Online vs Brick and Mortar Shopping

Online Versus Brick and Mortar Shopping

Andrew McVey

Com/170

11/25/2013

Dr. Shannon O'Day

Online shopping and brick and mortar shopping offer two vastly different ways to purchase items. Some similarities do exist between these two methods, but they provide very different shopping experiences. Some factors that must be considered include ways to receive purchased items, prices, item selection, forms of payment and convenience.

Online shopping can be very convenient as it can be done from virtually anywhere that has an internet connection. Consumers can also shop online from their mobile phones, since most new models have built-in web browsing capabilities and only require a cellular signal. Many brick and mortar retailers also offer online shopping to take advantage of this convenience. One convenience of online shopping that cannot be matched by traditional stores is that online stores are always open, 24 hours a day, every day of the week. Another distinct advantage of shopping online is being able to avoid traffic, crowds, and long checkout lines (Searle, J., 2008). While considering convenience, one thing to not be overlooked would be how much of a selection of items an individual retailer offers, whether in-store or online.

Available selection of items can be a huge difference between online stores and physical retail locations. Online retailers can generally offer a larger and more diverse selection due to a virtually unlimited amount of display space. They also have less chance of an item being out-of-stock since they can have items shipped directly from a manufacturer to a consumer. If an online retailer does not have an item in stock, the item can usually be back-ordered. Brick and mortar stores have to be much more dependent on local demand due to their...