Should all businesses go all E-Commerce?
Grace Han
Today, we live in a fast paced world where many people prefer online shopping over brick and mortar stores. A lot of companies expanded their business with e-commerce. It is convenient for the customer to shop online, but they will never have the same experience as going into an actual store.
E-Commerce is more demanding since Covid and our modern lifestyle.
Online sellers play a massive and growing role in the modern economy. As you can see in the graph below, an e-commerce business like amazon, their sales are increasing while the store based sale business decreases. Many brick and mortar stores closed down due to the pandemic, which resulted in a decrease of sales.
What would happen if we went all E-Commerce?
There will be an increase in returns for many online stores. Businesses will have more returns because customers cannot see the actual product until they receive the item. Another disadvantage that customers face with online ordering is that they cannot receive the same type of customer service as they would if they were at the actual store.
According to Forbes magazine, “to capitalize on this opportunity, retailers should focus on creating in-store experiences that inspire customers to keep coming back”. E-Commerce is convenient for a lot of consumers, however, they cannot get the same experience as going into a physical store.
Works Cited:
Whistle, Wesley. “Updated Heroes Act: Stimulus Checks, Student Loan Relief, And Money For Education.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 29 Sept. 2020, www.forbes.com/sites/wesleywhistle/2020/09/28/updated-heroes-act-stimulus-checks-student-loan-relief-and-money-for-education/.
Nicasio, Francesca. “Brick and Mortar vs. Ecommerce: The State of Retail in 2020.” Vend Retail Blog, 3 Mar. 2020, www.vendhq.com/blog/brick-and-mortar-vs-ecommerce/.
I completely agree with the idea that E-commerce can be helpful, and that fully integrating e-commerce into the economy and people’s lifestyles would do more harm than good, both for people and the economy. Especially due to the fact that e-commerce takes time to ship, and with a lot of products that people buy, they need them sooner than 3-5 business days. Especially when considering groceries or simple one-stop shopping, many people would be inconvenienced by a fully electronic economy. Buying one thing on amazon right now can take 5-7 days to ship for the standard shipping, and still 2-3 days for expedited shipping. Moreover, a full e-commerce based economy would absolutely destroy small businesses and mom-n-pop shops, which many consumers go to due to personal beliefs that prevent them from shopping at the larger, near monopolistic stores.
ReplyDeleteThere is no denying the fact that we are moving towards shopping online versus in stores. I agree that having both options is the best for a business, especially now with covid, in that supplying both options gives consumers more options. However, I think that some companies -- mainly to name Amazon -- are creating a whole monopoly around online shopping, making it hard for other companies to compete. I wonder if stores, like Target, will eventually go all online, and how that will affect the amount of consumers.
ReplyDeleteWhat stores would benefit most from eCommerce rather than keeping stores open? I would think that clothing stores would have benefits for both online shopping (for someone quick and if you know exactly what you want) and physics stores (to try on stuff) however for others it would just be simpler and cheaper (with rent prices) to just have a website. At work, I do a lot of Amazon returns and it actually results in sales for us (the shippers) as well. But if you decide to go to the physics store you would pay for gas and transportation, also resulting in sales from another industry. There definitely are lots of tradeoffs.
ReplyDeleteWhile yes having stores go all online would be cool there will be a lot of downsides. Especially grocery shopping. People like to pick and choose their food and get the best looking item in the store. If there isnt any way to pick what you want it would turn people away from grocery shopping online. Clothes shopping is almost the same story, it dosent fit or dosent match the picture. It just would not work today, but maybe in the future
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog post. I enjoyed how it was about something that isn’t always talked about (E-Commerce). I liked how you gave us some background on how the current economic issues such as COVID are impacting the E-Commerce world. You then went into why this would be a bad thing for our economy if we fully switched to E-Commerce and provided evidence and graphs that uspported that stance. Great overall blog!
ReplyDeleteIt’s interesting to see how for some businesses, e-commerce has been increasing in the recent future as brick and mortar stores have been closing down. Covid-19 did increase e-commerce sales since no one really went to actual stores for a while and businesses had to resort to selling online. A question I have is how many businesses will continue to heavily use e-commerce even after Covid-19 passes. Personally, I don’t think most businesses will ever go fully online. Many customers like the feeling of being able to inspect what they are buying and you can’t do that as well online. Another important aspect would be people who steal packages off porches. The amount of those crimes might increase to the point where an alternative is needed to deliver packages. Also, if you ever need something right away, you wouldn’t be able to get it since most online deliveries require at least a day or two to arrive.
ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting/important to note that the most powerful company in the world, amazon, is E-commerce and holds much control over the industry and influencing consumers decisions. In addition, Covid most likely made a large impact on E-commerce sales. Although with this increase, the unemployment rate has probably been affected in a negative way because less physical bodies are needed to be present at work when consumers switch to mostly online.
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of E-Commerce before so it was actually very interesting to read not only what it is, but how is can help the economy. I do know a lot of store that are strictly online, but not many stores that don't have a website to purchase their items. I think the combination of both does companies very well. I am not sure how most companies would do solely online, but there are some very well known companies that are and do very well. It will be interesting to see how the coronavirus plays into companies being online vs physical.
ReplyDeleteI love shopping online because it is way more convenient than driving to the store, but if stores started becoming all e-commerce I would definitely miss the experience of physically walking through stores. And you’re right, customer service is lacking when shopping online, and for all e-commerce businesses, there would be lots of products being returned. From the consumer perspective, a lack in customer service would seem like an inconvenience, but also, by not having physical stores, companies won’t have to hire people to run and maintain the stores. Instead, people working in customer service would be able to work remotely. Overall, I think it is important for people to physically interact, and having too many people work remotely will negatively affect the general mental health of citizens. We were able to experiment with working remotely during quarantine, but that was only for a few months, when prolonged to years of working in remote customer service for online stores, I think the lack of physical human interaction will be detrimental to people’s health.
ReplyDeleteI never thought about the general experiences that I get online versus in the store. I personally don't do a ton of online shopping, only around Christmas time usually. It is convenient, for sure. You can even order food online. If this industry continues to grow and we do end up going completely E-Commerce, what would happen to big restaurants like Taco Bell and McDonalds? Would they send ingredients and recipes to people like a monthly subscription? I don't think the world is just yet ready for going all E-Commerce.
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ReplyDeleteThis topic is especially interesting considering the complications with covid, and how that’s affected our shopping habits. While it might be good for some items to be ordered online, there are a lot of factors that go into in-person shopping. Businesses rent storefronts, so landlords expect businesses to make enough money to pay the rent. If shopping habits shift to mostly online, then malls, small businesses and landlords will all struggle. I agree that in-store shopping will and should prevail because, for many consumers, shopping is about the experience, not just the purchase.
I definitely do agree that more stores will be going online This means that companies don't need to worry about buying property. I also think, however, that walk in stores will not disappear completely. The tradition of a sit down restaurant probably won't go away. Although shopping is becoming more virtual, people will still want to meet other people.
ReplyDeleteYou chose a really interesting topic to write about. As technology has improved over the years, online shopping has significantly increased. Because of this increase in online shopping, there has been a decrease in shopping in actual stores. So, with this increase of online shopping having already started to take place before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I'm sure the amount of online shopping has increased by a huge amount. I think the quote you put in the last paragraph of your blog really sums up what stores should do. Instead of completely going online, they should start "creating in-store experiences that inspire customers to keep coming back".
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