The Battle Of Bricks And Mortar vs. Data And Electronics

Today, the world of business is split between two predominant forms – traditional bricks and mortar business, and online business through ecommerce platforms. Until recent years, traditional offline business was the king, while online shopping was only dreamt of, as almost everyone bought goods and services in physical stores.

People would purchase groceries at local supermarket, go to the bank to withdraw cash, go to a music store to buy CDs, and go to the high street to purchase new clothes.

In today’s modern world, however, you can order groceries using the supermarket’s online delivery service, withdraw and transfer money using online banking, purchase music through platforms such as iTunes, and even order clothes via online retail stores.

Just seconds of browsing through a price-comparison website like Shopping.fm can quickly give you access to the best deals on whatever product or service you might be interested in.

In short, the world of business is changing and traditional bricks and mortar establishments are arguably becoming less popular. Statistics point towards continued increase in online business. It is not out of the realms of possibility to envision a world where we can order everything we need online. In 2016, for example, in the USA, online sales rose by 12.2% whilst offline sales only rose by 3.3%.

The tides are certainly turning!

It is easy to see why online sales appear to be taking center stage. Firstly, online business has relatively low overhead costs in comparison to traditional bricks and mortar stores. To run a physical retail store you must pay rent and utilities on a building, purchase furniture and equipment, hire a team of staff, and potentially other labor costs such as cleaning and security, and of course all the other admin fees too.

In contrast, the costs of running an online store are limited to the management and hosting of the ecommerce store itself, shipping, and warehouse storage and accounts.

Secondly, an online store is available 24/7 – customers can literally access an online store at any time of the day. In contrast, offline stores are limited by opening hours and in most cases aren’t even open 7 days a week. This severely reduces the amount of potential business.

As you can see, there is a reason why online business is on the rise, and you can see further evidence in the infographic below:    

Credit URL: https://love.shopping.fm/online-vs-offline