Netconomy started as a buzzword, joining net,
network, and economy. In less than one year, the term was used
to describe a distributed commercial environment where extremely
efficient transactions make up an increasing part of the global
economy. But the consequences of the Netconomy are also local:
distribution channels can be eliminated, with the effect of
accelerating commercial cycles and lowering prices. Computers,
cars, software, and legal services are more frequently acquired
through the virtual shops of the Netconomy.
To see how the practical experience of the market freed itself
from language and literacy, let us now examine the market
process as semiosis in its various aspects. As already stated,
in trading products, people trade themselves. Various qualities
of the product (color, smell, texture, style, design, etc.), as
well as qualities of its presentation (advertising, packaging,
vicinity to other products, etc.), and associated characteristics
(prestige, ideology) are among the implicit components of this
trade. Sometimes the object per se-a new dress, a tool, wine, a
home-is less important than the image it projects. Secondary
functions, such as aesthetics, pleasure, conformity, override the
function of fulfilling needs. In market semiosis, desire proves
to be just as important, if not more so, than need. In a large
part of the world, self-constitution is no longer just a
question of survival, but also one of pleasure.
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