The power of platforms and apps-empowering and controlling the consumer

Abstract

This article discusses the new marketing model of e-commerce platforms in the Internet age. Merchants use e-commerce platforms as marketing methods to make profits. Customers, as Internet users, when they enjoy the benefits brought by e-commerce platforms, algorithms and data are controlling their thought and action. This article is mainly based on the academic foundation of three publications: the "platform capitalism" written by Nick in 2017, 'Appified -Culture in the Age of Apps' written by Jeremy Wade Morris and Sarah Murray in 2018, 'When Platform Capitalism Meets Petty Capitalism in China: Alibaba and an Integrated Approach to Platformization' written by LIN ZHANG in 2020, analyzes how the Chinese e-commerce platform, Taobao, influences the Internet consumers, and compares the Chinese e-commerce platforms and western e-commerce platforms.