Online retailing
offers many benefits such as convenience.
Online retailing, also called e-tailing or e-commerce, boomed during much of the first decade of the 21st century. Online retail experienced tremendous growth because companies are more familiar with e-tailing systems and customers more accustomed to purchasing goods online. Online retail expands the marketplace for retailers and allows them to deliver the convenience and shopping experience customers desire.
Convenience
Buying online is more convenient for many people than shopping at a physical store because they can buy from home and typically place orders anytime, without the restriction of store hours. Online convenience is how quickly a customer can complete a purchase. An easy-to-navigate web store, a simple buying process, and efficient ordering system add to e-tail convenience.
Customer Interaction
E-tailers work to improve the online experience with product information, guides, ratings and recommendations that replace what customers get from retail associates in traditional brick-and-mortar retail stores. Personalized accounts, histories, profiles, recommended items and other customized interaction tools have contributed to a high level of customer satisfaction in online buying experiences, according to the website DMS Retail.
Inventory Efficiency
Companies are often able to offer more products for sale on their websites than they can hold in store, and inventory management is typically less expensive for online retailers, says DMS Retail. Large retailers can present a wider variety and assortment online without store size limitations. Online retailers do not have to invest large amounts of capital to buy prime real estate locations and maintain stock rooms. Some do not even manage inventory, instead operating as resellers for vendors that ship directly to customers.
Global Marketplace
Consumers can shop at a company's web store and make purchases from virtually anywhere with Internet access. The Internet is a boundary-less technology that has given businesses the opportunity to sell products beyond local or domestic borders that are limitations in the physical retail world.
Tags: Online retail, Online retailing