In recent years, there has been a significant increase in online shopping compared to traditional in-store purchases. This trend has been steadily growing, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused a massive surge in online shopping, which has persisted even after the emergency period.
That’s because many individuals have come to appreciate the benefits of online shopping, and this trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down.
Let’s quickly compare in-store and online shopping, discovering what now makes the second option the most appreciated by consumers.
ADVANTAGES OF IN-STORE SHOPPING
- Tangible experience: Customers can physically see, touch, and inspect products before making a purchase decision.
- No shipping times: The purchased items can be taken home immediately.
- Easy refunds: if a customer wants to return an item, she/he can simply bring it back to the store where she/he purchased it and get a refund or another item in exchange; despite online refunds being more or equally time efficient, some customers might feel unfamiliar with the shipping procedure.
- Shopping habits: some customers might have rarely practiced online shopping and, being unaware of its advantages, would simply prefer to stick with traditional in-store shopping.
ADVANTAGES OF ONLINE SHOPPING
- Worldwide choice: Online shopping has no borders, allowing customers to expand their demands to the entire world. As a consequence, the supply variety is infinitely wider, as well as the chance of finding lower prices.
- Doorstep delivery: No need to take the car, drive from place to place, pay for gas, sit in traffic, and find a parking spot.
- No time restrictions: Online stores are available 24/7 and do not interfere with any customer’s daily or weekly schedule.
- Time saving: the overall shopping process is several times faster when done online, while also preventing wasting entire days in case you don’t find what you are looking for.
- No overcrowding: Customers are not affected by the stress that is often caused by hectic environments and long queues.
- Reviews and certifications: the expansion of online shopping came with sophisticated review and certification systems, which help customers to know the real reputation of an online store and its products.