The digital revolution is ongoing and e-commerce has quickly overtaken the traditional retailer in many departments; let’s face it, online shopping is a breeze, who wants to drive the car to a store, which might be miles away, then search for the product, only to be told they have sold out.
Convenience factor
This is the killer for the retailer; the consumer simply searches Google, finds what they are looking for and orders online. Of course, there are certain sectors that are unaffected by e-commerce; coffee shops, bakeries and fast food outlets, while high-end brands have so far managed to survive; many have reduced the number of retail outlets, all the while developing their online store. Some businesses invest heavily in ROI-focused online marketing and they reap the rewards in the form of online orders.
Same day delivery
Online shopping has developed and state-of-the-art logistics enable same-day delivery in many states; local deliveries are usually same-day as standard, while it might take 3 days to ship goods to Asia. If the consumer doesn’t have to wait, they usually prefer to shop online, as prices are lower.
Cyber-security
There was one portion of the population that would never put their credit card information on a website, yet those days are long gone, with bank-grade web security, you can buy with confidence. A shopping cart website must have a valid SSL (Secure Socket Layer) Certificate, which is denoted by the ‘s’ in https.
Lower prices
Yet another incentive to shop online, as if we needed another reason to order from the comfort of our home. The cost of maintaining a retail outlet is considerable and they have to factor this into the price; the online retailer, on the other hand, has virtually no such costs and can therefore offer a cheaper price than their traditional counterpart. The consumer knows this and that is reflected by the high e-commerce figures we see today.
To conclude, the brick-and-mortar retail trade is undergoing a transformation as many products have moved online; some sectors survive while others are not affected. More and more people are becoming online shoppers as they realize the many benefits it brings, plus you have the same consumer rights as with traditional retail purchases.