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USA:e-shopping at a click or wait till eternity at stores – the choice is yours! |
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2004-12-8
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Ever wondered how different e-shopping is from real world experience at a store?
Did you find yourself stuck in long queues at the recent Thanksgiving holidays?
Do you dread standing in lines - hours at a stretch to pick up Christmas goodies for yourself and your dear ones?
Don’t worry, you have options now! One is the usual way of trudging down the lane to the nearest discount store and wait till eternity for your turn to come, or save time and select your favorite gifts from online stores, at a click and pick it up later at your convenience, from the neighborhood retailer.
And retailers seek you both ways in order to ramp up business while the season is on!
Be it Wal-Mart or J C Penney or Sears. They bring out attractive catalogs that help customers pick up their selection of products in the store. The objects of favor can range from as shirt to television set or even a piece of furniture.
A great plus of the online system is instant gratification for all. Bring in your e-mail confirmation slip providing stock details and availability, credit card and personal verification (photo identification) detail, and pick you stuff from the separate online purchase counters that are available at most of the departmental stores or chain stores.
Besides, one gets free shipping or reduced rates and added bonus – no lines to stand in as retailers put up special counters for online shoppers. However, return of defective goods is of course for asking at most of the retailers and chain stores.
Surging popularity of online shopping does not deter retailers from attracting shoppers at their real-world stores.
Craig Stevenson at IBM says, "If you get a customer in the store and they start looking around, the chances of them buying additional merchandise are generally increased." Craig knows better as he is IBM’s worldwide marketing manager for Websphere commerce - software that enjoins online and real-world business.
Further, some retailers also find online shoppers dropping in to pick their merchandise and shop for more as they feel the need or follow their instinctive impulse to buy more.
On popularity front, 20 percent of retailers allow online orders and in-store pickup, with some even going to the extent of say about 35 percent being picked up in stores like REI. At Circuit City about half are. Best Buy, Sears and J.C. Penney do offer store-pickup options and so do many others.
But automation does not guarantee stores from maintaining track of their inventory. Unreported theft can fail computers from revealing true facts and it would be tough if the stores are closed, as confirmation would take longer than necessary whether a product is in stock.
All this and that unique sense of touch and feel is definitely missed by even die-hard proponents of online shopping before deciding to buy a product. |
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