To access goods and services, the consumer no longer needs to visit physical places, offices, dwellings, stores or outlets. The markets in the current era are no longer physical but are increasingly becoming digital. Thus, the buying and selling happen across digital networks, online platforms and cyber space. Suppliers offer their services and goods in the digital realm; associated with the suppliers’ verve to entice consumers to transact are the racy and on-your-face- advertisements and touting messages that would normally be sent into the consumers’ electronic devices i.e. mobile phones and computers.
For the digital economy to flourish, consumers need to have trust in the integrity and fairness of digital markets. Admittedly, providers of goods and services often have greater knowledge, power and resources than consumers. The loop sided relationship may be leveraged to dictate terms of use of products and services to their advantage and to the consumers disadvantage. This is even worse in digital commerce where consumers have less knowledge about providers and the quality of goods and services they offer online.
