For a long time now, a new wave of shopping has been facing off against traditional businesses in order to become a genuine competitor.
Online shopping has rapidly grown to become the number one place to go for your wants and needs. With multiple browsers and retailers to choose from, it’s no wonder websites already take 12.7 per cent of Britain’s retail spending. In a study at the end of 2013, it was revealed that people in the UK spent an average of almost £150 more on online shopping compared with the previous 12 months.
With this expected to grow by at least 22 per cent by 2018, online shopping is the place to be. People are realising that it’s simply more convenient to browse the web and check the whole stock of a store rather than going out to the actual shop and seeing just how limited the items they store are.
As someone who previously worked in retail for almost four years, I started to see the impact online shopping has made. Certain days that had originally been busy became more quiet. A lot of customers would try on a product for size and then explain that they would rather wait till they got home to order it from an online store. You couldn’t blame them, though.
Nothing is worse than going to one store for a certain product, only to find that it’s not in stock, which then requires you to travel down to another store to get the correct size. Even more frustrating is getting to the other store to find out your size has already sold out in the time it took you to walk through the entrance.
So, why has online shopping started to dominate sales figures? A lot of people work from early in the day until late in the evening. The effort required after a hard day grafting can be just too much. If you even manage to get to the shops you can end up browsing for hours just to find that your size in the perfect shirt or shoe is out of stock.
Usually a retailer will offer an ordering service, but this requires handing over unnecessary information that may be sold off to any other company that wants it. This isn’t even mentioning having to find the time to go back in the store to actually pick up your item. This is the 21st century. People want to be able to get the latest stock from the warmth and comfort of their own home.
Shoppers have long since realised that online shopping is the only way forward. No more queues. No more constantly being harassed by sales assistants. No more wasting time out of your day to get to certain shops before closing time. With smartphones being almost ubiquitous, people can even purchase goods while on the move.
Big brands are changing
Traditional retailers are starting to realise that online shopping is the place to be. Big chains such as Asda, Wickes, B&Q and Tesco have started to open fewer large stores, instead focusing on small convenience shops. Marks & Spencers has announced that it’s going to stop building big outlets by 2016.
A lot of commercial grocery stores have invested money in online shopping. Retailers such as Asda and Tesco offer delivery services starting from just one pound. They can even be set up as weekly or monthly deliveries. Tesco even allows customers to pay the costs either upfront or with monthly payments. Allowing monthly payments allows for those that may not be as well off to still have access to delivered groceries.
Online retail giants such as Amazon and eBay offer a unique service that few other businesses do. They allow customers and retailers to sell products on their websites, for a cut of the profit. By doing this, customers have the reassurance that they are selling what they have to offer on a safe and secure website. Sometimes, you only have to pay a listing fee, meaning you keep all the profit made by selling the product. Not many other retailers offer this service, making these two sites very popular with independent businesses, as well as ordinary people that want to sell something.
Why online shopping is easier
With traditional retailers, you simply get to view the product in store. You can ask a sales assistant about information for a particular product, but they will be biased toward the product, seeing as they are trying to sell you it in the first place. More often than not, pressure sales can be incredibly off-putting. By buying online, you can browse at your own leisure.
Most online retailers allow people that have bought a product to write a detailed review and also give it a rating. The reviews normally consist of what the customer thought of the product and if the delivery/customer service was of a good quality. This is vitally important. Good ratings make it more attractive to a potential customer who may be interested in purchasing a particular product.
It also helps that there are fewer traps to lure a customer into spending money on unnecessary products. Physical stores are designed to lure you into buying things. Popular products are typically placed around the back of the store so that you have to view the rest of the stock before you can get to your desired item. Online websites may still show off items that are on sale, but they will give you the privacy you want.
Ease of access makes online shopping an appealing alternative to traditional payments. A lot of people worry that card details can easily be leaked and stolen online. Services such as PayPal put any worries that people may have to rest. Owned by eBay, PayPal is an international business that allows money payments and transfers securely across the world wide web. As of July 2007 people were able to use Paypal as a bank.
The majority of online retailers allow a flexibility to people that may not live in a centralised location. Customers that may have moved abroad can still have access to products from online companies. This may require a slightly more expensive delivery charge, but for customers that enjoy particular products, the extra price is no issue.
Amazon’s success
Amazon provides a service called Amazon Prime. Amazon Prime allows customers to pay £79 a year to have free next day delivery, rent Kindle titles and stream videos with Prime Instant Video. By doing this, it allows customers that regularly order items to save money on all the delivery charges they may have to pay a lot for. With the added bonuses of Kindle titles and steaming, Amazon Prime is a must have for any Amazon enthusiast.
Online shopping attracts a lot of customers by setting better prices. Online retailers don’t have the extra cost of running a store. This means that the only excess costs is the maintenance of the website. Discounts are also much more easily available to find. Most websites allow you to filter product lists so that you can find what you are looking for at a reasonable price. Because of websites like Ebay and Amazon allowing people to set their own price, it is entirely possible to find great deals that would be impossible in a physical store.
A major benefit to online shopping is being able to compare prices easily. It isn’t rare to find someone in a physical retail shop with an internet device comparing prices throughout numerous stores. There is a chance as well that a product will be tax exempt because of the internet retailer being stationed in your country. Websites similar to mySupermarket allow customers to easily compare products over a massive range of stores. They help to clearly define the offers and deals that are going on in different retailers.
Discreet shopping is something that a lot of people consider. If a birthday or anniversary is approaching, most online retailers provide a gift wrapping service. Most online shops allow you to provide a custom message for them to put with the gift. This saves people the all the hassle in finding a card. You can often prolong the delivery time so that a present can arrive on the specific date rather than before or later.
Physical stores can sometimes makes it difficult to buy certain items. With online shopping there is no longer any need to feel embarrassed. You can order personal items without the awkwardness of someone watching you shop.
What do you think? Is the internet taking over the high street, or can both succeed at the same time? Let us know by getting involved at @theukseo.
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