EVOLUTION OF E-COMMERCE

In the days of interweb infancy, the action of purchasing products online was often accompanied with visions of shady characters, sitting far away in an obscure country recently freed from the clutches of communism, ready to steal your credit card information. This image, however, has changed in recent years to become a fully accepted part of the buying process for a large majority of consumers. How did this come to be? Surely entering your credit card information online will still trigger an irrational fear in the back of your mind involving our shady character sitting in a dank lair amongst fading propaganda posters buying up copies of Tolstoy's War and Peace using your credit card (who would have known he's a Russian literature buff?). But in spite of all this, you still proceed, trusting the advanced state of online security to ward off identity thieves.

An Interesting Article about E-Commerce

 

Introduction

 

We've come a long way, baby!

Indeed, e-commerce has evolved from online billboards to a fully functional, personalized shopping experience over the past decade. While there were admittedly a few bumps along the road, the path from 1994 through the 2004 holiday shopping season is full of crucial milestones of Internet pioneers and technology innovators.
A stroll down memory lane reminds us of terms like "stickiness," "eyeballs" and "personalization" that once captured the essence of articles about what it takes to be successful on the Web. However, even as we look back at 10 years of growth, many analysts have one eye on the future and they are saying, "we've got a long way to go."
A quick glimpse at the data promises much more evolution in the years to come. Forrester Research, for example, predicted American firms alone would sell US$316 billion in goods and services via the Web by 2010. That figure would more than double 2004's online spending to account for some 12 percent of all retail sales, up from about 7 percent today.

In the Beginning, There Was Amazon

However, that's the future. In the beginning, the Internet was characterized by slow dial-up connections and online billboards. Netscape came on the scene in 1994 with its point-and-click Web browser that opened the door to the billion-dollar revenues e-tailers enjoy today. Two of the first online purveyors were, of course, eBay and Amazon.com.
Looking at Amazon's evolution offers a pretty clear picture of the evolution of e-commerce, according to Nielsen//Netratings senior retail analyst Heather Daugherty.
"Amazon has been around since almost day one," Daugherty said. "They were the first ones to offer one-click ordering that people now expect to find. Although Amazon certainly had a lot of skepticism from the street as to when it was going to become profitable, the company kept at it."
Perseverance paid off. Amazon finally posted its first net profit two years ago, marking one of the most important milestones for e-commerce. This past holiday season, its 10th, was its busiest ever. Amazon set a single-day record with more than 2.8 million units ordered, or 32 items per second, worldwide during the holiday season.

Controversial Times

Within a few short years after Netizens began surfing the Web, DSL entered the picture. SBC Communications began offering high-speed connections in 1998. However, it was hardly uphill from there. Controversial times would soon follow.
Look no further than Napster, the online music swap site that started a war with the music industry that is still raging. The Recording Industry Association of America continues to file lawsuits in droves to stop music file sharing. Analysts said the coming years will surely see an evolving digital music landscape.
And who could forget Toysrus.com's devastating 1998 holiday season, when children didn't receive their Christmas presents on time. The company still couldn't keep up with demand a year later.
That, combined with the denial-of-service attacks that made headlines in early 2000, shook consumer confidence and ushered in a new era of focus on security. Not too long afterward, the Internet bubble burst, seeing major players like Boo.com fold.
However, a rebound wasn't too far off.
"A major turning point came when people started to trust online shopping vendors about two years ago," Gartner analyst Adam Sarner told the E-Commerce Times. "We got through the Toys R' Us fiasco, and business started picking up. People started to find out that it was convenient to get their holiday shopping done online."

Innovative Technology

Rich Riley, vice president and general manager of Yahoo Small Business, told the E-Commerce Times that the essence of the Internet is the establishment of a level playing field for communicating and collaborating. Riley believes the power of the Internet has enabled innovators and entrepreneurs to reach their audiences efficiently and effectively over the past decade.
"Specifically, an important milestone in the evolution of e-commerce is the development of affordable, easy-to-use e-commerce solutions that have enabled hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs to transform their unique ideas into online successful businesses," Riley said.
One of the most important milestones was order fulfillment technologies, including shipping, according to UPS Vice President for Customer Technology Jordan Colletta. Colletta told the E-Commerce Times that online buying is mainstream today as compared to a decade ago.
"There is increased confidence in online order fulfillment, the security of personal data, and easier online return options," Colletta said. "Another critical turning point is the evolution of the online payment process. By making the payment process easier, the shipping process has become easier and more visible. Once a shipment is en route, it's trackable at all points along its journey."

