The last decade has witnessed remarkable changes as regards consumption patterns and practices in Spain, associated with profound changes in the organisation of its consumer society. One of the phenomena which is most indicative of this transformation is the increasing impact of electronic or digital consumption. This form of consumption has steadily attracted more and more customers as the years have gone by, in a trend which would appear to be irreversible. The emergence of the platform economy, linked to new organisational, commercial and labour models which in turn are also related to the collaborative and ‘gig economy’ (see Acquier et al., 2017; Schor & Attwood-Charles, 2017; Howcroft & Bergvall-Kåreborn, 2019; Zuboff, 2020; Alonso et al, 2020; Alonso & Fernández Rodríguez, 2021b), has involved the establishment of a new commercial channel. This channel has a number of specific characteristics which have completely overturned traditional consumer practices. For example, shopping via an electronic device and in many cases via a home delivery service has become commonplace among more and more sectors of the population, and the act of consumption has been re-signified. With the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic, these trends have become even more prevalent due to fears surrounding the disease and the need for social distancing (see Alonso & Fernández Rodríguez, 2021a). However, it is clear that even at the end of the last decade, the emergence of new platforms which provided specific services such as accommodation, private transport and home deliveries, together with the hegemony of global e-commerce giants (Amazon, Ali Baba), was already driving consumption patterns which were wholly new. This development had a huge social impact and is worth analysing.

The aim of this article is to explore the spaces where these new forms of consumption take place. This will in turn enable us to analyse the impact they have had on a series of urban, labour and productive transformations which have occurred in recent years and which have led to significant social concern with regard to issues such as rising housing prices and the poor working conditions associated with many of the jobs created in this new platform economy paradigm (see Fleming, 2017; Crouch, 2019; Gil, 2020). Furthermore, we wish to do so, in this case, by examining the perception that consumers had of these issues prior to the pandemic, the arrival of which obviously dramatically altered consumption patterns in Spain. Before the lockdowns and restrictions, e-commerce and/or digital commerce had already grown significantly in volume. It would thus be of great benefit to sociological consumer research to gain an in-depth understanding of how users would have described their consumption practices at the time, in order to recreate various digital consumer profiles. This information will be useful when it comes to placing digital consumption practices within a complex context (linked to a significant change in the status of work in society), thus helping us to understand the emerging social imaginary associated with these new practices. To this end, we have divided this paper into several sections. In the first section, we will present the context of the research and the methodology used therein, and in the following two sections we will outline the questions that were key to inspiring the research itself: firstly, what motivates consumers to opt for this consumption channel, and secondly, what are the moral contradictions generated by its use once the impacts of these business models on the degradation of employment conditions are well known? The final section contains our conclusions.

RESEARCH CONTEXT AND METHODOLOGY

The context of this research is, as indicated in the introduction, Spanish consumer society, which has undergone remarkable changes in recent years. The extensive period of economic growth between the years 1995 and 2007 led not only to the creation of an enormous real estate bubble (Colectivo IOÉ, 2008; López & Rodríguez, 2010), but also to the establishment of a consumerist culture within the country (see Alonso & Fernández Rodríguez, 2009 and 2020; Barbeta-Viñas, 2022). However, the global financial crisis of 2008, the result of poor practices in the global financial sector, triggered an extraordinary recession in Spain, with huge repercussions for its economy (García & Ruesga, 2014; Buendía, 2020). The massive increase in unemployment, the dramatic restrictions on credit, the subsequent public debt crisis and the severe social cutbacks under the policies of austerity which ensued had a considerable impact in the form of reducing household budgets and curbing the desire to consume (Alonso, Fernández Rodríguez & Ibáñez Rojo, 2015). They also engendered a certain pessimism within Spanish society regarding its future (Callejo & Ramos, 2017), as well as social unrest, reflected in new protest movements and the emergence of new political parties which have sought to capitalise on this unrest (Lobera, 2015).

