Growth of Online Shopping Around the World

2032 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Comparing online shopping vs traditional

Introduction

When Amazon.com launched its online retailing strategy in 1995 and began to reap benefits, many analysts viewed doing business and shopping online with great optimism (Denise, 2004). They anticipated for a day when people would be able to order their shopping items from the comfort of their homes. Consequently, customers would see little or no need at all to physically visit traditional in-stores to make their purchases. It is now a decade and a half down the line and online shopping has taken the business world by storm with more and more companies opting to test the sweet waters of online retailing. Analysts foresee a rapid growth of online shopping in the next decade or so though some reports still show a significant number of consumers across the world who have never attempted to do their shopping online. The growth in popularity of online shopping points to the presence of certain advantages, which are not available in traditional shopping. At the same time, it alludes to the existence of differences between the two types of shopping. This paper shall discuss the growth of online shopping around the world and provide statistical evidence of this growth in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom. It shall also elucidate the differences between online shopping and traditional shopping.

The Internet has significantly transformed how consumers shop for goods or services. While traditional in-store shopping still dominates in some industries in various countries, it has done little to increase convenience, efficiency, and ease of shopping and making travel arrangements. According to a survey conducted by the Nielsen Company in March 2010, there are some products that are universally bought online ...

... middle of paper ...

...d shoppers have to keep themselves up to date with the ever evolving technology. On the other hand, technology used to facilitate traditional in-store shopping has remained the same for many years and does not change as often as is the case in online shopping. Online shopping is not dependent on geogaphical location as transactions can take place across borders. Consequently, access to items offered by retailers is not impeded by factors related to geographical location. In other words, consumers whether local, regional, or international can shop anywhere in the world through the Internet. On the other hand, traditional shopping is limited by geographical considerations. As a result, the number of customers who are able to access the premises may be greatly determined by the location (Differences Between Online Retail & Traditional Retail Businesses, 2007).

Show More
Related

  • Specialty Retail Industry

    1805 Words  | 4 Pages

    Key Issues The growing popularity of online retailing is attracting competition from traditional and online multi-retailers such as Wal-Mart and Amazon, which are gaining considerable market shares in many of the product segments included in the specialty retail sector. Currently, the majority of revenue is generated by store sales, but online sales from the stores’ websites are increasing. With the US dollar getting weaker, international sales from these US based websites are increasing too. This creates a significant positive outlook for the large incumbent players but also acts as a significant barrier of entry for new players.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Amazon.com

    2511 Words  | 6 Pages

    Amazon.com operates in the Online Retail Industry. The sector is one of the fastest growing globally and is outperforming the ordinary retail marketplace. It was created after 1995 and it was only the Internet that made it possible for such an industry not only to be established but to become one of the most flourishing sectors in the business environment. What is interesting is that Amazon.com, together with eBay is the pioneer in the field. Both companies were launched in 1995 and are still extremely successful. The creation of e-mail in 1996 had a huge impact on the development of online retail by introducing a fast and easy way to communicate with customers. For this two-year period Internet usage doubled annually, thus, allowing for the expansion of the industry. Google is launched a year later, in 1998, only to become the most used search engine in the world and an essential partner for the online retailers by helping them tailor their websites to customer’s personal preferences and by advertising. After that, more and more people see the opportunity in the growing industry and enter it. By 2001 there are more than 513 million Internet users globally, which calls for action in terms of creating regulations and laws to protect the users and personal property. In 2003, Apple launches iTunes, and provides a platform for low-cost digital downloads. Another major change is the appearance of social media from 2004, which is one of the biggest influencer on the state of the industry. With the launch of iPhone in 2007, this trend strengthens as people get to enjoy the Internet anywhere they want to. From then on, technological advancements have made it extremely easy and fun to shop online, making it ...

    Read More

  • The Internet and International Business

    1515 Words  | 4 Pages

    Based on these concerns, retailers in the international marketplace have their work cut out for them. But through proper education of consumers, and the ever-expanding growth of the infrastructure in many countries, the future seems to be leaning heavily towards using the Internet for many needs.

