Online Shopping Vs Retail Shopping
Buying objects or services with the help of the internet is called online shopping. Most people confuse it with electronic commerce, but the main difference is that in the case of online shopping, people purchase the objects directly from the seller. This means no intermediary and consequently lower prices. Retail shopping means buying objects or services from a fixed location. This location can be a shop, a mall or a boutique, where one can buy individual objects. In this case the price is usually higher because the shop owner has to add his profit, the expenses with the rent and the employees and the taxes to the initial price.
The main difference between the two is the fact that in one case the buyer has to go to the shop and in the other case he or she can do this through simply accessing the online store from virtually anywhere. The latter seems to be the more favorite option lately because people simply do not have time to go shopping anymore. It is the comfortable option of purchasing what we need, without going trough the trouble of driving to the store and spending time at the pay desk.
There are some people who love spending countless hours shopping. These people would definitely choose retail shopping. They like to see what they buy first, to touch the fabric in the case of the clothes or to simply smell a perfume before purchasing it. However, if you already know what you want it is easier not to drive to the store and save time and money.
In many cases, some products cannot be found in the stores nearby, or not even in the same town. To purchase what you need, you might have to travel long distances. Online shopping comes as a solution to this problem. This way you can order products even from another country or continent. The process is very simple and you can have what you bought brought right at your door steps. All online shops have delivery services.
One of the disadvantages of online shopping is that you might have to wait a few days before you get what you bought. This is because delivering products from other towns or countries might take a while. However, even if you went to the shop in that town or country, it would probably take you more to bring to product home, not to mention the money you would have to pay for the gas or the plane ticket.
Some people choose retail shopping because they do not think they can manage to order something from the internet. For this reason, most online retailers created online shops with very simple interfaces any person can access. All you need is a computer with a connection to the internet and a few minutes.
