Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce (e-commerce), which is known as "the buying and selling of goods and services, and the transfer of funds, through digital communications." (Wikipedia, 2007) Online shopping is the process consumers go through to purchase products and services over the Internet. It mostly represents business-to-consumer electronic commerce (B2C). (Wikipedia, 2007)
Today, 13 years later, online shopping has grown massively on the Internet. Many Internet users have shopped online at least once. Some are regular online shoppers. It is obvious that online shopping works, albeit not for all online retailers. There are a few reasons why online shopping works. One of the main reasons is because of the many advantages to both consumers and retailers. First, operating an online business is relatively low cost compared to operating a physical store. With lower operating cost, some retailers are able to lower the prices of their products and services, giving consumers a better selling price.
Second, consumers can shop in the comfort of their homes, usually at any time of the day. There is the ease of use, convenience and speed when it comes to shopping online. In addition, consumers can compare prices easily and read product reviews to enable better decision making. Consumers also have the choice of getting their products delivered straight to their homes, which is an attractive plus to busy consumers with no time to collect their purchases personally.
Third, consumers can purchase products which are unavailable to them in their own countries. This can be very appealing to consumers who want to buy a particular product in another country. They will only need to pay the extra shipping cost for the product to be shipped over to them, without the need of any traveling. This is advantageous to the retailer as well, as retailers can reach consumers worldwide with their products.
Of course, there are also certain disadvantages to online shopping. One of its main concerns is the security issue. Despite the many improvements to credit card security issues made in the recent years, many users are still apprehensive about giving out their credit card information online due to fear of fraud case. Non-technological disadvantages are also impeding the growth of online shopping. Traditional consumers still prefer to browse products in its physical state instead of just viewing them online, via a computer screen. There is also the issue of discrepancies in color and size when viewing a product online compared to seeing it in its physical state.
However, despite the disadvantages, online shopping has grown tremendously in these 13 years. From 1994 where Pizza Hut started offering the service of ordering pizzas online. Now, countless of pizza chains have already made their delivery service available online. In 1994, where the first online bank, First Virtual opened for business to now, 2007, when online banking are used by almost every major bank in the world. In 1994, where shopping malls first arrive online and now where online shopping are seen virtually everywhere.
The Internet of today is filled with the advertisements, of both online and offline shopping. Mailboxes are filled with junk mails of advertisements, special offers and discounts. The possibilities of consumers spending money on the Internet has grown from an innovation to a norm. As the number of internet users increase, products and services can potentially reach more people. The Internet became an extremely marketable channel for retailers. Consumers themselves saw the lucrative market. They started setting up their own websites to sell their products and services or selling them in auction sites like eBay.com.
The modes of payment online have also increased. Typically, the most common mode of payment online shoppers use is still the credit cards. Some online retailers now provide other options like Paypal, various types of electronic money, checks, cash on delivery and other various methods.
Online shopping is constantly improving its services and efficiency, while also reassuring internet users of the security and convenience of internet shopping. Online shops are so common now we sometimes don’t even bother taking a second look at them. With online shops having a stronger web presence than ever, the bigwigs like Amazon.com and eBay.com are likely to survive and do even better online than ever. Especially with their strong reputation and large variety of products available to the consumers.
Hobbes' Internet Timeline v8.2 (November 1, 2006). Retrieved January 27, 2007, from http://www.zakon.org/robert/internet/timeline/
Online shop (2007). Wikipedia.org. Retrieved January 27, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_shop
Virtual Shopping (2007). Wikipedia.org. Retrieved January 27, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_shopping
1 comment:
Shelwyn: Interesting writeup on online shopping. Everything checks out fine except that where you use Wikipedia, there is a proper way to do the in-text citations as seen in this guide: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_Wikipedia#Examples
I'm giving you the full grade for this, but take note of my recommendations for future assignments.
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