Online Shopping: the Future
James Cimabue
Professor Berg
English 102
3/08/13
Online Shopping: The Future
Nowadays, a huge amount of shopping is done over the Internet. Everything we could possibly want to do from buying cars to CD players to household cleaning products, almost anything can be purchased online, often at a substantial savings. Recently I needed a calculator for my math class. Did I go to Wal-Mart or Albertson’s to purchase one? No, I chose online shopping for the many benefits. One of which was convenience. Why go to a store and hope that they have the right calculator, when I can go online and find exactly what I need for most likely a cheaper price and have it shipped and on its way to my house in less time it would take me to drive to the store? This is a problem that many brick & mortar stores are facing in this relatively new era of consumerism.
The internet has changed the landscape of consumerism since the creation of Amazon.com by Jeff Bezos in 1994, among other major online stores. Originally just an online bookstore, Amazon soon diversified by offering everything from DVDs and CDs to furniture and jewelry. The convenience of Amazon and similar online stores is definitely being felt by the traditional retail stores. Like RadioShack, who during the second quarter of 2012 had their sales of consumer electronics (Laptops and digital cameras) drop 27% and for the 5th consecutive quarter have posted a decline in their gross margins. (Loeb, Walter 2012) This is a result of, not only the convenience, but also the price transparency of shopping online.
If we are trying to buy a new printer, we can hop onto Amazon.com and find the perfect one for we, but is it a good deal? A quick Google search will tell us whether or not it is priced reasonably well. If it isn’t, Google can also direct us to other online stores with more reasonable prices. Compare that to the old or for some of you the current way of doing things: We go from store to store until we find what we
Professor Berg
English 102
3/08/13
Online Shopping: The Future
Nowadays, a huge amount of shopping is done over the Internet. Everything we could possibly want to do from buying cars to CD players to household cleaning products, almost anything can be purchased online, often at a substantial savings. Recently I needed a calculator for my math class. Did I go to Wal-Mart or Albertson’s to purchase one? No, I chose online shopping for the many benefits. One of which was convenience. Why go to a store and hope that they have the right calculator, when I can go online and find exactly what I need for most likely a cheaper price and have it shipped and on its way to my house in less time it would take me to drive to the store? This is a problem that many brick & mortar stores are facing in this relatively new era of consumerism.
The internet has changed the landscape of consumerism since the creation of Amazon.com by Jeff Bezos in 1994, among other major online stores. Originally just an online bookstore, Amazon soon diversified by offering everything from DVDs and CDs to furniture and jewelry. The convenience of Amazon and similar online stores is definitely being felt by the traditional retail stores. Like RadioShack, who during the second quarter of 2012 had their sales of consumer electronics (Laptops and digital cameras) drop 27% and for the 5th consecutive quarter have posted a decline in their gross margins. (Loeb, Walter 2012) This is a result of, not only the convenience, but also the price transparency of shopping online.
If we are trying to buy a new printer, we can hop onto Amazon.com and find the perfect one for we, but is it a good deal? A quick Google search will tell us whether or not it is priced reasonably well. If it isn’t, Google can also direct us to other online stores with more reasonable prices. Compare that to the old or for some of you the current way of doing things: We go from store to store until we find what we
Cited: 1. Loeb, Walter. “Is There A Future For RadioShack?” Forbes (Forbes.com) 26 July 2012. Web. 08 March 2013 < http://www.forbes.com/sites/walterloeb/2012/07/26/is-there-a-future-for-radio-shack/> 2. Indvik, Lauren. “U.S. Online Retail Sales to Reach $327 Billion by 2016 [STUDY]” Mashable (Mashable.com) 27 February 2012. Web. 08 March 2013 <http://mashable.com/2012/02/27/ecommerce-327-billion-2016-study/> 3. Bombourg, Nicolas. “Consumer Attitudes & Online Retail Dynamics in the US” Companies and Markets (companiesandmarkets.com) 5 July 2012. Web. 08 March 2013