Oct 19, 2010

Is Online Shopping Killing Traditional Retail?By ZippyCart.com

The recent National Retail Federation (NRF) report about holiday shopping asked a question that is on everyone’s mind: is online shopping killing the traditional retail store? The NRF provided the following answer to this question:

Retailers know that many of their customers like to shop in a variety of ways. If they want to ship a gift directly to a recipient or shop at odd hours, they may choose to shop online. If they want to easily browse for gift ideas or touch merchandise before they buy, they’ll shop in a store. Most retailers do not care if customers shop in stores or online as long as they shop with them.

Some may say this is spot on, others may say it’s wishy washy, and still others may believe it’s way off base. This is because there is a trend going on in America that can’t be ignored anymore: more and more retailers are moving from the corner store in your neighborhood to the virtual world of online shopping.

Since 2001, the online marketplace has grown from $48 billion to $155 billion, and that growth is expected to continue with $173 billion this year and $249 billion by 2014. That said, last year’s earnings were only 7% of all retail sales in the country according to the NRF.

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