Online Shopping Versus Traditional Brick-and-Mortar Shopping
Online Shopping Versus Traditional Brick-and-mortar Shopping
Consumers are making purchases daily. There are a number of occasions and reasons prompting people to shop. Special occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays all contribute to retail sales. Sustaining one’s daily life through purchase of food, clothing, personal hygiene products and cleaning products also contributes to the economy through commerce. How do most people like to shop? In recent years a new alternative to the traditional brick-and-mortar shopping, online shopping, has increased in popularity. “U.S. e-commerce sales grew from 72 billion U.S. dollars in 2002 to 228 billion U.S. dollars in 2010.” (“Online shopping,” n.d., para. 2). Why has there been such a large increase? Has online shopping increased in popularity because of the fact that people can buy everything from clothing, shoes, toys, and electronics, to personal hygiene items, and even groceries or cars online? Is online shopping better than traditional brick-and-mortar shopping? The better of the two is a matter of personal opinion and preferences. The purpose of the purchase also has a bearing on which method is preferred. Online shopping can provide its patrons with prices, products, and convenience comparable to brick-and-mortar shopping. Which option provides a better price? The answer is not definite. Online shopping usually provides a lower price; however, most items do require the purchaser to pay for shipping. Fortunately, a large amount of chain store sites, such as Wal-mart.com, are now offering free in-store pick-up on many of their items. Some web sites even have free shipping on certain items. Online auction sites, such as Ebay.com and, allow shoppers to place bids on a huge variety of new and used items in hopes of obtaining a better bargain than can be found in stores and on other websites. With traditional brick-and-mortar shopping, you do not have to consider paying
Consumers are making purchases daily. There are a number of occasions and reasons prompting people to shop. Special occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays all contribute to retail sales. Sustaining one’s daily life through purchase of food, clothing, personal hygiene products and cleaning products also contributes to the economy through commerce. How do most people like to shop? In recent years a new alternative to the traditional brick-and-mortar shopping, online shopping, has increased in popularity. “U.S. e-commerce sales grew from 72 billion U.S. dollars in 2002 to 228 billion U.S. dollars in 2010.” (“Online shopping,” n.d., para. 2). Why has there been such a large increase? Has online shopping increased in popularity because of the fact that people can buy everything from clothing, shoes, toys, and electronics, to personal hygiene items, and even groceries or cars online? Is online shopping better than traditional brick-and-mortar shopping? The better of the two is a matter of personal opinion and preferences. The purpose of the purchase also has a bearing on which method is preferred. Online shopping can provide its patrons with prices, products, and convenience comparable to brick-and-mortar shopping. Which option provides a better price? The answer is not definite. Online shopping usually provides a lower price; however, most items do require the purchaser to pay for shipping. Fortunately, a large amount of chain store sites, such as Wal-mart.com, are now offering free in-store pick-up on many of their items. Some web sites even have free shipping on certain items. Online auction sites, such as Ebay.com and, allow shoppers to place bids on a huge variety of new and used items in hopes of obtaining a better bargain than can be found in stores and on other websites. With traditional brick-and-mortar shopping, you do not have to consider paying