Do you ever wonder what kind of changes those went through who are 60, 70 or 80 years old now? Everything is still progressing at a fast pace and all changes happen in front of our very eyes. For example, due to the spread of online shopping, we have access to things which we could not have dreamed of a few years ago.

Do you still remember those days when everything has stopped because of a holiday? Or when it was absolutely impossible to buy on a Sunday night at 11 o'clock an angel shaped earring made of silver with turquoise decoration? Today, to satisfy even a very specific need is only one single search away: we can make purchases on the web any time of the day. Whether it has done good or bad to us can of course be debated, but from a vendor’s perspective it is definitely beneficial. The virtual shades never have to be shut down and they don’t have to physically be in the store or pay for workforce. People can still buy things from them while they are enjoying holiday or having lunch with their family. 

Dissatisfied buyers could not have done much harm to a good business earlier, and for example, quality deterioration or unfriendly service was easily disregarded. With online shopping, however, buyers received the voice they have been looking for: their opinion finally matters. According to a survey, 92% of potential buyers trust the internet ratings as much as if they were talking to a friend or family member. While negative reviews can hurt a business very quickly, positive feedback or even strengthening a single influencer can also cause a breakthrough for a small business, and can have more power than a very expensive advertising campaign. And the best thing about it is that it does not cost you anything, you just have to provide a platform for your customers where they can give feedback. Then you only have to do your job well, so you could be proud to put their opinions into the window.

Forecasts and western experiences show us that malls are no longer the places to be. While the '80s and' 90s were about these huge shopping complexes, with changing trends it would seem that these giants will be soon empty. Today, when anything can be bought from home, fewer people would like to be swarming with the crowd in the loud mall, which also attracts thieves.   Benjamin Glaser, editor in chief of DealNews said that in the US dozens of malls have been closed since 2010, and even more malls have been placed on the edge. The few shopping centres that have been opened in the past decade are no longer classic malls. They put much more emphasis on entertainment, there are more restaurants and cafes as well as open spaces, because people who are still going to these complexes want to have a community experience. However, most people in the West are spending their money on the internet, and the trends are rapidly changing in East-Central-Europe as well.

This is really a surprising consequence, but the fact is that while the number of postal deliveries has dropped for a while thanks to the spread of the telephone and e-mail, online shopping has significantly increased the number of home shipping in the West, which have fuelled the age-old conflict between mailmen and watchdogs. All of this is statistically demonstrable now: more packages, more mailmen at the garden gate, more opportunities for conflict, more dog bites! But there seems to be an even more interesting development in this area: it may be possible that the workload of mailmen will be reduced again in the future due to e-commerce, as Amazon is already delivering packages with the help of drones in the USA, and the service is now available in China and Australia.