Retailers In Offline Stores Are Dying Because Of Ecommerce?

Upon observing the recent shopping behaviors amongst people one realizes that more and more people are turning to online shopping. Shopping on eCommerce platforms offers them benefits that attract them towards online shopping.

Major Reasons Explaining Why People Prefer Ecommerce

So the question arises if eCommerce is killing offline retailers. In short, it can be said that eCommerce is not killing offline retailers but it is making the market highly competitive for them.

Let us understand this in detail:

Increased Competition

Ecommerce is providing people with almost everything that an offline store would, along with additional benefits. It has made the shopping experience extremely comfortable for people. Therefore more and more consumers now order online instead of going to a brick-and-mortar store. However, physical outlets still exist and continue to open up at various places.

Ecommerce Might Be similar But Not Identical

Yes, e-commerce lets people go through the products on a webpage and place their order from the comfort of their homes but it also comes with its own share of problems such as an added delivery time. Sometimes people need a product immediately or they might just prefer to not wait after placing an order. Such people prefer going to offline retailers to make purchases. Also, it is impossible to see, touch, and feel the product as it is from a computer screen and there is always a chance of receiving something that doesn’t match your expectations. All this puts offline stores at an advantage over eCommerce stores.

Other Reasons Why People Prefer Offline Shopping

It isn’t just the delivery time involved or the inability to actually see a product that discourages people from offline shopping. There are more reasons why people continue to go to physical outlets. One of the reasons is their concern for safety. Paying online is not always very safe and people have been victims of online fraud. This is why people like making the purchase at a store where they know their card details would not be misused or they won’t be the target of a scam. Brick and mortar stores also do not have a minimum purchase policy to avoid extra delivery charges, unlike many online stores. Moreover, offline stores are an option for people for a fun day out where they could do more than just shop. This experience is not offered by eCommerce.

Keeping Up With The Changing Market

All this said, E-commerce is still creating a huge challenge for offline retailers and they need to come up with well-planned strategies to increase the business and keep up with the changing market. They need to give new incentives to people to make them shop at offline stores. One great way that brick and mortar stores can adapt to the impact of eCommerce is by partly merging with them. This means that they could also start listing their products and services online and offer people the best of both worlds.

Ecommerce is not exactly killing the offline stores the reason being that they might be very similar to offline retailers but they are definitely not identical. There are benefits that come along with offline shopping and limitations to eCommerce that lets offline retailers strive in this changing market.

For instance, the fear of online fraud, the inability to look at the product you want, then waiting for the delivery, etc. are all the limitations that discourage people from eCommerce stores and attract them towards brick and mortar outlets to make their purchases. E-commerce has drastically changed the landscape of trading and created new challenges for offline retailers but it hasn’t created the danger of completely replacing them.