Online Buying and Traditional Buying

Currently, technology has continued to develop dramatically. It has therefore made lives more convenient. One convenience is the online shopping which remains renowned as a business strategy on The Internet. While there are differences in several ways, the two methods have many similarities. This paper will compare as well as contrast aspects between online buying and traditional buying. With the increasing popularity of the Internet and the increasing options to online shoppers, more people continue to turn to cyberspace for shopping needs. As a response, retailers continue to enhance online stores, giving customers similar comprehensive experience available at a mall.

Like traditional shopping, online buying gives a great variety of stores. Nearly any store typically found in malls correspond online store with similar items. From departmental stores to specialty ones, many retailers find through Internet search. In both options shopping experience provides a large item selection to choose from. If one is looking for dresses, a simple search end up yielding hundreds of dresses with various styles, sizes, shapes as well as colors. Similar to visiting a specialized department in the store, the criteria for search can become narrowed to present the particular results like cocktail dresses or sundresses. Many retailers give similar deals in store as well as on their website. Like in the mall, online stores always have seasonal as well as end-of-season items, in many case having extra incentives like free shipping for online buyers. The retailer's site end up reflecting seasonal promotions present in-store and enable buyers to redeem coupons as well as gift cards. Sales and promotions will typically start and end on the same dates both in-store and online.

The other similarity is that both the two shopping options have an interactive experience. Through the enhanced features on many retailer websites, buyers manage to see how an item look like in other color, in different sizes, or send links to friends for feedback. The Victoria’s online store Secret, for example, allows buyers to click on the color swatches to alter the color of items then click through alternate brands to know the exact fit as well as shape. Similar to purchases at the mall, items purchased from online shops also get returned to retailers for a refund as well as an exchange with conditions varying depending on retailer’s policy. Like in mall stores, most online stores allow buyers to return items for a total full refund while others only allow for exchanges. As one would expect, returns as well as exchanges of some personal items like undergarments as well as toiletries get not accepted at malls or online.

The two business methods pose some distinctive features. A basic difference is time operation. For instance, customers may buy and view things every time they feel like because online shops operate on a 24-hour basis as well as seven days a week. Contrary, stores, supermarkets, markets, as well as plazas, begin in limit time like 8 am to 9 pm. Hence, online buying remain more useful as compared to traditional shopping particularly those without time or those always working with a computer like office workers. The Second difference is the mode of the exhibition (Odyssey & the Standard’ 2000). Traditional shopping has direct alternative to a product through touch as well as handling to ascertain their quality as well as their material. On the contrary, online shops only display items on the Internet for customers to image the producers through their mind pictures, information in every produce. Hence, face many difficulties in making choices. As a consequence, traditional buyers remain more attracted as compared to the online customer.

The third difference is the communication. In specific, online buyers have no capacity to negotiate directly with the sellers since they face a screen while traditional buyers have a face to face interaction and can bargain with respective sellers. Therefore, communication in online buying remains more interesting as compared to traditional shopping. Fourthly, the investment also contrasts between the online and the traditional buyers. For example, online business have no huge budget of leasing space, rent employee as well as décor store while traditional shops need more money. Additionally, online business managers to save money in the investment and they manage to expand and produce over the globe in short time, making online buying easy. Lastly, one of the advantages of online buying is convenience. Particularly, online buyer access products not only from within the nation but also from other countries. Hence, buyers get items by their computer irrespective of their area of stay.

To conclude, while there are differences between the two shopping methods, there are many similarities. Many factors propel people to choose the type of shopping suits their demands. Hence, both methods have advantages and disadvantages, and while making chooses between them, it remains critical to consider the situation. Irrespective of the method both the two enables buyers to get what they want and satisfy their consumer needs. Hence, if opportunity dictates, they can shop online, and the same should apply in traditional shopping.

References

Odyssey, L.P., & the Standard (2000): E-commerce conversion: Online vs. traditional buying channels. San Francisco, CA: TheStandard.

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in research paper services if you need a similar paper you can place your order for professional research proposal writing services.

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