E1 Online services GapFill

Over the last twenty years there has been an explosion in the amount of goods sold  instorestayed the samefluctuatedonline because buying and returning goods is so easy, and the delivery systems have improved significantly. Major retailers have opened large warehouses called  bricks and mortarfulfilment centreswaresonline from which the goods are dispatched from, often with great levels of efficiency and cost savings. However the  onlinemarketsupermarketHigh Street stores have really lost trade and many have closed or shrunk during this period (although many are also trading online too). Smaller sellers are also able to sell on the major platforms and can even send their stock to Amazon’s warehouse and Amazon will dispatch the goods to the  retailershopskeeperscustomers.

High Street  shopsstreetscafesbanks have also taken a hit and closed branches – there are so many ways to conduct financial affairs online, or through a smartphone app.

The way that education and training has also changed. As you are probably aware, schools, colleges and Universities use online teaching platforms called VLEs which stand for  visual learning environmentsvirtual learning environmentsvirtual learning eventsvirtual letter environments allowing work and material to be provided to students, online work submission and tests and quizzes. Technologies such as  TLSphotocopiersHTTPSVOIP and screen sharing allow for remote learning where students can see a video link to the teacher in the classroom. Another method of online learning occurs when Universities provide  MotorwayMultipleMobileMassive Open Online Courses – sometimes called MOOCs, which are free.

We now access much of our news through  magazinesTeletextsmartphonesnewspapers, tablets and the Internet (including on social media – but we must be careful what we believe as it may not always be true). As a result of the reduced newspaper sales, many online news outlets rely on advertising on their pages and make you turn off an ad-blocker. Some go further by charging you to turn off the ad-blocker, or by putting most of the content behind  a papera browsera networka paywall.

Entertainment has also had a makeover in the 21^st Century in terms of the high-tech nature of theme parks and even museums. To attract more visitors,  creditmoviesticketstime to events and theme parks can be booked online, often at a discount to purchasing at the entry gate. The use of physical media has rapidly declined and most DVD and video rental stores have closed. Instead, a variety of competing  postalset-topstreamingbox services allow video to be watched online through our personal devices and smart TVs.

The way that we work has changed – many of us working in an office will expect to spend most of our time using a computer, and overall our  hoursdoorproductivitytransparency has increased as we have better tools for planning, communicating and workflow. Modern technologies such as VPNs, remote desktop services, VOIP and fast Internet connections have all paved the way for more flexible working practices such as working from  officestruckscarshome on a full or part time basis.

Many attractions and airlines now allow online bookings. In some cases the customer can now either print out their ticket or show it to the attendant or scan a barcode displayed on their  smartphonecredit carddesktopkeys.