The Potential of eCommerce and the Uses and Gratifications Theory

E-Commerce/Fintech Affinity Group Paper
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E-Commerce/Fintech Affinity Group Paper
The ordinary consumer in the United States (U.S.) will likely consume the contents presented in Cohen and Tankersley’s article, “E-Commerce Might Help Solve the Mystery of Low Inflation,” published in the New York Times. The article discusses the potential for e-commerce to address the sluggish inflation recorded in America. Inflation is the deterioration in purchasing power over a specified time, implying that the dollar value is reducing (Cohen & Tankersley, 2018). The article helps us understand the role of rising online shopping on inflation, including how it is evaluated. In order to deliver its core message and influence consumption and uptake of its news, media organizations must implement and achieve the Uses and Gratification theory. The paper evaluated the article as mentioned above and discussed how it reflects the elements of the Uses and Gratification theory.
The author indicates that inflation has been sluggish in the past few years, with the prices of products falling and online transactions recording more significant price drops compared to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) measure. In this context, the internet is perceived to be playing a central role in this economic mystery. The article includes a graph indicating the change in the e-commerce product prices compared to the consumer price changes when using the CPI metric. The Uses and Gratification theory indicates that audiences are inclined to select the media outlet that serves their best interests and that the media organizations can be understood by the audience based on how they can use visual aesthetics to meet their gratifications. Accordingly, the Uses and Grat...