Brick and Mortar Retail vs. E-Commerce. What Is the Solution?

Online commerce was introduced to consumers in the mid-1990’s, and in the years since, it has grown exponentially. It started out virtually nonexistent and has become a multi-billion dollar industry. Nearly every retail sector has entered online commerce; clothing, electronics, home, health and grooming items, even food and groceries are starting to gain traction online. Online commerce sites rival traditional brick and mortar stores such as Walmart and Target, as well as other big-box stores. As online retailers such as Amazon continue to expand, many brick and mortar stores have been making their way online, indicative of an increasing movement towards online commerce. With more than 80% of the online population having made an online

One of the opportunities we have in today’s world is whether to buy online or go to a brick and mortar store to do our purchasing. The two offer great sales and promotions along with selections from which we can choose. As online shopping and brick and mortar may seem similar; however, both differ in pricing, convenience and selection.

Now fast forward twenty-six years later picture yourself as Anne Smith trying to buy a baby stroller. If you were to just google search baby strollers you would have about 21,300,000 results at your fingertips. Within seconds you are given hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of search results to choose from. The internet has made everyday tasks convenient and easy to the point where it takes the fraction of the time to purchase a product. This concept of purchasing items online is known as E-commerce.

Brick and mortar business still exist due to they have been around since society’s inception and they further have many advantages against online stores as well as some disadvantages. Likewise, brick and mortar still exist because they are essentially the only types of business that exist within small towns and the types of retailers that consumers are accustomed to. Many small towns do not venture into online stores because they are familiar and loyal to the town 's brick and mortar retail stores in which they purchase from. They trust these stores and the owners and rely on them for purchases. Furthermore, brick and mortar need to continually find innovative ways in which to continue to attract its customers in a time of many new technological advances and people are becoming more aware of ways in which to purchase items without having to leave the comforts of their own home. Therefore, now more brick and mortar businesses are starting to suffer due to the advances of people looking for cheaper prices instead

Business like Amazon wants to make buying item from their business easier for customers. This is why Amazon offers E-retailing which gives customer option to go shopping online. The internet has had impact change on consumers shopping habit as shopping online has numerous advantages which is why online shopping continues to gain popularity. Some of the advantages of E-retailing is that it’s convenient as consumers are able to go shopping at home which could help them save cost on travelling and also gives consumers an option to compare prices of different products as there are wide range of products being sold online.

In the past decade we have seen a real transformation in retail, with eCommerce channel becoming not just one of sales channels but a main channel of choice for many. Furthermore, pure online retailers are quite often taking a huge chunk of the market and putting traditional brick-and-mortar retailers in a tough spot. The changes we have seen in recent years are so dramatic that those "traditional" retailers that were not able to adapt are taking a toll.

Nonetheless, as compared to spending on petrol and transportation, e-commerce is actually more cost saving. The transportation fee saved up by shopping online can be used to buy extra items while being charged the same shipping fees. Some e-commercial businesses even provide free delivery and some would waive off shipping fees when customers spend more than a certain amount. Besides avoiding spending on petrol and transportation, e-shoppers can also avoid the hassle of finding parking. They can ‘shop’ leisurely at home in their own time without the constant hammering of salespersons to look for the cheapest deal in

E-Business and the internet allow for businesses to reach large sections of the population. It has changed the way we conduct business. It has impacted the way consumers make their decisions. The internet has enabled long distance purchasing as there are no geographical barriers. This is very evident from Zappos.com one of the first companies to take advantage of this.

The bricks and clicks mantra revolves around the idea that the winning -- and profitable -- formula for electronic commerce success is leveraging the best of the physical and virtual worlds. In theory, it should give physical retailers venturing on to the Web an edge over pure dot-com e-commerce companies because they can efficiently extend their existing infrastructure and complement their real world stores. So far, the most successful retailers have been those that have taken an aggressive approach to the Internet like Amazon. The bricks-and-clicks model is gaining momentum as the e-commerce market matures. A growing number of retailers have finally gotten serious about doing business on-line, now that fast-moving dot-com players such as Amazon.com Inc., eBay Inc. and eToys Inc. have carved out market niches.

It is very much true and not a faction that the increased utilization of eMarketing/ mMarketing is accelerating the elimination of resellers at both the distribution and retail levels since internet has a great power and created a revaluation which to drastically altered and change the equilibrium of influence between consumers, retailers, distributors, manufacturers and service providers; where some win or gain and some lose (Hollensen, 2013).

The e-commerce market has changed the way business is functioning, whether in retail or business-to-business, locally or comprehensively. Before the Internet, accomplishment in retail was said to depend on area. Presently, the Internet is a worldwide commercial center, managing even the littlest retailer a national - if not a worldwide - vicinity. Block and-mortar areas now have sites, and new organizations now offer items that were unimaginable preceding the Internet and the blast

Indisputably, e-commerce plays an important role in today 's economy. Since the Internet was introduced, the world has become more interconnected and shopping has become easier. For businesses, it has become important to maintain an online presence. "This is particularly true if businesses wish to

The first advantage that e-commerce possesses is the speed. With the Internet, businesses could exchange messages or complete transactions almost instantaneously even with slowest connection. Business owners now have the ability to change and inform the customers of their services and offers over the internet. This also allows for you to update marketing and promotional materials as often and as frequently as you would like. With increased speeds of communication, the delivery time is expedited and that makes the whole transaction from start to finish more efficient.

Commonly referred to as e-commerce, internet based marketing uses technology in enhancing the use of electronic money transfer, internet marketing, management of inventory and mobile commerce among others. With the growth of technology, e-commerce has expanded to applications in online shopping as well as tracking orders, social networking, shopping cart software, online banking, document automation in logistics and supply chain and mobile business among others (D 'Anna, 2016: 1).

The advantages of e-trade incorporate its all day and all night accessibility, the velocity of access, a more extensive choice of merchandise and administrations, openness, and worldwide span. Its apparent drawbacks incorporate here and there constrained client administration, not having the capacity to see or touch an item preceding buy, and the required sit tight time for item transporting.