Shopping mall or cyber-mall?

 

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The Internet is part of everyday life for most young people: about three-quarters of 18-to 24-year-olds regularly go online. Since the mid-1990s, online sales have been increasing by over 25% per year. Last year goods and services worth $93 billion were bought online.

In the beginning, many people thought that this would be the end of traditional shopping. Are ordinary shops and even shopping malls going to close? Will millions of shop assistants lose their jobs?

Well, Internet shopping certainly has big advantages. Travel websites can quickly find the cheapest flights, for example, and fares cost less than they do from a travel agent. Most Internet prices are lower than shop prices. It can also be very convenient to do your shopping from home, day or night.

However, orders can take two weeks or more to arrive, and you have to return the article if something is wrong. Many people worry about the security of their credit card details. Some also miss the fun of shopping with friends.

For some retailers, online shopping has been successful. Perhaps surprisingly, some traditional retailers have also done well. The Internet can offer a bigger market to small, specialist shops, for example. Bill Ross, owner of a farm shop, says, “Using the Net is like opening shops all over Britain.”

Big traditional retailers have introduced their customers to “multichannel shopping” even more successfully. Multichannel shopping means shopping through multiple channels. Customers can go into a store or order online. 

With “Click and Collect,” the customer can order online and his order is delivered to a store in his neighbourhood. He can then collect it when he has time. This means he does not have to pay the cost of delivery. With “Buy Online and Return In-Store,” the customer does not have to go to the post office but again just to his local store. 

So multichannel shopping’s biggest winner is often the customer. Look at American car buyers: 75% now research everything from cost to colour on the Internet before they go to the car dealer with the best offer.

It now seems clear that Internet shopping is not going to replace traditional retailing. Rather, it is making traditional retailing more flexible, efficient and competitive. This is great news for the consumer.