In the latter half of the previous decade, we began to see a recovery in GDP, albeit against a new backdrop. The social inequality resulting from the crisis was not remedied, and this coincided with the dramatic proliferation of new models in the economy associated with Industry 4.0 and the new electronic platforms that would radically alter existing paradigms of work and consumption (Lahera Sánchez, 2021; Alonso & Fernández Rodríguez, 2021b). Certain elements of the post-crisis context thus remained in place during this period, such as very high structural unemployment, moderation in public finances and a labour market characterised by low wages. However, a new niche which was emerging in the economy began to shake up traditional sectors, bringing about structural changes in areas such as taxi services and home delivery, as well as transformations in terms of skilled jobs (Álvarez-Hernández & Pérez-Zapata, 2021). While the response to the pandemic by both European and Spanish authorities was very different (with a more decisive intervention by the state and European institutions in favour of maintaining employment, promoting models such as the ERTEs [Expedientes de Regulación Temporal de Empleo - Temporary Redundancy Proceedings] and a more ambitious rescue package, as well as allowing greater margins of budget flexibility in European governance), it does not seem to have altered, at least significantly, this post-crisis scenario; rather, it appears that new uncertainties related to events such as the war in Ukraine have led to it enduring. Moreover, if any new development has become established since then, it is of course the phenomenon of the platform economy, as we will discuss below.

The de facto emergence of a new model of a collaborative economy took place in Spain around 2010-2014, when the first effects began to be felt. As in the rest of the world, the first experiences were based on the slogan "what's mine is yours" (Botsman & Rodgers, 2010: for a critical reading see De Rivera & Gordo, 2020). However, the truth is that this was soon replaced by a more commercial approach which was in keeping with the principles of the harshest neoliberalism (Martin, 2016) in which "what's yours is mine" (Slee, 2015). Although the basis for a number of these platforms was the principle of solidarity and the sharing of scarce resources (Heinrichs, 2013; McArthur, 2015), the fact is that a section of this complex sector has shifted towards a perspective centred on the exclusive pursuit of financial gain (Schor, 2016; Vallas & Schor, 2020). The platform economy became established as a model once it adopted this purely market-oriented perspective, even if some purely collaborative models remain. In any case, the popularisation of this new economic model has had extraordinarily disruptive effects in terms of new consumption patterns (Alonso et al., 2020; Brändle & Latorre, 2020) and new forms of work organisation (Fleming, 2017; Álvarez-Hernández & Pérez-Zapata, 2021; Fernández-Trujillo Moares, 2020; Revilla & Blázquez, 2021), as well as indirectly in other areas affected by these platforms, such as the housing market (Gil, 2020; Fernández-Trujillo Moares & Gil García, 2021). In the case of Spain, a series of conflicts have arisen in recent years relating to this new consumption model, and these have been reported on in the press: historic rises in rent due to the growth in tourist accommodation, which also represents new competition for the hotel sector; conflicts between the taxi sector and its new competitors (resulting in strikes and some public disorder); the growth of hyper-flexibility, labour exploitation and the violation of labour and trade union rights in the online commerce sector and certain platforms, with well-known cases such as the Amazon warehouse workers or the case of riders for companies such as Glovo and Deliveroo in large cities; and the impact of these new platforms on the operating accounts of traditional trade, not only in the case of small shops but also large retail outlets.

To understand the growing impact of companies operating within the platform economy, we also need to understand their strategies. These companies, which have achieved total hegemony in some areas (for example, Amazon, Airbnb, Cabify, Glovo, etc.), are portrayed as mere intermediaries between consumers and producers/suppliers of products and services. It is therefore ironic that they actually operate as de facto monopolies or, at most, oligopolies, with few competitors given the enormous entry costs (which are mainly related to needing to achieve visibility among a consumer audience overloaded with information). The platform economy focuses mostly on on-demand services, where it has the potential and ability to exploit a number of "calculative asymmetries" (Shapiro, 2020) which place platforms in a specific position of power (because they have real and immediate knowledge of preferences, appraisals and actual transactions on the platform) vis-à-vis the other participants in the transaction conducted on the platform's computer architecture. Each online transaction generates a digital footprint which is transformed into data which, when aggregated with data from other transactions within the platform, generates an absolutely extraordinary volume of information. This information can then be exploited for commercial purposes, market research and consumer profiling, allowing companies to categorise consumers and to offer them services and products which are more closely tailored to their specific needs (Fourcade & Healy, 2017). How can the large amount of information that emerges in these processes be adequately managed? Through the use of algorithms, which are key to the culture of our digital age (Gillespie, 2014; Pasquale, 2015; Striphas, 2015). An algorithm can be defined as a mathematical programming which is aimed at determining consumer profiles and consumption patterns based on the aggregation of data generated by the digital footprint of consumers (Alonso & Fernández Rodríguez, 2021b). Its impact on the construction of the platform economy is crucial, as it contributes to a remarkable sophistication of both marketing and customer service strategies aimed at personalising the consumer experience. These strategies are used to guide the purchasing process based on accessing sensitive information such as reviews and ratings, histories, comparisons, related products and services, all culled from the digital trail left by the digital consumer as they wander through large internet portals (Rosenblat & Stark 2016; Wood et al., 2019).

