Online shopping
The rise of the new millennium brought along with it the rise of the digital world. Every day, we see people on the streets busily talking to someone on the phone; inside cafes and coffee shops, we see people with their laptops on, doing something from work to academics. Sending and receiving an SMS (short messaging system) a couple of times a day have also become ordinary occurrences for most people. Technology has consumed our lives. These technologies range in form from plastic cards, computers, cars, engines and of course, to robots. Using the I. D. system for purchasing goods is not unheard of in countries like Japan and Australia.
The need for conventional methods like paying with paper money, posting a snail mail for someone and even dressing up and driving to the nearest mall to shop, are slowly being eradicated in our culture. The development of the World Wide Web has created lots of opportunities and new conventions for trade and commerce. Life became easier and more connective after the creation of web browsers. People were now able to communicate online and see people, products and happenings all around the globe. Online markets became the ‘in’ thing starting on the early 1990s.
One was able to shop for even the rarest of items around the globe, without even leaving his or her homes. These days, all you need is a computer, an internet connection, and a credit card and you’re ready to shop. Online shopping works much in the same way as regular shopping. Once a buyer finds an item he or she wants from the seller, the buyer will put this item on a virtual ‘shopping cart. ’ Some online retailers offer the use of shopping cart software to “allow the consumer to accumulate multiple items and to adjust quantities, by analogy with filling a physical shopping cart or basket in a conventional store.
A “checkout” process follows in which payment and delivery information is collected, if necessary. ” (Wikipedia) Consumers are enjoying the convenience of one-click shopping as online shops also grew in number, became safer, cheaper and more popular. In the recent global survey conducted by The Nielsen Company, “over 85 percent of the world’s online population has used the Internet to make a purchase, up 40 percent from two years ago, and more than half of Internet users are regular online shoppers, making online purchases at least once a month.
The Nielsen survey, the largest survey of its kind on the topic of Internet shopping habits, was conducted from October to November 2007 and polled 26,312 Internet users in 48 markets from Europe, Asia Pacific, the Americas and the Middle East. When The Nielsen Company conducted its first survey into online shopping habits two years ago, only 10 percent of the world’s online population (627 million) had made a purchase over the Internet. Within two years, this number has surged by approximately 40 percent – to a staggering 875 million” (Nielsen).
Online shopping has lots to offer to people. It saves us more time, it gives us more options, and some people even use online auction sites to sell their wares for more money. The number of sellers in Ebay. com grew in number due to their awareness that certain pieces of ‘junk’ in their homes can become treasure for others. Certain trends in consumer online shopping were also studied by the Nielson Company. “60% of online shoppers say they buy mostly from the same site, providing that online shoppers are uniquely loyal” (Nielsen).
This shows that most shoppers prefer to trust one seller they’ve had transactions before than to go about the web searching for other sellers. Most online shoppers also find their items of interest through search engines or just by surfing around the popular online shops. One in four respondents replied that personal recommendations or word of mouth also affects their seller preference. “Recommendations from fellow consumers – whether they are people they know or fellow online shoppers – play an enormous role in the decision making process.
“(Nielsen) It was found that books are one of the things bought most online. Clothes, shoes and accessories are also growing more popular in the eyes of the consumers. “About one fourth of travelers are also buying their plane tickets online because it is a quick and easy way to compare airline travel and make a purchase. ” (Wikipedia) However, music and other DVD media are the ones which have the highest online value sales in proportion with their retail sales.
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