    Read More

  • Fragmentation Of The Retail Industry

    1118 Words  | 3 Pages

    The retail business has been around for centuries in the United States. It started with a small general shop where people of the community would shop for items of requirement (John, 1990). During that period, due to the limited population and connectivity issue specialty stores were not needed. But as the societies progressed with population increase, new advanced technologies gave rise to interconnectivity, as well easy communication between distanced cities and soc...

    Read More

  • Amazon Online Payment System Case Study

    1466 Words  | 3 Pages

    One of the greatest opportunities for Amazon is an Online Payment System. The online system allows the company to reduce transaction fees and increase ease of use for their customers. Internet sales are increasing at a fast pace. This is a product of increased fuel prices, which make driving to a store less likely, and foreign purchases. This development allows foreign purchases to buy clothing as it becomes more popular abroad. Amazon’s biggest competitors can include retail stores that online stores such as Target, Best Buy, and Walmart among others, these can be considered the most dangerous for them since they have strong market share and can be a direct competitor since they attack the same market. Amazon wish to compete in prices, offering

    Read More

  • History Of Digital Marketing

    887 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Nielsen Global Connected Commerce Survey conducted interviews in 26 countries to observe how consumers are using the Internet to make shopping decisions in stores and online. They reported that due to the internet and e-commerce, shoppers are increasingly looking to purchase internationally, with over 50% in the study who purchased online in the last six months stating they bought from an overseas retailer.

    Read More

  • Retail Management to Internet Retailers

    1475 Words  | 3 Pages

    Since the establishment of the Internet, traditional ‘bricks and mortar’ stores, also known as store-based retailers, have been under siege by online retailers. As stated by Magner (2013), the next five years will observe an increase in online sales, domestically and/or internationally, as it provides consumers with a wider variety of products at competitive prices, no shop-trading hours and no GST payable on purchases made overseas which are under AUD$1000. Furthermore, the retail lifecycle for the majority of store-based retailers has hit the mature to decline phase. Magner (2013) states that a “slowdown [in] technological system changes and wholehearted market acceptance and market saturation of products” have been strong indicators for the store-based to reach the maturity phase. Additionally, the changes in consumer lifestyle, product range preferences, low-cost private–label merchandise and slow technological advances are factors preventing the sector from propelling into the growth retail lifecycle phase (Magner 2013). Examples of firms that have been affected by digital retailers are Myer and David Jones as they face disadvantages factors like high operational cost (i.e. labor and rental cost), low range of products in comparison to online retailers (Denness 2014). The example is further illustrated by Figure 1 (above) as it provides statistics for the falling revenue for department stores to digital retailers (NAB Group Economics 2014). Moreover, the averseness of larger store-based retailers to invest in online retail channel has resulted in an increasing number of competitors targeting lucrative Australian consumers. An example is UK-based fashion retailer ASOS, which launched a website dedicated to Australian patrons, ...

    Read More

  • Online Shopping: Product Availability and Logistics

    2714 Words  | 6 Pages

    Online shops are an alternative to traditional shopping methods, but do they solve product availability issues in a viable way, and are traditional shopping methods preferred over online shopping?

    Read More

  • Essay On Future Of Retail

    1108 Words  | 3 Pages

    As the author of the article concedes, the online shopping has flourished in the past years. Many customer have seen the advantages of e-commerce in the ways of time and money saving. Whit a simple click on the keyboard the goods are uploaded in a virtual cart and from there are delivered to the customer address. Also, the online stores have the opportunity to create a customer database and a customer profile. The customers receive periodic reminders of the new offers and sales via email or mobile phone messages. In the meantime, many classic stores have struggled to maintain the business keep up. According to the article, the brick and mortar stores will implement new features that conduct customers to an easy and pleasant shopping. For instance, the retailers will use the customer mobile phone as a concierge application. The customer will be informed about latest products and their availability. Furthermore, the customer will have the possibility to track needed items inside the store with the help of store mapping and products locations. If the customer will change the shopping list, the app will provide the route to the new item. Also, when a customer will passing a store the app will remind the last customer visit into the store and