The new forms of consumption associated with this new economy thus have a series of specific characteristics which distinguish them from previous experiences, and which we have explained in previous publications (Alonso et al., 2020; Alonso & Fernández Rodríguez, 2021b). The internet emerged as the new and increasingly prominent channel that gives us access to a market characterised by limitless abundance. This trend has, in purely quantitative terms, been unstoppable over the last decade: according to Eurostat statistics, the percentage of people who had shopped online in the previous twelve months in Spain rose from 22% in 2009 (where 32% was the average among the 27 EU countries) to 58% in 2019 (60% in the EU) (see Eurostat, 2022). This new type of consumption emphasises the availability of a huge catalogue of products and services at the click of a button, eliminating physical and geographical barriers to their access and use. This is the "death of distance" predicted by a number of authors (Cairncross, 1997), and one of its distinguishing features is the perceived immediacy of the consumer experience: many of the products and services of the platform economy are delivered at high speed (sometimes even on the same day, if a particular premium is paid). This significantly reinforces the consumer’s perception that practically all of their desires can be satisfied immediately, strengthening a habitus of hyper-consumerism which is electronically isolated from all events outside virtual reality, and creating an image of maximum personalisation and mastery of the world of networks on the part of the buyer (Alonso & Fernández Rodríguez, 2021b). The large platforms have the resources to satisfy these infinite desires and needs: on the one hand, they have the technical and capitalisation capacities to handle countless economic transactions, as they have unlimited labour, financial and technological resources which enable them to maintain a 24-hour business operation; they have the power to reduce downtime and waiting times thanks to innovations in their applications (which allow for direct mediation between consumers and producers, thus exercising a certain control over the latter); and they have the logistical infrastructure to facilitate home delivery. Moreover, all e-commerce transactions leave the aforementioned digital footprint, which will form the basis of data that will serve to enable the personalisation of marketing and sales strategies (Alonso et al., 2020). One aspect of particular interest is that these new applications allow users to review the goods and services they have consumed. These reviews are hugely important, and not only as a guide for other consumers who, based on these comments, will decide whether or not to purchase the product (Cohn, 2019). Most significantly, reviews of the service received act as a key means of regulating the behaviours and practices of workers involved in the provision of these services in the platform economy (Fleming, 2017). This has a major impact on workers who are employed in this sector, many of whom are self-employed, as they need to make a significant effort to provide the customer with a satisfactory service. This in turn leads to strict management of themselves and their skills, with varying degrees of use of their personal brand or, at least, of obtaining sufficiently positive reviews to ensure they are not left out of the algorithm. Drivers, riders, couriers and other workers have to adapt to particular dynamics in the context of these platforms that favour the most business minded. They are inevitably obliged to make themselves available 24/7 so as to be able to provide the hyper-flexibility that is crucial to this very particular process of interaction between work and consumption. This puts immense pressure on employees in this sector, who have to deal with highly erratic workloads (sometimes very heavy, sometimes very light) and strict deadlines for the completion of tasks, which are in turn often organised according to a demanding and intense just-in-time schedule (Moore, 2017; Huws et al., 2018; Crouch, 2019).