Looking Ahead

What will the next 10 years bring? UPS' Colletta said we've only just begun: "During the next 10 years we anticipate seeing more ease of use, even better technology, dramatically improved visibility as well as a wider array of solutions for both online buyers and merchants."
Nielsen//Netratings' Daugherty expects to see significant changes as wireless e-commerce grows. "In 10 years, consumers ordering products online through their cell phones and PDAs will probably become commonplace," she said. "In-store pick up will allow consumers to place the order on their wireless device and get the product easily."
Gartner's Sarner said that as consumers tap into broadband, on-demand services would gain greater momentum. "If you don't want to drive to the store to pick up your favorite artist's new album, and you don't want it mailed three days later, then you can order the content online instantly," he said. "Broadband and instant access is going to change the way we think about e-commerce."

 

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Reasons why top retailers prefer E-Commerce

We’re halfway through the year, and it’s apparent that ecommerce won’t be slowing down anytime soon. Not only are more businesses looking to establish online stores but also they are looking to develop their stores. According to Invesp, ecommerce sales is growing at 10% each year in the US alone and 19% worldwide.
For shoppers, the benefits are plentiful. Shopping online saves time, offers a greater product selection and allows for cost savings in terms of taxes, the price of the product and money saved on gas. For retailers, the benefits are equally abundant. Let’s take a look.

1. Establish an Online Presence
More than 80% of the online population has used the Internet to purchase something. Your customers expect you to be available, and this presence allows you to keep up with the competition. Otherwise, your audience will be flocking toward your competitors to make an online purchase.

2. Attract New Customers
As a business owner, you want to grow your business and attract new audiences. Physical retail relies on branding and customer relationships, but online retail has the added benefit of driving traffic from the search engines. If a customer is doing a search for photo editing software, for instance, they may land on your company even though they’ve never heard of you before.

3. Save on Operational Costs
Running an ecommerce store can actually save you money. How? With a web-based management system, you can automate inventory management and decrease the costs associated with it. Also, running an ecommerce store doesn’t come with the same overhead costs as a physical store. The additional profit that is made from reaching more customers will offset any initial setup costs.

4. Better Understand Your Customers
It’s difficult to build a customer persona when you’re running a mom-and-pop shop. You can get a rough idea of who your customers are, but it’s based on your perception rather than actual data. With an ecommerce store, you have the ability to track your customers’ buying habits. What products are they most interested in? When are they likely to buy? What motivates them? All of this information can be used to sell more efficiently to your customers.

5. Boost Brand Awareness
Ecommerce will help your brand get more awareness in the online landscape. As you develop more web pages, the search engines can index them and boost your placement. It’s important to use good keywords in your content that are optimized for your audience, as this is what will drive traffic to your site. As your site gets more visibility, people will become familiar with your brand and reputation.

6. Equip Customers with Information
When you have an ecommerce site, you can provide as much information as you want, which customers appreciate. From the product description to customer reviews to shipping charges, you can arm shoppers with the information they need to make informed buying choices, and you don’t need to provide the staff to answer these questions. This leaves you with more time for other tasks around the workplace.

7. Drive Conversions and Sales
When you open up your business globally without any geographical or time constraints, you capture new audiences that you wouldn’t be able to reach otherwise. With a well-designed ecommerce site and a quality product, you can drive conversions and sales and experience a new level of growth. Analytics also helps you fine tune your marketing strategies so that you’re reaching the right audience.

TOP 11 Advantages of Ecommerce over Traditional Retail


1.  Overcome Geographical Limitations
    
If you have a physical store, you are limited by the geographical area that you can service. With an ecommerce website, the whole world is your playground. Additionally, the advent of mcommerce, i.e., ecommerce on mobile devices, has dissolved every remaining limitation of geography.

 

2.  Gain New Customers With Search Engine Visibility

Physical retail is driven by branding and relationships. In addition to these two drivers, online retail is also driven by traffic from search engines. It is not unusual for customers to follow a link in search engine results, and land up on an ecommerce website that they have never heard of. This additional source of traffic can be the tipping point for some ecommerce businesses.
      

