Posts Tagged ‘ multi-channel retailing ’

A number of forces at play are dramatically changing the entire retail landscape across the world. The latest and probably the most powerful of these is the emerging power of the internet. It is widely believed that any retailer who fails to recognize and capitalize on this revolution is at a grave risk. Shopping on the internet or eShopping is clearly catching on throughout the world and many countries around the world are witnessing an over 70-100 percent increase in eCommerce sales each year. A web store motivates customers from across the world to register their orders on the internet, accessible to customers 24 hours a day and all 7 days of the week and offer tremendous convenience to their computer oriented customers.

It has been proved that the number one factor motivating online shopping is convenience. Customers have found eShopping the easiest to adapt.  The variety of goods and services being purchased over the internet are also increasing, though computer hardware and software, books of all categories, Music CD/DVD’s, travel items are the most popular items being traded on the web. However other products like games, clothing, and automobiles are fast picking up an increasing percentage of the customers gradually getting hooked onto the internet way of shopping

Most of the major retailers have already begun marketing a wide variety of their merchandise on the web, while the others who have not yet done so are wither already in the process of developing their virtual store or seriously considering doing so. Developing an e-retail strategy has now become synonymous with developing an overall business strategy and cannot be overlooked under any circumstances.

In spite of all the benefits that online shopping offers, the biggest concern it raises is the question of security in the use of credit cards and passwords. Most online shoppers prefer to pay by credit card and require absolution security or secrecy of their passwords and privacy of consumer information – two major concerns that still need to be resolved today. As a result much of the web sales that take place till this day are executed with a fair level of risk. However apart from the actual sales that take place on the web itself, the customers are also offered information about the various products that they wish to purchase.  Many retail companies have already created some very attractive web stores which are extremely user friendly and very comprehensive. On these web stores, the companies provide a large amount of information about themselves as well as about the products that they stock. One of the biggest advantages of eCommerce is that the retailer is virtually selling 24 hours a day without any additional costs to the company and that customers can also access their products around the clock, seven days a week.

The process is simple… Once a customer has logged on to a web store, they can choose the items they wish to purchase, the prices of which are usually given alongside. They can then proceed to the mode of payment and enter the details of their credit card along with the tendered amount. this order is instantly registered with the web store who immediately arranges to dispatch the desired goods to the customer usually by mail or own logistics arrangements. Although the growth of such click sales is increasing rapidly, its volumes are far too small to sustain pure web retailing. In fact their percentage compared to the brick sales of retailers are still very nominal. Many pure e-retailers who overestimated their sales have had to suffer immensely and some have even decided to start their own brick stores to sustain themselves. It is thus widely believed that a combination of the brick and the click is undoubtedly te winning combination of the future in the retail business. In other words multi-channel retailing is the key to the future….