In the research work presented here, we will analyse the results of the qualitative empirical research carried out based on interviews with digital consumers in the Madrid region during the months of June and July 2018. A total of fifteen interviews were conducted with people who were selected on the basis of their level of online consumption (i.e., the frequency of their purchases), income level, age (restricted to the 25-56 age range, as in Spain in the pre-pandemic period this experience was mostly confined to these age groups) and gender. The sample is exploratory in nature and assumes that, in this case, regional differences would not be particularly significant for the purposes of the analysis. Due to the restricted nature of the sample, it was also considered best to homogenise (relatively speaking) age profiles, focusing as much as possible on interviewees aged between 30 and 50 to ensure that we could get a sense of the personal history of digitalisation. Finally, and given the purposes of the research, heterogeneity was introduced not so much through class profiles as through type and frequency of online consumption. This obviously hinders our ability to analyse experiences according to the socio-economic status of the interviewees, something that will have to be set aside for further research. The table 1 below provides an overview of the profiles of the interviewees:

Interviewees were asked about a number of things, such as their relationship with the new technologies, how often they use apps and internet platforms, their interactions with riders and other employees, and their general opinion as regards this new economic model. The conversations lasted between an hour and an hour and a half and were conducted following the basic rules of qualitative interviewing (see Vallés, 2009; Alonso, 2016). All the interviews were recorded and subsequently transcribed and they were analysed following the principles of socio-hermeneutic analysis to which the authors of this paper have traditionally adhered and which we have used throughout our previous research (for example, see Alonso et al., 2015, 2016 y 2017). In the following sections, we will present some of the main findings of this research, focusing primarily on two aspects.

MOTIVATIONS: THE PURSUIT OF CONVENIENCE

As noted above, interviewees were selected and contacted based on the fact that they were online consumers of different products and services. Moreover, it became clear from the interviews that they were very familiar with what the internet can offer them as a consumption channel. In fact, many of the interviewees described themselves as regular users of the internet and said that they carry out transactions in areas such as banking and taxation via digital platforms, and that they have not visited government or bank offices for many years. The internet shapes their lives, as it is essential for their jobs (some of the interviewees were IT consultants, people who worked remotely or people who teleworked) and their social lives (many of them have profiles on social networks). In general, they make significant use of e-commerce platforms and large e-commerce shops. Almost all the interviewees said that they were regular customers of the famous e-commerce portal Amazon (some had also bought products on other platforms such as the Chinese retail service AliExpress), where they shop with varying degrees of frequency. Some of them also stated that they use food delivery services (citing companies such as Deliveroo, Just Eat and Glovo) or private transport services such as Uber or Cabify as an alternative to taxis. The conversations also included references to numerous other applications which the interviewees use in their daily lives to access certain products or services, with the most frequently mentioned being Airbnb for accommodation, Blablacar for sporadic travel within Spain, and Wallapop for buying and selling second-hand goods. In terms of purchasing products and services, the interviewees said that they mainly buy low-cost electronic products, preferring to go to a physical shop if they need to buy a piece of equipment of a certain value. Purchases of various non-perishable goods (e.g., make-up, car accessories) were also mentioned. E-commerce has become their first choice for buying almost anything:

In almost all cases, the interviewees described their progressive access to different forms of online consumption as a natural and mostly smooth process. As one would guess from their age profile, the interviewers had begun using computers and the internet at an early stage for day-to-day business (several of them specifically mentioned access to online banking and various official procedures), and they even used to buy online from e-commerce portals when they were only distributing from abroad. The role played by Amazon in memories of their first experiences of electronic consumption is significant, especially what it represents in terms of making this new consumer habit normal. In this regard, the e-commerce giant plays a symbolic central role in the normalisation of online shopping. Although certain people embraced online shopping early on as a way to purchase books, records and games, for those who came later, Amazon represented trust and security, and was able to combine all of the characteristics which are key to explaining the basic motivations driving online shopping. In our interviewees' accounts of their experiences, the term that encapsulates these different motivations is convenience. Nevertheless, it is worth spending a little time identifying and analysing the different facets contained within this notion, which are almost always described by the interviewees in terms of the particular features of Amazon.