3.  Lower Costs

One of the most tangible positives of ecommerce is the lowered cost. A part of these lowered costs could be passed on to customers in the form of discounted prices. Here are some of the ways that costs can be reduced with ecommerce:

• Advertising and Marketing
  Organic search engine traffic, pay-per-click, and social media traffic are some of the advertising channels that can be cost-effective.
   
• Personnel
  The automation of checkout, billing, payments, inventory management, and other operational processes, lowers the number of employees required to run an ecommerce setup.
   
• Real Estate
  This one is a no-brainer. An ecommerce merchant does not need a prominent physical location.

 

4.  Locate the Product Quicker

It is no longer about pushing a shopping cart to the correct aisle, or scouting for the desired product. On an ecommerce website, customers can click through intuitive navigation or use a search box to immediately narrow down their product search. Some websites remember customer preferences and shopping lists to facilitate repeat purchase.

   

5.  Eliminate Travel Time and Cost

It is not unusual for customers to travel long distances to reach their preferred physical store. Ecommerce allows them to visit the same store virtually, with a few mouse clicks.

 

6.  Provide Comparison Shopping

Ecommerce facilitates comparison shopping. There are several online services that allow customers to browse multiple ecommerce merchants and find the best prices.
      

7.  Enable Deals, Bargains, Coupons, and Group Buying

Though there are physical equivalents to deals, bargains, coupons, and group buying, online shopping makes it much more convenient. For instance if a customer has a deep discount coupon for turkey at one physical store and toilet paper at another, she may find it infeasible to avail of both discounts. But the customer could do that online with a few mouse-clicks.
      

8.  Provide Abundant Information

There are limitations to the amount of information that can be displayed in a physical store. It is difficult to equip employees to respond to customers who require information across product lines. Ecommerce websites can make additional information easily available to customers. Most of this information is provided by vendors, and does not cost anything to create or maintain.

   

9.  Create Targeted Communication

Using the information that a customer provides in the registration form, and by placing cookies on the customer's computer, an ecommerce merchant can access a lot of information about its customers. This, in turn, can be used to communicate relevant messages. An example: If you are searching for a certain product on Amazon.com, you will automatically be shown listings of other similar products. In addition, Amazon.com may also email you about related products.

   

10.  Remain Open All the Time

Store timings are now 24/7/365. Ecommerce websites can run all the time. From the merchant's point of view, this increases the number of orders they receive. From the customer's point of view, an "always open" store is more convenient.

   

11.  Create Markets for Niche Products

Buyers and sellers of niche products can find it difficult to locate each other in the physical world. Online, it is only a matter of the customer searching for the product in a search engine. One example could be purchase of obsolete parts. Instead of trashing older equipment for lack of spares, today we can locate parts online with great ease.

 

ONLINE SHOPPING TREND IN INDIA - A STEPPING STONE

Online shopping has now been anticipated to rule the hearts of shopaholics in all over India. Buying desired items through internet access are made simpler and handy by the usage mobile devices, tablets or laptops that aid most of the online shopping apps. E-commerce is meant to be an activity wherein the customers are supposed to use the internet to order a product or service at any moment of time. Customers are likely to favour online purchase in the upcoming years that is expected to sprawl across the metro cities as well as developing neighbouring towns. Online shopping lets you demonstrate best coupons deals with real time updates on coupon site in India one time.

Be a smart buyer by availing infinite varieties of accessories or articles and shopping the favourite ones out at affordable rates and avoid chaotic bargains. Sales or discounts reach your place instantly after being announced by the retailers or owners. You can surprise your peers and friends by posting amazing gifts at their doors without getting carried away time and travel.

Shopping freaks can discover currently refined list of many coupons regarding clothing, gifts, sports, tickets, shoes, garden, pets, food and drinks, tours and travel that can be proposed by certain esteemed establishments including Snapdeal, Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, Jabong, Ebay and many others.

 Majority of people prefer using online platforms for hassle free shopping to avoid frequent running from stores to stores while going on for a ground purchase. Online shopping firms are indeed concerned to cover all your needs for every special event by providing you sufficient merchandise and related commodities. Another useful aspect of internet shopping is that it extends multiple payment option including cash on delivery, easy return, and conveys deliveries with no additional charge. Moreover, every shopper gets an opportunity to invite their friends and receive appreciable gift vouchers to make shopping experience more glorious and happening.

