Page Text: by lv147
This social savvy thrives on online shopping and personally prefers internet purchasing over in-store buying for numerous reasons. E-tailers and bricks and mortar retailers both provide consumers with the ability to make purchases, in which can result in positive and/or negative aspects for the consumer.
Positives for e-tailers
Convenience e.g. consumers make purchases from the comfort of their own home
The internet also provides e-tailers with accessing a global market
Consumers have access to a variety of online sources
Active dialogue with consumers through email, online forums and online chat
The internet acts as a medium for conducting transactions, orders, invoices and other business documents can be sent electronically.
Attached below is a snippet of one of my favourite online shops, ASOS :
Implications for e-tailers
Customer reviews impact their authenticity
Trolls and other competitors writing harmful negative and falsified reviews to harm the brand’s online image
Not all customers have access to the web, or are skilled enough to understand how it works.
The fear of security and privacy issues of their personal information being passed on
Positives for brick and mortar retailers
Ability to communicate with real life people, and are provided with immediate responses.
Assistance when making purchases through sales personnel, unlike e-tailers who only have an online presence.
Consumers have the ability to feel and touch the products as well as are immediately able to obtain them straight after purchase, without having to wait for them to be delivered to their home.
Market research revealed that 85% of consumers still prefer to shop in physical stores.
I know from personal experience, when buying a microwave for my kitchen, it really helped having the employees at The Good Guys assisting me with choosing the right product, as I had little knowledge of the brands and attributes each product had.
Implications for bricks and mortar retailers
Consumers have to physically enter the store to make a purchase
Finding parking