As I begin ...

So I was thinking of what to do on a rare holiday. I sat with my best friend, my MacBook on the bed. Surfing the net, playing online and Facebook were passé.

My mind was restless for more. Of late, I knew the source of my latest restlessness.

It had begun during work hours - my tryst with my destiny. My mouse, while playing darts with me, led to click on a friendly e-comm site whose ad blinked on the screen for some seconds.

I am not a huge fan of online shopping. While books and gadgets are alright, more personalized items are a strict no-no.

Till that point of time I had never ever questioned my priority.

As the page opened in front of me, I was fascinated by the melange of offers. I scoured over every page, every item - and then more sites.

It struck me with wonder. The plethora of merchandise in demand!

 In fact, suddenly there was this childish enthusiasm of being a semi proclaimed omniscient demi god in this sphere. Ok, that may have stretched it too far - but I'm sure readers, you get my drift! 

I rummaged around for more- pensive and trying to discern a pattern. The judgemental me subsided, to give way to a more keen and observant me as I pored over pages and pages of data.

In fact, once bitten, I felt addicted. I even felt adventurous to shop online. I went to a clothes section and ordered for trousers - knowing that according to the site, I will be given multiple chances of fitting.

I even got my long awaited blender for my house. Yes, the prices were lower and the deals were made to impress. 

I was looking for fast love - and that's what I was getting.

Therein my shopping sojourn began. Shopping a la carte to shopping in a buffet - the only driving force - my need to bid right, buy the best.

I became my own competition as my life began to revolve around savings and purchase out of compulsion.

Now as I became more addicted in my own game, I realized what I was missing. In all actuality, what was not there - that I could have been potentially missing.

What struck me was that, while, there was a macro structure in place with regards to shopping online, yet the micro controls were not too delved into.

In simpler layman's language, perhaps, a customization model was amiss. The sovereignty of the consumer, which of course we have studied so much and so hard in all economy / history books - was underplayed.

The thought alone deserved a fuller attention. For example have you ever imagined that one day perhaps you saw an online deal that promised a holiday for 2 in a certain exotic  place along with a blender and a car-wash? 

Or maybe, when you're looking for that model of an electric gadget, you find everything under the sun but that. What do you feel like then? Have you imagined voicing out your thoughts in the cold crystal clarity of words and phrases?

What is it being heard like? We all are consumers, by our birth right. But is the respect evinced clearly or really there?

Is there any platform for the consumer vox? The vox box is of merit, as feedback is not only needed as a vent but also a correction technique. Of course we all know this. But my worry was - is this where the buck stopped? What is beyond this?

I am sure, everyone has myriad of suggestions or thoughts. Every marketer is a consumer. Can't he think like one? or the profile, structures his thinking - in alignment with budget restrictions or company policies? But if we cater to the mass, why not hear them out? Every word has a pearl of wisdom hidden. And like I said, every sentence is information with an insight. Why not make a model to glean that?

Questions haunted my mind - spirals that led to more concentric circles. I was looking for solutions, which most probably people had not foreseen.

In my mind, there clearly was a gap. It needed to be looked into.