    Read More

  • E-commerce and the Global Market

    1838 Words  | 4 Pages

    Electronic commerce (e-commerce) over the Internet is the fastest growing method for consumers to conduct business. Less than ten years old and it already has radically altered the potential to economic activities and the social environment. There are nearly 200 million Internet users worldwide currently. Of these 200 million users, roughly 40 percent reside in the United States (Styliano, A., Robbins, S. & Jackson, P., 2003). E-commerce currently affects large sectors such as communications, banking and the retail industry. E-commerce has also had an effect on the education, health and government (Wyckoff, A., & Colecchia A., 1999). It is predicted that commerce on the Internet could total tens of billions of dollars by the turn of the century. E-commerce's most significant impact will be on sectors that transmit information (postal service, communications, radio and TV) and those that produce it (finance, entertainment, travel agents or stockbrokers) (Jones, B., n.d.). One of the most surprising but indirect impact e-commerce have had is associated with the way society has incorporated it into their everyday lives and its ability to drastically change the way businesses now interact with their employees, consumers, and business partners. Entrepreneurs are now able to start new businesses more easily, with smaller up front investment requirements, by accessing the Internet's worldwide network of customers (Jones, B., n.d.). China, with the third largest user population, is expected to gain market share-particularly in light of the prediction that it will surpass Japan and become the largest Asian Internet market during the coming year (Styliano, A., Robbins, S. & Jackson, P., 2003). E-commerce gives small businesses the competitive edge against large multinational organizations in the global market. Now that electronic commerce has become an integral part of everyday business, we now must take a look at how the emergence of e-commerce has affected the global marketplace and how has e-commerce changed the standard and quality of living. It would also be important to discuss some of the drawbacks or adverse effects that e-commerce has had on society.

    Read More

  • The Advantages and Risks of Online Shopping

    1027 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Information revolution is changing our daily lives. With the rapid development of computers and the internet, online commerce has become quite common and plays an important role in the modern world. Online business has been booming in recent years. US online retail sales rose an average of 11% in the first three months of 2009 (“US Online Sales Up,” 2009). The growth of online sales may be due to the growing number of consumers who shop online.

    Read More

  • Impact Of Marketing On Consumer Behaviour

    1420 Words  | 3 Pages

    Although sales of products from the Internet account for only a small percentage of total retail sales, millions of consumers shop and buy on the Internet. They’re drawn by the chance to browse among millions of options and maybe pick up a bargain or two in the process. In the world of electronic commerce where store doors never close, consumer buying is expected to grow to $6.5 billion in a few years, according to Forrester Research. (J. Paul Peter, 2002) With so many restaurants, cafes, bars and shops having free Wi-Fi, and phone networks giving unlimited data as part of top up packages, connecting

    Read More

  • Compare and Contrast Essay: Online Shopping vs. In-Store Shopping

    576 Words  | 2 Pages

    Online and in-store shopping differentiates in various ways. However, they both are convenient ways to shop. Recently, online shopping has been most convenient for me, but I enjoy both ways of shopping. I believe that shopping preferences change depending on a person’s situation. I noticed that many people are starting to prefer online shopping more than in-store shopping.

    Read More

  • The Purpose Of Online Packaging

    774 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the past few years, the world of online shopping and retail has seen monumental progress. 81% of internet users shop online or browse through to research products online before they buy them. In the world of “Click to Buy”, consumers

    Read More

  • Online Shopping Essay

    1612 Words  | 4 Pages

    In today’s era “INTERNET” is playing a significant role in our daily life. People can walk through the internet to one who is actually living on the different side of the planet, can send mails round the clock, search information & even buy things online. With this invention of internet there is a shift in traditional way of shopping. Now there is no need to open a physical store. One can be active at any time and place and purchase products and services. The number of users of internet is increasing day by day which means that online shopping is increasing. Various characteristics of online shopping is making it more convenient for the customers, as compared to traditional way of shopping such as the ability to view and purchase goods and

    Read More

More about Growth of Online Shopping Around the World

Open Document