The most significant feature is perhaps the security that it projects in the consumer's imagination. The shopping experience is risk-free, both from the point of view of personal data and because returning items is simple. None of the interviewees recall having had any negative experiences. However, another significant aspect is Amazon's ability to function as a virtual shop window, very similar to a search engine. Although the interviewees say that they search for products on Google first, they are immediately taken to Amazon because it contains all the possible variations of the same product:

This allows Amazon to create the impression of maximum efficiency in the purchasing decision, by providing virtually all possible options for each product, and an accurate assessment of their features and the differences between each of them. While it is not uncommon for some consumers to show a preference for being able to touch and try on products, it is no less true that Amazon is able to convey the user experience of the product through shoppers' ratings and reviews:

The convenience of home access has meant that price competition has become a secondary consideration in certain cases. Either because of the time saved, or because consumers prefer to avoid physical interaction ("going to a shop is uncomfortable for me. I find it a drag." E04), platforms such as Amazon attract consumers because of the feeling of sovereignty and control they get when they are in front of a screen and the entire consumer interface is immediately available to them:

Therefore, in discourse concerning the experience and evolution of online consumption, Amazon always occupies a central place. However, in many cases it continues to occupy the same space as the street market, i.e., the place you go to buy products which are "Cheap, economical... you spend maybe 20, 50, 60, at most 70 euro, but to buy something expensive I go to a physical shop or to the brand’s official platform" (E09). Although the narrative of calculation and efficiency in the selection of products on the basis of concrete needs predominates, the fact is that practically the only negative experience reported by interviewees has to do with the way compulsive buying can be encouraged. Several interviewees describe a time when they had to take a step back from online shopping precisely because of the ease of access to a myriad of cheap products:

While this may be largely due to the particular characteristics of our sample, online consumption of culture is not particularly significant: only a few of the interviewees said they bought books and only one cited sporadic purchases of music. A number of interviewees said that, at the time, they had started to buy food online (not from Amazon, but from grocery shops such as Mercadona and Carrefour). As regards buying clothes online, the replies varied: some do so but others prefer not to. Nonetheless, some interviewees admitted to trying on clothes in physical shops and then buying them online:

A number of interviewees described themselves as users of food delivery services (Glovo and Just Eat in particular):

In terms of transport platforms, freelance professionals seemed to be more inclined to use Uber/Cabify rather than taxis. As one interviewee points out, "...if I'm working in Alcobendas, to come here, if I'm really tired, I take a..., and Uber and Cabify drivers generally don't try to chat with you, which I know sounds terrible, but when you're so tired or you're thinking: ‘today the project has to go well’, maybe you don’t want to chat" (E8). In any case, having more options to choose from is seen as an advantage:

Most of the interviewees said that ease and convenience were the main reasons for their online consumption. They made particular mention of the fact that you can avoid queues, you do not have to travel to the city centre, and, above all, you can receive the product at home almost immediately. Thus, reference is made to the convenience of having things delivered to your home:

Some interviewees (those who do the most online shopping) said that reviews were another of the main reasons, and not so much price, which rarely appeared as a decisive variable in the purchase. Others pointed to the availability of very specific products, which were not available in shopping centres or shops, as a reason for using Amazon and other sites. There are no substantial gender differences in terms of the various forms of consumption, and the interviewees consider their consumption via this channel to be moderate. However, they occasionally worry that it may lead to a certain addiction to shopping and a tendency towards hyper-consumption:

There is broad agreement that online shopping represents the future of consumption, and that this model of the platform economy will not only remain, rather it will dominate. This will occur at the expense of a physical commerce which is already in crisis and whose only chance for salvation lies in catering to certain specialised niches (for example, vinyl shops) or in the form of large shopping centres. The imaginary of future consumption will be based on an acceptance of the inevitability of technological progress:

MORAL CONFLICTS IN RELATION TO ONLINE CONSUMPTION

Some of the interviewees (mainly the more knowledgeable ones) were aware of the ethical implications of certain of the practices of the new platform economy, especially given the track record of some of these companies with regard to labour issues. They were well informed with regard to the various conflicts (at the time of the interviews protests by riders, and a number of strikes at Amazon's production plants, were taking place). They saw the labour model of some of these platform economy companies as a paradigmatic example of contemporary exploitation:

Generally speaking, however, interviewees were unable to identify limits to current consumption practices. Narratives regarding technological development continue to feed the idea that current changes are part of an unstoppable process, a process which will follow its own evolutionary course regardless of material limits and the social conflicts it may generate. In fact, the material and ecological impact of these new forms of consumption does not come up unbidden in the interviews. No mention is made, for example, of the impact in terms of logistics and transport that these new habits could be having on the environment. This is in line with the general perception identified in other research, i.e., that consumer discourse very rarely recognises the environmental consequences of consumption via the internet (Elgaaied-Gambier et al, 2020). It is only the labour and social issues that are mentioned, and only in some interviews, although it should be borne in mind that during the months in which the fieldwork was carried out, there was considerable media coverage being given to various labour conflicts related both to Amazon (successive strikes in its logistics centres) and to the situation of the riders. Moreover, conflict surrounding the regulation of taxis and private hire vehicles was already a regular news item. This often highlighted the ethical conflicts, and the relative sense of guilt as regards how advantages for the consumer can often result in disadvantages for the worker:

In any case, however, these boundaries are interpreted as a kind of pressure that can only alter or slow down what is an ongoing structural trend:

This tendency to describe it as "that's what's happening", as if it is something which cannot be stopped, helps to make the ordinary citizen feel less responsible for the consequences of his or her actions. In fact, when asked about potential developments in electronic consumption, all those interviewed imagined an expansionary trend and a growing generalisation of these new habits. Only in some cases, in a more critical discourse, does this evolution at least make clear the collective paradoxes to be faced. In these cases, interviewees even foresee a possible collapse, a future marked by social conflict:

There is a general perception that people are aware of this situation and of these contradictions, but this does not alter their behaviour. The practical, material distance between individual consumption habits and the social dynamics and relations that they require (from the point of view of the social organisation of production) allows people to avoid taking responsibility and means that a logic based purely on the survival of the fittest dominates:

At the same time, this adaptationist stance underpins the fact that the current situation, where awareness of the social and ecological limitations of our model of consumption is becoming dramatically embedded in everyday life, has a very modest impact as regards changing consumption habits. The self-destructive drive seems to fuel an argument that accepts with a certain cynicism the increasingly obvious contradictions between our needs as a society and our desires (and needs) as individualised consumers. This is not simply an offensive cynicism of a classical liberal kind (we all look out for our own interest; if I don't do it, others will) (Odou and de Pechpeyrou 2011), but rather a cynicism based on moral relativism, which assumes a certain self-criticism, but at the same time avoids the anguish of guilt. Moreover, this precarious balance, which involves a contradictory discourse, is only sustained, as is usually the case in social discourses regarding consumption, through the depoliticisation of any discussion of basic or collective needs and the impossibility of proposing alternatives to the general model of capitalist development (although for the interviewees themselves, this development is evidently self-destructive). ¹ Thus, in some cases, the systematic use of e-commerce is justified simply by the belief that the market model cannot be changed:

Given this absence of alternatives, the resistance to engaging in particular consumption practices that we can glean from our interviews stems from direct knowledge (or via people we know) of the working conditions under which certain platforms operate. Rather than leading to a global rethink, such knowledge or personal experience can result in a partial boycott, but one that maintains online shopping patterns on other platforms. It is easy to understand resistance to using Uber or Cabify among people who have family members working in the taxi sector, or resistance to buying through Glovo among people who, for whatever reason, are familiar with the riders’ working conditions.

In this regard, and as we have sought to highlight above, the pivotal ideological role which Amazon occupies is highly significant. Its own corporate power represents the power of this inexorable trend which underpins the expansion of e-commerce. At the same time, its size (both actual and symbolic) enables the dilution of responsibility and the consequences of individual acts. On the other hand, looking at Amazon's own development as a corporation allows us to retrace the evolution of these new consumer practices both in general and individual terms. Most of the interviewees remember the first purchases they made through Amazon, but more importantly, the habit was established and developed by means of its website or app. They can thus also use the Amazon empire to represent the future of a dystopian city full of vans and drones continuously transporting all kinds of consumer goods.