Conveniences of online shopping:
Online stores are usually available 24 hours a day,
and many consumers have Internet access both at work and at
home. A visit to a conventional retail store requires travel
and must take place during business hours.
Searching or browsing an online catalog can be faster than
browsing the aisles of a physical store. Consumers with
dial-up Internet connections rather than broadband have much
longer load times for content-rich web sites and have a
considerably slower online shopping experience.
Some consumers prefer interacting with people rather than
computers (and vice versa), sometimes because they find
computers hard to use. Not all online retailers have
succeeded in making their sites easy to use or reliable.
In most cases, merchandise must be shipped to the consumer,
introducing a significant delay and potentially uncertainty
about whether or not the item was actually in stock at the
time of purchase. Bricks-and-clicks stores offer the ability
to buy online but pick up in a nearby store. Many stores
give the consumer the delivery company's tracking number for
their package when shipped, so they can check its status
online and know exactly when it will arrive. For efficiency
reasons, online stores generally do not ship products
immediately upon receiving an order. Orders are only filled
during warehouse operating hours, and there may be a delay
of anywhere from a few minutes to a few days to a few weeks
before in-stock items are actually packaged and shipped.
Many retailers inform customers how long they can expect to
wait before receiving a package, and whether or not they
generally have a fulfillment backlog. A quick response time
is sometimes an important factor in consumers' choice of
merchant. A weakness of online shopping is that, even if a
purchase can be made 24 hours a day, the customer must often
be at home during normal business hours to accept the
delivery. For many professionals this can be difficult, and
absence at the time of delivery can result in delays, or in
some cases, return of the item to the retailer. Automated
delivery booths, such as DHL's Packstation, have tried to
address this problem. There are sites such as
www.visitthebest.com that gives essential guide to top
shopping sites
In the event of a problem with the item - it is not what the
consumer ordered, or it is not what they expected -
consumers are concerned with the ease with which they can
return an item for the correct one or for a refund.
Consumers may need to contact the retailer, visit the post
office and pay return shipping, and then wait for a
replacement or refund. Some online companies have more
generous return policies to compensate for the traditional
advantage of physical stores. For example, the online shoe
retailer Zappos.com includes labels for free return
shipping, and does not charge a restocking fee, even for
returns which are not the result of merchant error. (Note:
In the United Kingdom, Online shops are prohibited from
charging a restocking fee if the consumer cancels their
order in accordance with the Consumer Protection (Distance
Selling) Act 2000.])
being able to quickly seek out deals for items or services
with many different vendors (though some local search
engines do exist to help consumers locate products for sale
in nearby stores). Search engines and online price
comparison services can be used to look up sellers of a
particular product or service.
Shoppers find a greater selection online in certain market
segments (for example, computers and consumer
electronics[21]) and in some cases lower prices. This is due
to a relaxation of certain constraints, such as the size of
a "brick-and-mortar" store, lower stocking costs (or none,
if drop shipping is used), and lower staffing overhead.
Shipping costs (if applicable) reduce the price advantage of
online merchandise, though depending on the jurisdiction, a
lack of sales tax may compensate for this.
Shipping a small number of items, especially from another
country, is much more expensive than making the larger
shipments bricks-and-mortar retailers order. Some retailers
(especially those selling small, high-value items like
electronics) offer free shipping on sufficiently large
orders.
Featuring stores
| Online Store: | Autoparts... | Apple Online Store... | ArmanieExchange... |
| Babies R Us... | Bare Necessities... | Barnes & Noble.. | Calvin Klein.. |
| Champion. | CircuitCity... | Clinique.. | CompUsa.. |
| Cuban Cigars. | e-Cost Superstore.. | ESPN Shop... | Exotica Swimwear... |
| Florsheim... | GigaGolf.... | GNC... | Forex-Exchange... |
| J & R... | KMart.. | Leee | Lego... |
| Microsoft Window Marketplace... | MTV.. | National Geographic | Nike Footwear |
| OfficeMax... | Vonage | One Hance Place... | Paris Hilton's Dollhouse |
| Petsmart | Smarthome... | Stamps Collecting... | Swiss Outpost and knives... |
| The Franklin Mint... | Tiger Direct... | Wolfgang Vault... | World Coins.... |
| .Yves Rocher... | 1800 Flowers. | 1800Petmeds. | |
Computers & Electronics
Dating
Looking for real singles? Find someone now on the world’s largest online dating network. FREE signup! Post a FREE ad w/5 photos, mingle in chatrooms, watch video intros , meet your soulmate! 1000 new photos posted every day. Meet someone NOW!