 Online shopping stores showcase multitude of eminent brands to serve you best in lesser time and at a genuine price. Online shopping is a promised realm for people wandering for their favourite brands and suitable discounts.  It enables you to savour seamless shopping with indoor ease. By virtue of online shopping, one can experiment latest style by following fresh arrivals at the earliest to define the fashion statement of the hour. The circadian rhythm has been noticed to walk parallel to the rapidly rising notion of shopping online that contemplates possibility of reaching the zenith of growth.

 

Top India ecommerce and Shopping Trends in 2015

Online Shopping trends are changing in India every six months. Indian eCommerce and online retail business is booming and mushrooming, largely pushed by 250 million Internet users and 150 million Smartphone users in India. One hand, we have large marketplaces like Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal and Paytm. On the other hand, niche players in Fashion, Mobile and Household. Buyers are demanding, getting more options, leveraging offers, comparing prices/ features and sharing their shopping plans and decision on social networks.
Let us take a deeper dive into what will drive eCommerce in 2015 and coming months – and how online shopping sites will keep their consumers engaged.

Mobile and app shopping
Mobile and apps based shopping has contributed to India’s Online Shopping growth. It grew 100% during the year 2014-15, maintaining the pace. With the growth in Smartphone users, web stores have increased their push on mobile and smartphones to tap the market.

Sharing and suggesting
In physical stores, we used to go with friends and family to take opinion about our shopping. Seeking opinion is basic nature and digital media has added a new dimension to it. You can now share your preferences on Social Media, Personal Messages, Whatsapp and many more alternate ways. This will continue and social entrepreneurs will come with more such options.

Compare and think before act
While this is true for premium products that people compare products 360 degrees before making any buying decision. Buyers would keep comparing products for its features and pricing. They would also compare where to buy from, whether the web store is legitimate, what are the return and payment policies, whether the payment is secured on the site and – the big one – should they buy now or wait for big occasions when prices fall.

Handle returns
In absence of any physical touch and feel on web purchases, return rates are significantly higher in comparison to physical stores. Online shopping sites are getting 10% to 15% returns, depending on the category. Handling returns hits web stores in two ways:

1. The products are unboxed
2. The delivery logistics become complex

Returns typically happen because of minor defects or products mismatch. Those who will handle returns and provide good after sales service would ace the market. After all customer experience comes not only from the shopping – it also depends how you deal with your customers at every touch points.

Stores online, advertising offline
These days we’re seeing big advertisements of almost every online shopping sites, grocery services, household services etc. Advertising includes full front page of the newspaper or large hoardings on the road. eCommerce business wants to remain connected to the people whether they’re online or offline. So the advertising trend would not only continue, but also increase in the coming years.

Content is king
People are really aware now. When it comes to knowledge about the product they have gained plethora of analysis and review access. So the appetite to know more before buying would grow. With premium and niche products this is even more applicable. So the sites with more content would be dear not only to the buyer but also to the social media and search engines.

Big occasions becoming bigger on Deals, Discounts and Offers
Who doesn’t love deals and discounts! The more you give the better is the response. The market push basis the offers and deals would never die. It is upto the business owners and sellers to decide on the smart pricing of the products based on seasonality and demographics, primarily. Something worth mentioning here, big occasions are really becoming bigger. People hold their shopping for Diwali, Christmas, New Year, Vacations – so tapping right pricing at these moments would be key to survive and thrive.

Rating and review – linking people to people
When you go buying as a shopper and see a rating of 2/5, it is very unlikely you would buy it. So the matter of fact is, people are reviewing and rating after they purchase a product and helping others to take decisions accordingly. This trend would always stay – since it links people to people.
That said, retailers and brands would keep their presence in Omni-channel. They would just follow the customers – wherever they find customers, retailers and brands will make their presence

Does one day delivery the future of e-commerce?and will it affect the start ups?

Yes, almost all the major e-commerce,online store giants are working out for one day delivery, 2 hours delivery etc. Possibly which may be the future of e-commerce.

START-UPS:
                      As for as the start-ups point of view e-commerce,particularly these online stores may be the trending one but which is going to be the biggest challenge to compete with the already well accomplished giants like Flipkart, e-bay, Amazon etc.
                       Especially once they introduce the one day delivery kind of stuffs it is going to me a massive challenge almost impossible for the start ups.

