E-commerce is here to stay. It doesn’t matter if you live in Silicon Valley, in the Great Walls of China, or in a remote village in South America, you must have bought something online before. If you haven’t, well, you will surely do it soon.
The truth is that e-commerce is revolutionizing the way we shop. I mean, who doesn’t want his shopping cart delivered on his doorstep. Why go all the way to the mall when you can have your cart delivered to your home? This simple logic is what makes e-commerce a huge success.
According to the available statistics, over 62% of the consumers in the United States now shop online at least once every month. The data also showed that 8 out of 10 online shoppers are satisfied with their overall shopping experience. This report puts the number of purchases made online at 5% but that’s pretty huge considering it is worldwide.
E-commerce is, no doubt, growing very fast. It is breaking the traditional market. Nowadays, almost everything can be bought online; whether food, electronics, school utilities, and even love can be bought online.
A Shopping Revolution
E-commerce is not only changing our habit towards buying, it is also changing the way we sell. Most consumers will choose online store over physical store because of the convenience, time-saving factor, and even free delivery. There are many reasons why most shoppers are now choosing shopping online over physical shopping, and we are going to take a look at them in this article.
Below Are Ways E-Commerce Is Changing Consumer’s Shopping Habits:
1. Consumer Expect More
With the ease of comparing multiple stores in the comfort of your bedroom, most retailers are competing against one another to give the consumer not just the best product but at the most affordable price.
Since a consumer can check more than one store in just a few minutes, he expects to buy from a seller that is willing to give him the best value at the least price. But that’s not all; consumers are also looking for discounts more than ever. Since we expect these products to be delivered, most people expect the seller to offer incentives such as “free delivery” and will easily jump to a seller that offers this option.
2. There is Rise of Research Addiction
Before the internet, it was incredibly difficult to visit multiple brick-and-mortar stores before making your purchase decision. Thanks to the internet and e-commerce, today, we have “research junkie” consumers who want to do research for days before purchasing.
Most consumers are scouring the internet looking for best deals and discounts. This wasn’t the case before the internet, you either buy from the store closest to your house or you forget it. Fortunately, since we can now buy all the way from the other side of the world, consumers are researching more to see where they are going to get the best deals.
3. Consumers Are Smarter
It could be said that nowadays consumers are smarter than they were before the e-commerce era.
Thanks to the internet, consumers are now more educated. This makes it difficult for a brand to make big promises they are not ready to deliver. Most people would read reviews, ratings, and make research to know more about a product before buying.
With review sites, all sellers are made to be accountable for their product. This has indeed increased value customers enjoy when they purchase a product, this includes after-sale services.
4. Globalization
15 years ago, it is almost impossible to stay in the comfort of your bedroom in New York and other a product from a seller in China. If you need to do such transaction, you have to travel all the way to China to complete your transaction. E-commerce has changed this. No matter where you are, you can buy a product you want from the other part of the world.
5. Lower Prices
E-commerce is changing our shopping habits through digital distribution marketplace. Consumers are enjoying lower prices more than ever. One of the reasons for this is that the sellers are enjoying lower overheads which translate to lower prices for consumers.
Conclusion
At the moment, we are only seeing the beginning of e-commerce. A lot is going to change in coming years. Amazon is already working on delivering products with drones and also getting your order into your room even when you are not at home. We are going to witness more changes to the way we shop in the coming years, thanks to e-commerce.
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