Consumers can shop the Internet while at work or at 12am in their pajamas. This constant accessibility increases the chance that consumers will engage in impulse buying. However, it also allows consumers to compare prices on different sites. This means that businesses must price their products more competitively, and offer a wider array of products so they will not see loyal customers shift to competitor sites with better (and more attractively displayed) selection. Businesses can also sell their product on websites such as Amazon.com that act as portals for a variety of enterprises.
Even smaller businesses have seen their lives transformed by the web. Once upon a time, certain small, local businesses sold only to the community. Now, an artisanal chocolate maker in Switzerland or a maple syrup producer in Vermont can use a website to sell their product to individuals all over the world, provided they have an attractive website that is easily searchable. Access on a page more than geographic access is more vital to succeed in today's market. The use of websites takes selling products and consumption out of real world space and time, and transfers the act of advertising and purchasing into the realm of the image -- products are no longer tactilely experienced in the real world. On a website, the image a product projects may have more value than its sensory experience for the consumer.
While some competitive athletes engaged in weight training in the past, only recently have ordinary civilians have begun to use personal training as a way to 'get fit.' The idea that the body can be perfected with the correct effort shows the new emphasis and concern about health but also a greater emphasis on youth and displaying an attractive personal image in contemporary culture.
The selling of the services of personal trainers indicates how physical fitness has become more scientific and common amongst many age groups, not just young people playing competitive sports at school or professional athletes. The physical spaces of working out have shifted away from informal locations in the community and into personalized and paid spaces, like gyms and personal training 'salons.' The concept of the self inherent in the promotion of personal training reflects a desire on the part of consumers to overcome the limitations of an increasingly obese and sedentary culture, a desire for health improvement -- and also reflects a somewhat selfish interest in personalized fitness and beauty that is disconnected with fitness with a purpose for work and sport.
