Growth of Online Shopping Around the World

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Introduction

When Amazon.com launched its online retailing strategy in 1995 and began to reap benefits, many analysts viewed doing business and shopping online with great optimism (Denise, 2004). They anticipated for a day when people would be able to order their shopping items from the comfort of their homes. Consequently, customers would see little or no need at all to physically visit traditional in-stores to make their purchases. It is now a decade and a half down the line and online shopping has taken the business world by storm with more and more companies opting to test the sweet waters of online retailing. Analysts foresee a rapid growth of online shopping in the next decade or so though some reports still show a significant number of consumers across the world who have never attempted to do their shopping online. The growth in popularity of online shopping points to the presence of certain advantages, which are not available in traditional shopping. At the same time, it alludes to the existence of differences between the two types of shopping. This paper shall discuss the growth of online shopping around the world and provide statistical evidence of this growth in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom. It shall also elucidate the differences between online shopping and traditional shopping.

The Internet has significantly transformed how consumers shop for goods or services. While traditional in-store shopping still dominates in some industries in various countries, it has done little to increase convenience, efficiency, and ease of shopping and making travel arrangements. According to a survey conducted by the Nielsen Company in March 2010, there are some products that are universally bought online ...

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...d shoppers have to keep themselves up to date with the ever evolving technology. On the other hand, technology used to facilitate traditional in-store shopping has remained the same for many years and does not change as often as is the case in online shopping. Online shopping is not dependent on geogaphical location as transactions can take place across borders. Consequently, access to items offered by retailers is not impeded by factors related to geographical location. In other words, consumers whether local, regional, or international can shop anywhere in the world through the Internet. On the other hand, traditional shopping is limited by geographical considerations. As a result, the number of customers who are able to access the premises may be greatly determined by the location (Differences Between Online Retail & Traditional Retail Businesses, 2007).

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