Bricks and Clicks
by: Joshua Ardelean
With the constantly increased technology in today's world, naturally we are given more and more options. For example, you can oddly enough do your grocery shopping from your computer, and purchase an iPod from China in just a couple of clicks. In order to stay competition, many firms are not only creating their own websites, but now online shopping is now becoming more and more common. In general, this brings in more business, it makes it easier to sell to customers, and it is much cheaper then having to make many different store locations. But questions obviously will always develop when such advanced processes are created. For example, what does this do for the customer? Do people now prefer to shop online rather then go to a physical store? Sure, its more convenient, but are they actually getting the products they need, and are they received in a timely matter? Not only that, but what exactly is it doing for the firm? Is this giving them a lower cost approach to doing business, or is this just conflicting in their way of business. Such questions must be answered, because are technology continues to grow, consumers and sellers must know what options of doing business are most beneficial. In this review, we will take a look at several different firms, evaluate their ways of doing business, and compare their online shopping to their store shopping set ups.
1. Nike.
The first company that I have chosen to take a look at is the very popular shoe company, Nike.
After visiting several shoe shoes that carry Nike, and visiting the Nike Factory stores, I started to see what would be advantageous in shopping at the actual stores. First off, it is much quicker in time. Instead of having to wait up to 3 weeks to receive your product, it is instantaneous. It's as easy as going down to the mall, and selecting your product. Another advantage is getting the right thing. Sometimes ordering shoes online can be very tedious. First thing is that some products look different online. You never physically get to hold the shoe, so maybe when you get it, it isn't what you actually thought it was. For example, maybe the coloring is different, or the material isn't of you liking. Also, some shoes are sized different. Maybe a size 10 is good for you with one shoe, but is small in another. You never actually tried on the shoe, so getting the right fit could be somewhat of an obstacle. But besides these factors, there are some clear advantages in shopping online at the Nike.com. First of all, the product line is much larger. Some stores may be limited in types of styles they carry, maybe because of the demographics of the area, but the online store has most every style. Not only that, but their inventory is much larger. Instead of having to deal with the physical store being out of a certain size, the online store has way more sizes. Not only this, but Nike does allow you to customize some products online. You can create your own color pattern for some shoes, or add your name along the sides for a certain price. But overall, I would still say that the physical store does have the upper hand. Reason being because you can physically see the shoes, and it is instantaneous. Instead of waiting weeks for the shoes to arrive, you can get them right away and wear them. Even though it is convenient shopping online, it really is more hassle paying the extra shipping charges, and waiting for them to arrive. So with Nike I feel the online store is a nice compliment to the actual physical store, but overall is not as effective.
2. Express Clothing store
Another great market that is constantly being purchased online is women's clothing. Express clothing offers online shopping to its customers as well different physical stores. The same advantages and disadvantages appear in Express as we saw with Nike. It is more convenient to shop at the store, since you can see the products and actually try them on. Shopping online does make shopping easier, as you can just click and buy. A nice thing about the Online option is that it does have a greater inventory. I recently had to buy a dress for my girlfriend for her birthday. She showed me which one she wanted at the store, but a week later it was gone. I called several different locations in hopes of finding it, but I was out of luck. As a last resort I looked online, and to my surprise, there it was. Instead of shipping it from some warehouse, they actually found a store that carried it, and it traveled to many different locations across the country until it finally reached me. This was a huge advantage, because it was a last resort. but if I could have found it in a store that would have been best. Reason being is because it cost almost 20% of the dress to have it shipped, and it took over a week to reach me. At express.com, they do offer a large variety of clothes, but I believe that the online shopping is better for finding a product that the store no longer carries.
3. Apple
The third different firm that I want to evaluate that has both a physical store and an online store is Apple. Obviously since the iPod came out Apple has become very popular. They have always been pretty big online, but now they are starting to develop more and more physical stores. The actually stores are not bad. They do carry most popular products, and it is very convenient to buy in person. Another nice feature is that you do have professionals that work there that can help explain some of the different technologies that not everyone understands. But this is an interesting situation where maybe the online store actually wins out. Reason being is that there are a lot more products and options online. Not only this, but you can actually personalize your product to fit your needs. With a large investment such as a computer, it is very nice to be able to get features that you need. For example, you can get more memory, a greater graphics card, or even a custom picture on the hard exterior. This is really nice to be able to do. Yes, it does cost more to do this, but with such a large investment anyway, it really is worth it. In the end, I believe that the online store wins for Apple, just because the features outweigh the cost and time factors.
As we continue to advance technologically, we can see how shopping will be more and more convenient. Today we can see a significant shift in power between shopping online, and shopping on the Internet. Most people do believe that online shopping is better for several reasons. First off its more convenient. Instead of having to waste gas and drive to the store, you can purchase items from your home, even at work or school. Not only that, but usually shopping online is nicer because you see a wider variety of product styles and colors, and availability is usually greater. Even though everyone feels it is so much better to shop online, there are still several large turn offs to online shopping. The largest factors are time and price. Instead of buying something in the store and taking it home the same day, you need to wait sometimes up to several weeks to receive your goods. Not only that, but to have your products shipped, you need to pay and extra fee and you would not have paid in the store. These alone elude most shoppers from purchasing online, but other complication such as online purchase returns and proper sizing can really stir some opinions. but overall, I believe online shopping is a great supplement to physical stores. It is a place to find more products, and can help if a product is sold out in the stores. But due to its disadvantages, I don't think it can fully take over brick and motor stores.