BRILLIANCE OF MARKET LEADERS:
                         As far as i concern, all the big players doesn't see profit as of now and they are very much into building the customer base.So i can conclude by saying e-commerce,online store is the future and which is going to be a tough thing to compete with giants...

Online Shopping - Advantages and Disadvantages

Online shopping has become a popular shopping method ever since the internet has declared a takeover. There are many individuals that are looking for other amazing alternatives shopping and online shipping is just the fix for that.
There are many advantages of online shopping; this is the reason why online stores are a booming business today. Online shopping includes buying clothes, gadgets, shoes, appliances, or even daily groceries. Listed below are several online shopping advantages and these are the following.

 

Advantages of Online Shopping

• Save Time – Do you have the specific list that you want to buy? With just a couple of clicks of the mouse, you can purchase your shopping orders and instantly move to other important things, which can save time.

• Save Fuel – The market of fuel industries battles from increasing and decreasing its cost every now and again, but no matter how much the cost of fuel are it does not affect your shopping errands. One of the advantages of shopping online is that there is no need for vehicles, so no purchase of fuel necessary.

• Save Energy – Admit it, it is tiresome to shop from one location and transfer to another location. What is worse is that there are no available stocks for the merchandise you want to buy. In online shopping, you do not need to waste your precious energy when buying.

• Comparison of Prices – The advanced innovation of search engine allows you to easily check prices and compare with just a few clicks.  It is very straightforward to conduct price comparisons from one online shopping website to another. This gives you the freedom to determine which online store offers the most affordable item you are going to buy.

• 24/7 Availability – Online shopping stores are open round the clock of 24/7, 7 days a week and 365 days. It is very rare to find any conventional retail stores that are open 24/7. The availability of online stores give you the freedom to shop at your own pace and convenience.

• Hate Waiting in Lines – When buying items online, there are no long lines you have to endure, just to buy your merchandise. The idea of shopping online is cutting down those bad habits of standing in a long line and just waiting. Every online store is designed with unique individual ordering features to purchase the item.

• Too Ashamed to Buy – There are times that you want to purchase something out of the ordinary that can be a bit embarrassing when seen by other people. Items like weird ornaments, sexy lingerie, adult toys, etc. In online shopping, you do not need to be ashamed; your online transactions are basically done privately.

• Easy to Search Merchandise You Want to Buy – You are able to look for specific merchandise that includes model number, style, size, and color that you want to purchase. In addition, it is easy to determine whether the products are available or out of stock.

Disadvantages of Online Shopping

If there are advantages, most likely there will be disadvantages. Despite the success of purchasing through online shopping stores, there are still some disadvantages that most people complain about. These include:

• Personally Check the Item – If you are one of those shoppers who want to touch, see, and test the product personally, at online shopping, you are not able to do so. Online stores are only showing product description and photos of the merchandise, which can be a disadvantage for many online shoppers.

• Diminished Instant Satisfaction – Unlike buying at retail stores, you are able to use the product instantly after you buy it, which can be satisfying. However, online shopping requires patience to wait for the item to arrive at your door step about 2 to 3 days or even longer depending on the location you've ordered it from.

Online shopping is continuously becoming more popular and improving every single day. Knowing the advantages of online shopping and its disadvantages is additional knowledge for a lot of online shoppers that are useful before shopping online.

 

Online Shopping vs Offline Shopping

In this modern world of technology the Internet is probably one of the biggest and most significant inventions to have come about well which acquires each and every individual's attention.The internet was the go-to destination for product research. More than three-quarters (77%) of those polled said they compared products and prices online before they bought anywhere which is very true and we all have also experienced. Before buying any product people tend to acquire information about the product related information's that makes online shopping more comfortable rather than an offline shopping.

Retailers hate it when customers whip out their smartphones in middle of a store, check the Internet to match an item right in front of them, if not satisfied according to what they compare with the online market then they buy it in online at a better price.More and more consumers are switching between the channels when shopping for fashion, and using website as a virtual shop window.64% have researched purchases online before buying offline, upto 5% from last year's survey and 71% of women are much more likely to research online and buy offline, compared to 52% of men.

Consumers are more attracted to online fashion websites with importance of  "effective filters" that allows the users to narrow their product selection. Besides, 55% say that the ability to filter by size and color makes them more likely to buy the products in online rather than in offline.

