Content
People aren't going to spend money unless they have all the information. With this in mind a phrase was coined "content is king", this basically means the more in-depth, detailed information websites will help support the buying process for consumers.It can also help encourage product usage.
Customization
Here the website provides different content tailored for different users. This can be done by the users buying habit. An example of this would be amazon
Community
This allow the consumers to discuss topics via chat-rooms, forums, blogs etc, it can allows possible consumers to get first hand reviews of products from other buyers, sometimes on a one to one basis.
Convenience
The pure ease to to see a product and buy it from you desktop or laptop at your fingertips 24/7 365 days a year. Ok there are some restrictions you can't have a test taste of any food you may buy over the internet, but you can read enough reviews to get a good idea whether or if it your type of thing or not.Also maybe you can't leave the house your tied you looking after kids, you still need to go shopping, online takes a lot of the hassle out of bring the kids along, it can also be good in times of sever weather. It can also take the pain out of Christmas shopping and some of the finance but we'll cover that later.
Choice
The web has vast array of sites to visit and stores to choose from. Look at sites like amazon, e-bay and play.com and the amount of products that they sell.So we can buy directly or we can go through third parties. Tesco.com have an interesting platform, they are giving their consumers a wide array of products (e.g. finance,travel,mobile phones,groceries etc) with more information than you can physically get in their stores, so it beg the question why shop in their physical stores? Go online.
Cost Reduction
If you walk into a store odds are you'll just have to settle for the prices, or walk or drive to the next type of store that stocks the product that you are looking for. With the internet you don't have that, its widely seen as a place as low-cost place of purchase and i can attest to that a just bought a game for my PlayStation 3 that is €59.99 in town for €34.99 on play.com. You will often get a good deal online as the trader has fewer overheads e.g lower staff and distribution cost.
You can compare the price of hundreds of different traders instantly with the click of the mouse.
Here is a video with a few advantages of shopping online some of which this blog has already talked about others that are common sense.
So what does all this mean, is the internet infallible?That we should just shop
online?Dead are the days of the high street shops? No There are also may disadvantage or challenges to to e-business. So what are these disadvantages that would act as barriers to consumers to adoption of the internet, we will examine them
Lack Of Security
Most payment is done via credit card/visa and may sites will also take down your personal details e.g name age, e-mail etc. What is their system is hacked all your details including your credit card/debit card is in someone else's hands,for example Sony PlayStation's network was hacked and
over 77 million peoples credit card information details was stolen, even with such a big company like Sony with all their security they were still hit, does this mean no-one is completely safe?Also some sites can be clones of others and ask you to enter you credit card/debit details to gain access to your cards. Sure new payment methods like Paypal and others have increased security but the threat is still there.
Lack Of Trust
A lot of websites ask you for a lot of details that seem a bit excessive, name address, e-mails, date of birth, mobile number, the list goes on, whats next blood type? This can make consumers very nervous and can also tie in with lack of security and fear that these details can get out, other just don't like to give out all this information period. Sites have improved on this however by asking these question periodically at different logins.
Deceptive Product
The product may look fantastic in the picture but what you can get may be a below par product. This is especially common in clothing items, thats why when buying them you must keep your confirmation slip as well as the image provided.
Transportation
This can looked at from a couple of different angles. If your ordering from outside the EU expect to pay a lot for transportation cost, some sites lay out the transportation cost out for you in black and white, whilst others have it almost hidden and you end up paying more than you intended. Then you have to add waiting time to it, this could restrict you to being house bound waiting on a package that may or may not arrive. Finally when that is all done it could end up in the wrong persons house or even the wrong country.
Here is a short video on some of the disadvantages of online shopping
So in a nutshell that is the opportunities and challenges a customer faces when thinking about buying online, but which way is the right one. the answer is, there isn't one. Both have great points and it is up to the individual to make his or her own mind as whether or not to buy online. Personally for me I will continue to buy online as for me the opportunities outweight the potential challenges.
Ref:Chp1 Intro To e-business and E-Commerce
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