating a new online store can be exciting, affordable and most of all; rewarding. Mmmm .