Fig : Shows the % of likes among the user for online shopping

Also gives the importance of product images and pages, with 51% favoring zoom-in/zoom-out and rotating images. Meanwhile Six out of 10 said that if they saw something they wanted in a showroom/shop, they often checked to see whether they could get it more cheaply from on web.

People as in their busy schedule nowadays prefer online shopping more than offline shopping.  Everything is done on webs as internet plays a huge impact on day today life of an human. Taking any into consideration like online booking of tickets, recharging your telephones,paying your bills, etc is processed via internet. Consumers are more comfortable in browsing through their favorite fashion websites connecting any social media websites.

Let's take a look over the PROS and CONS on Online Retails over Offline Retails.

PROS of Online Retail:

1.  24/7 Sales

Online stores can keep on trading all day, every day. This means customers can shop when it is convenient for them and lets you offer your services for many more hours per day than with a physical store. More selling time means more sales so this should allow the site to increase the amount of stock they can shift.

2. Easy and Quick

Online stores are easy to implement nowadays as it hardly requires any technical expertise to get going. If you opt to use the online websites to make sales then you have a pre-existing route to market that you can tap in to which does not require any marketing to make sales.

3. National and International Reach

Online channels actually gives an access to combine a pool of customers all over the world.

You can sell products to various people around the globe connecting them at any outside catchment area that a physical store would serve.

4. Collection of more data and stock of more items

You can get much better visibility of your customers buying behavior online. From age and location demographics, initial search terms, related items they are interested and much more. All this data can be collected easily with a simple analytic program. Tracking this level of detail around a physical store would be extremely difficult and time intensive whereas with a website it’s just matter of adding a piece of code and all the data will be collected for you automatically. You have wide variety of designs on the items that you get on websites compared to that of an offi 

5.More flexibility

Need to update your stock levels on a Sunday or in the middle of the night? With your online channels you can be based from anywhere you like, as you don’t need to be present in your customer facing store. You get control over when and where you make changes as your customers will be accessing your store remotely and at all hours of the day too. They get more flexibility and so do you.

CONS of Online Retail : 

1. More Competition

The online shops have no constraints on the number of competing businesses than can strive to win away from you. Also, marketplaces that sell direct to consumer as well  will be in direct competitor with you too and with their superior buying power will often be able to undercut your prices.Distinguishing yourself from the crowd of competition requires a lot of marketing, an exemplary customer service model and a reasonable pricing strategy. 

2. More Admin 

You will need to write and update detailed product descriptions, take photographs, upload listings, package and post items, as well as the usual stock control that is involved with a physical store. This could be as, or even more time-consuming, than displaying items on shelves for customers to see, fell and collect themselves.

3.Less Consumer Contact

As you are unable to speak to your customers it is harder for you to up-sell other items to them. It is much easier to hold someone’s attention if you are able to get into a real conversation with them. Online they can just click a button and be gone in an instant. People will be more likely to be loyal to the ‘local shop’ than to a faceless website.

4. No Touch or Feel

People can’t try things on or feel the quality of item when they shop online. This might mean that you lose out on a sale on a item that, when people buy online there is more chance it won’t fit properly or they don’t like the quality when it arrives at their door.This means that you will have to deal with a lot more returns which can be costly as well as time-consuming.

5. Marketplaces takes a cut

Listing products through a third party website, such as eBay and Amazon, mean they get a slice of your profits. Meaning you don’t get the maximum amount of money you could do for a product. You need to sell more in order to make the same money as your margins are much lower.

For few customers, it may be frightening to consider buying cloths online without thoroughly testing it for comfort. However, you will be surprised at how much showroom costumes even after a comfort test does not meet the customer expectation or durability. Many reviews indicate that only 71% customers are satisfied in 'Offline Shopping' whereas 78% were satisfied in 'Online Shopping'. 

The PwC study also revealed a clear opportunity for physical stores to raise their digital profile and attract customers with new mobile services. Over half of the adults polled said they would welcome the ability to use their smartphones to search for a store nearby. A similar number said they were attracted by the idea of using a phone to search for different sizes, colors or styles in another branch, and then having selected items sent to their local branch, or to their home, for trying-on. These services would likely boost the relatively small number of consumers in web shops. 

Predictably, most of the consumers are looking for the latest offers and competitions via social medias.

Checkout the video which describes,

The Future of the Retail

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whpT6VknpEc#

Online shopping vs Offline shopping

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0nwphkigN8