Overview
There is a huge variety of products and services available on the Internet and in various locations. It takes a lot of time for the customer to make purchasing decisions and find information. In product presentations, the information is often incomplete, the good points can be told, and the bad points may not be known except through “neutral”, if usually are impartial, evaluations.
Having tight directories with bottom-up or parallel options for suppliers, prices, features would make it easier and quicker to make purchasing decisions. Similar commodities should also have feature lists for which comparisons are useful. If there were still intelligent software that gives the name of the commodity, followed by feature selections, with descriptions and meanings. And when a customer submits their choice there should be suggestions of links to find that one. commodities. Unfortunately, operators are not brought together in a single system with sufficient information to compare the goods they offer in terms of characteristics, price, quality, reviews, domesticity, delivery locations, etc. And who would build such a system and how it would be funded. In the future, this would be desirable as we begin to utilize big data with big data resources, and still with artificial intelligence technologies.
Indeed, there is now such an enormous variety of options available on the internet that it is impossible for customers to make optimum solutions in every respect. It would be a relief for existing sites to have a clear, concise and succinct presentation of the information. Some sites are too crowded with stuff and ads, while others provide very little information about commodities, sometimes not at all. Customers have to contact and inquire and it takes time. If sufficient information on the merits of the product, as well as the disadvantages of the product, were presented in different situations, it would create confidence and could even increase sales.
Different people emphasize different attributes because values and use cases vary. Thus, while the commodities offered can be found in the same central location side by side, it could facilitate the sales of all the actors involved. All commodities have their pros and cons. The operators could provide common basic information about the products and services and complement their own websites, something that is still to be added and different from the basic information. That is, it is worthwhile to have more cooperation and networking, at least between small and medium-sized players.
Price and quality
If the requested price is unreasonably high, it may cause financial problems for customers. Conversely, if the price is too low, it can cause financial problems for the supplier and the primary producer and there is not much room for improvement. If the quality is poor, it also becomes a problem. If the product breaks down quickly and has to be disposed of, especially if it is not recyclable, it will also cause more environmental problems. Produced and purchased locally saves you travel costs and time, and reduces the environmental burden of transportation. It would be good for commodities to be subjected to an objective life-cycle assessment of health, environment, maintenance and costs. The quality should be as good as possible regarding the various characteristics and should be improved. The price-performance ratio is decisive in the choices made.
Common basic information on commodities and features
If I go shopping for a smartphone, for example, I search online for different reviews both in Finland and abroad. I look at feature lists and consider which features are important to me and then compare prices. Then I choose between suppliers. There are many factors that influence my choice. I would not like to make short-sighted and hasty decisions.
For example, smartphone features and selection factors: What I use and how much, usability reviews, structure, quality, operating system, dimensions, weight, materials, colors, screen size, screen resolution, image quality, pixel density (ppi), maximum video frame rate ( fps), maximum video image density, front surface resolution, display type, keystroke detection, HDR (High Dynamic Range, how wide the brightness range can be displayed so that image details can be distinguished), circular screen, flash type (good enough image regardless of lighting) , camera aperture size (rear), dual camera lenses, optical image stabilization, enhanced autofocus, battery capacity, removable battery, battery comparison benchmark, quick charge, wireless charging, home button, processor speed (GHz), processor, RAM (direct access memory), built-in memory (GB), maximum memory expansion (GB), MicroSD memory card, Hi-Fi audio, headphone jack, included headphones, desktop dock, bluetooth (wireless data transfer), VR headset (VR = virtual reality) , voice director, fingerprint sensor, iris scanning (Iris Detection: Biometric Systems Apply Mathematical Image Marking Techniques to Individual’s Eye Color Film), Face Detection, Mobile Charges, Software Included, Market / Release Time, Retail Price, browsing test, reliability, experience from acquaintances and audience, Overall rating and comparison results from different sites, vendors, etc. The choice of computer is the same as when choosing a smartphone. Many technical devices have similar problems when selecting them. Some features are more important, some less important, and will vary with different customers and usage needs. And customers need to understand what features mean in practice.
If you are thinking of choosing shoes and clothing, you should also know about their durability under various conditions of use etc. Foods, supplements, medicines should have reliable information on their health, harm, purity, etc., based on many validated studies and experience. They should be known when used in combination with other medicines, foods. It would be good to have, for example, a variety of nutritional supplements that take into account their use together so that you don’t get too much or too little of a chemical, nutrient.
The choice of services has its own criteria, what people emphasize, how easily and close they are available. Expertise, know-how, availability, quality and price influence the choice of services. Products are also purchased on the above grounds and as close as possible.
Consumers, producers, journalists should gather information and make the Internet accessible to everyone in a centralized location, as browsing and retrieving from here takes time. Making intelligent product selection systems the most comprehensive, user-friendly and impartial there is tremendous scope for development and the potential to leverage information technology, and it requires funding, expertise and willingness to engage. What can we do already? Better homepages are being developed that will facilitate solutions to commodity selection problems, and from different angles. Suitably clear, understandable, reliable information, concise and quickly searchable on smartphones. There are already good selection pages for different industries, such as apartments, cars, etc., but there are a lot of players. All similar actors should be brought to the same search engine, or at least their sites should have a tight link directory in one place. But this will not help much without the massive artificial intelligence system that comes with all the actors involved.
What can the Problems Solving site offer? It is possible to bring together different actors from the perspective of problems and areas for improvement. And it would be desirable for these actors to be brought together to solve the same basic issues. And thus, providing a centralized place for customers to find information and commodities. Common basic information should be collected and published for the benefit of both producers and consumers. Even basic information behind links could be retrieved and viewed in shared databases.
Veikko J. Pyhtilä, 9.10.2017