The Future of Online Retail and Shopping

Question: Discuss about theFuture of Online Retail and Shopping. Answer: Introduction Online retail shopping is an electronic business that allows clients to purchase goods and services directly from the retailer by the use of the internet. It was introduced by an English entrepreneur Michael Aldrich in the year 1979 who connected a modified domestic TV to a synchronized business processing computer by the use of a telephone line. The first retail transaction over the internet was done by Amazon.com which launched its online shopping site in the year 1995 alongside with eBay in the same year. In this business, a customer identifies a product that he/she is interested in, by visiting the retailer website. An advantage of online shopping is that the clients can directly access the retailer website by the use of smartphones, laptops, and tablets. An online store enables one to browse a broad range of products and also find out the information of the goods and their prices and features. For one to complete a transaction, customers should have a valid and recommended method of payment that includes the use of credit cards or PayPal. For example, in Kenya an East African country, Jumia an online retail shop allows its consumers to complete transactions by the use of a service such as M-Pesa. Evaluation Trends in Online Retail Shopping In Developed and Developing Nations. In developing countries, online shoppers have increased. It indicates that there is awareness of the online shopping business. With the introduction of smartphones and other electronic items such as mobile phones, the retailing has rapidly grown in these developing countries. For instance, in Kenya about 35 million people have cell phones amounting to 59%who use their phones and laptops to buy products online (Hunter Tan, 2015). In the US a third of its global sales are goods and services sold online which is approximate $187 billion. The developed countries are expected to fall about 60% from 70% in the year 2013 as compared to Developing countries which are supposed to report for at least 40% (Burgess, 2014). For example, online shoppers are classy with well-developed brand awareness for online sites like Alibaba and Tmall. The shoppers have also considered online retailing as the best way of business. Since this business continues to grow on a yearly basis, it has a lot of space to grow in future to catch up with the traditional retail sales which are more popular with people. For example, 7.7% of online shopping occurred in the US beginning on 2016, hence a positive indication towards the business (Krafft Mantrala, 2013). In future, Developing countries will emerge to be the leading online retail shopping markets in the world. For instance, in the coming future, the largest growth of this business will be on mainly food and beverages. At now there is only 1% of this market for example in the US, yet other categories like electronics are almost reaching the limits. How Is Online Retail Shopping Affecting The Traditional Retailing Online retail shopping is easy to access. Online retail places such as Amazon allows its consumers easy access to the website with easy as compared to traditional retailing in which access to the market for entrepreneurs has been difficult. Secondly, selling and buying online is cheaper than in traditional retailing that is more expensive to own a retail premise and customer-facing staff. Thirdly, selling and purchasing on the internet means traditional constraints to retail growth. Meaning finding and paying for the products purchased are not significant factors (Kozak, 2013). Finally, the main advantage over traditional-based retailers is that online retailing can expand its market quickly beyond its local customers. In this business, the retailer may discover a demand for its products and services internationally which it can respond to by offering its website in a different language. Recommendation Since retailers are gradually selling more goods and services to the consumers, more attention should be given to infrastructural issues that will destroy the development of e-commerce. Such matters include internet coverage and appropriate technology. Solving these problems will help conquer the limitations of the local environment. Also, retailers should pay attention to the issues of risks and security, and this is one of the main reasons why some clients dont use the online business. Also, an improvement should be made on the cost development which is not cost effective in online retail and shopping to end users (Nelson, Shaw Strader, 2015). Conclusion Online retail shopping is rapidly rising in developed countries as compared to the developing countries. In the developing countries business over the web have not been quickly adopted in this region because of some challenges mainly the environment of these countries. On the other hand, traditional retailing allows its consumers to evaluate prices quickly and without difficulty. In this case, the business is continuing to grow and becoming more familiar with clients who enjoy doing this traditional retailing. References Burgess, S. (2014). Managing information technology in small business: Challenges and solutions. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Pub. Hunter, M. G., Tan, F. B. (2015). Technological advancement in developed and developing countries: Discoveries in global information management. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference. Kozak, M. (2013). Aspects of Tourist Behavior. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Krafft, M., Mantrala, M. K. (2013). Retailing in the 21st century: Current and future trends. Heidelberg: Springer. Nelson, M. L., Shaw, M., Strader, T. J. (2015). Value creation in e-business management: 15th Americas conference on information systems, AMCIS 2009, SIGeBIZ track, San Francisco, CA, USA, August 6-9, 2015 : selected papers. Berlin: Springer.