Research Assignment: Online Shopping - Current Trend (Essay Sample)

Jonish Gurung
English 1301
Professor Shows
24th April, 2017
Online Shopping
The business to the client is the most noticeable electronic business. Internet shopping enables organizations to give item data and direct deals to their customers. Online shopping offers benefits to consumers such as convenience of purchasing, cost reduction, the individuation of products or services, and enticement of information. But what does the future hold? The benefits of online shopping for consumers are obvious but what are its shortcomings? It is just a matter of time before online shopping takes off. This paper analyzes the benefits of online shopping as well as its shortcomings that may result to the end of online shopping in the coming years.
In the 1990s, online shopping became popular among all Americans navigating the web. E-commerce reached the tipping point in 1998 as marketing enterprises such as Amazon, Dell and E-trade facilitated online shopping (Wang, 218). Traditional companies quickly incorporated buying options in order to expand their market spread. Part of e-commerce success was due to the introduction of online payments. The search engine was launched, which used a sophisticated algorithm to rank hits. Blogging software was also introduced.
There are several underlying factors influencing the propensity to buy online. Internet familiarity and experience are crucial factors determining the buy rate of a household. Only 25% of internet starters proceed to make an online purchase while 70% of online experts place a payment online. While a number of internet users grow further, the current potential has rather decreased. The internet use and the internet potential are strongly dependable on age. More significant even than the increase of internet usage is the qualitative change of the internet use. Today a significant number of internet users are no longer in the starting phase, but rather in the process of learning and increasing internet competence (Dholakia, Ruby & Nikhilesh, 83). Nowadays about a quarter of the population belongs to the regular internet users with the frequency of utilization of at least two to three times a week; 13% use the medium daily, and only 7% use it several times in a day.
The main advantage for online business buyers is the way that they can go shopping without having to think of time and place. Buyers are looking for goods and services that are more convenient and have value benefits that will spare them time, while retailers search for all the more retail channels to carry them into direct contact with the purchaser (Wang, 400). Along these lines, just shopping can possibly satisfy both the requirements of buyers and supermarket administrators. For those purchasers who cannot go out because of physical obliges, web-based shopping is a lucky thing because the merchandise is conveyed to their home. Moreover, it is considerably less demanding to analyze costs and administration offer online for the clients. So they can choose from home which is the best place to purchase their provisions without considering the distance that is between their home and the shop.
Problems with E-Commerce
As anyone who has ever tried to buy over the internet knows well, it can be a very time-consuming process, especially for those lacking keyboard skills. Not only do they need to enter details of name, address and credit card into onscreen forms (Schäfer, 28). But also the chances are a pop-up window will warn about entering an insecure area. This is why a lot of online purchases are abandoned during the transaction process. Additionally, shoppers become irritated by the need to enter all the personal information.
As online retailing is a new and inventive way of product offering, consumers expect a new and fresh consumer approach. On the other hand, they expect all positive familiar features of the online business to be retailed. As they cannot communicate directly with the sales personnel, they expect from an e-seller a telephone hotline or an online hotline with fast email response. In addition, they do not want to do without the possibility to return goods against money.
Security is also still a very big issue as ion the internet there are no instances such as sales people reassuring quality and reliability of the offer. Therefore it is much more difficult for online businesses to build up trust and customer loyalty. Numerous clients are still concerned about the payment safety and data protection. Another problem is the cost of service- to put together what were order and the delivery. Fulfillment is also crucial to an e-business success. Products have to be of good quality, delivery has to be fast and on time. But so far, according to DHL Worldwide Express, only 20% of goods ordered over the internet reach the customer within the promised time (Schafer, 29). If there are technical problems or mistakes in orders the whole benefits of online shopping might be lost if customers are required to go back to the shop. Also, the information available online is not the same as in the real world. For instance, customers cannot read the descriptions on the product packaging, which is particularly an issue for allergists and health conscious people. Consumer anxieties about product freshness and quality are also a big issue, as they have to trust the person who is selecting their groceries for them. However, everybody has his or he own preferences, some like the bananas ripe and others prefer them green.
A lot of people...