History and recent developments

• Until the mid-90s it was not possible to shop online. The closest alternative was shopping by phone.
• The same was true for banking and all the host of Government and other services which now exist online.
• Emailemail: electronic mail - a message written or typed on a computer and sent electronically rather than by post was not widely used and instant messengerinstant messenger: an application that allows users to send instant messages (text) to one another didn't exist.
• Instead of mobile phones there was a trend for CB (Citizen's Band) radio.
• Documents could not be sent as email attachments [attachment: a file that's 'attached' to an email is called an attachment ] and were faxed instead (a paper document is digitised, sent down a phone line, and then printed at the other end).
• The need to travel for essential services, eg banking, was far greater for those who lived outside town.

Recent developments

Today, customers expect even the smallest of businesses to have a professional, informative websitewebsite: a web page or group of web pages hosted on one web server and viewed in a web browser. Businesses that have failed to embrace the advancement of communications and ICT have put themselves at a disadvantage.

It is now common for adverts to include a webweb: includes all of the web pages accessible via the Internet address in addition to, or even instead of a phone number.