RETAIL SHOP VERSUS ONLINE AND DISTANT BUYING

Retail Shop versus Online and Distant Buying



Retail Shop versus Online and Distant Buying

Introduction

Electronic commerce involves the purchase and sale of products or services through electronic means. These electronic mediums include Internet and other computer networks. The use of electronic commerce and distant selling has revolutionized the way of shopping but it offers lesser protection than a retail platform (Malecki & Moriset, 2008). The term was originally applied to the execution of transactions through electronic means such as electronic data interchange. It began to focus primarily on the sale of goods and services via Internet, using electronic means, with the advent of the Internet and World Wide Web in the mid-90s. The purchases through distant forums are also on immense rise these days.

The amount of trade conducted electronically has grown extraordinarily since the spread of Internet. A variety of trade is thus stimulating the creation and use of innovations such as electronic funds transfer, the supply chain management, the Internet marketing, the online transaction processing (OLTP), the electronic exchange data (EDI), systems management inventory, and automated data collection.

The majority of electronic commerce involves the buying and selling products or services among individuals and companies, however, a considerable percentage of electronic commerce involves the purchase of virtual items (software and mostly derived), such as access to premium content to a website. Electronic commerce conducted between businesses is called Business-to-business or B2B. The B2B can be open to anyone interested (as the exchange of goods or raw materials), or limited to specific pre-qualified participants (private electronic market).

Benefits from Sellers' Point of View

The environmental benefits are made evident when the damages of purchasing online are compared with those of purchasing by some other means, such as retail. Such activity involves the same amount of computer and Internet use, as retail stores purchase from their suppliers, as well as a similar degree of housing and shipping of the products. On top of that, however, the shops must also be lit and air conditioned (Zook, 2005). Then one must take into account the additional use of fuel for the consumer to drive from their home to the store. Because the extra environmental costs in retail shopping are primarily the fault of the consumer driving to and from the store, Internet purchasing becomes a very appealing alternative to people who care about their impact on the environment but do not have the time or the means to walk or make use of public transportation to do their shopping.

Businesses are also starting to realize the benefits that could be brought both to themselves and to their customers. A study by the RAND Corporation found that the online bookstore Amazon.com will spend roughly half as much on energy as a single retail store per square foot of building space, and 16 times less per sale on upkeep costs. A separate research study compared the environmental costs of two identical DVD rental services. One was operating with a nationwide network of retail stores for rentals and returns. The other was operating solely in an online platform and processed its storage, rentals, and returns through three regional warehouses. The online store consumed roughly one-third less energy and produced two-fifths less ...