Online Shopping – The World At Your Fingertips
Online shopping of products and services has become characteristic of the current era. Research indicates that about seventy percent of the population who fail to find a product around their area taps online retail stores to buy it.
Online shopping is gaining this fame due to the obvious reason that it is much more convenient and had transformed the task of shopping into an exciting hunt for best deals and offers. The world has shrunk and everything that is available online can be at your doorstep by just a click. Online retailers in US generally do not charge sales tax due to the absence of any federal law to collect sales tax for these which gives online retail stores offering the same product an obvious advantage over the traditional stores.
Being virtual in presence, these online stores can save hugely on overhead fixed costs, and nominal capital expenditure, which is generally very high in case of the brick-and-mortar stores. This enables these online retail stores to make big discount offers and bumper clearance sales and yet make a decent margin of their sales. Attractive deals every week and festive discounts are an added alluring point for consumers.
The traditional stores can cater maximum to a certain locality in a metro whereas any product available online can reach your doorstep in which ever corner of the world you might be situated.
Irrespective of the size of business, an online retail store can be easily added at minimal expenditure and for start-ups it is a wonderful way to make their market presence. Connected via e-mails and extremely faced paced mode of communication via the internet, online retail stores have a definite edge in terms of availability of products at all times as compared to traditional stores which might run out of stock.
Online retail stores operate 24 X 7 and hence make buying things comfortable for consumers. With the worldwide reach of these stores, a properly administered marketing strategy the online store can easily make a stronghold in the market and create a brand name for itself. However to promote this business relentless dedication is necessary as the competition in this sphere is immensely stiff and hard to sustain.
Presence of internet is a basic necessity for supporting this format of retail and can be deterrent for areas which lack internet connectivity. However given the wide reach of internet, online retail is definitely a viable option for shopping with ease and industry best discounts.
Another factor which acts as a disadvantage for online retailing is the inability of the consumers to feel and touch the product physically before actually purchasing it and can discourage many consumers to buy goods from a completely alien website. Many times the products delivered might be defective and this reduces the factor of consumer satisfaction. However schemes like replacement warranty and payment at the time of delivery increase the reliability factor of products sourced from these websites. Product description is definitely helpful for giving a vivid description of the good being bought.
Hence online retail service is definitely gaining popularity due to its edge over the brick and mortar model of retailing.
