Will Ecommerce Dominate Physical Retail in 2020?
The improvement in technology in recent times was always going to have an effect on different fields and industries. With more and more people getting into mobile devices and great internet connectivity, we have seen a lot of things getting done online in recent times. This has included shopping with the ecommerce industry growing steadily in recent years. Some of the best performing companies and businesses have posted great numbers on the back of their ecommerce side of their business. With lots of ecommerce platforms out there catering for various business sizes from big to small and mid-sized businesses. This has seen many businesses look to migrate into the ecommerce industry and the question that has been on many people’s minds is whether or not the growth of ecommerce will bring about the end of physical retail stores. As we enter 2019, this is a question whose calls are only bound to get louder and that is why this article will look to investigate whether or not ecommerce will dominate physical retail in 2019.
One of the factors that back up the claim that ecommerce will dominate physical retail in 2019 is the fact that online shopping comes with a level of convenience that physical retail can’t come close to matching. One can be able to sit in the comfort of their homes and not only shop for products and have them delivered, but also due to advances in technology in terms of artificial intelligence and machine learning as discussed in detail on tyguo.com, one can also be able to browse store shelves through virtual reality and choose the products you are looking for. The convenience and time saving aspect that comes with ecommerce is something that has made experts believe it could dominate physical retail in 2019. Another factor is the fact that it is much easier to grow sales on ecommerce than it is in physical stores. With all the features that are available to businesses in ecommerce from email, social media, pay-per click marketing among others, if one has a great product, then you will have all the tools required to grow your sales. These features are of course not as easy to integrate when it comes to physical retail stores.
Some of the features that come with the various ecommerce platforms such as same day shipping, daily usage item for the whole month delivery among many others also give ecommerce a great platform to dominate physical retail in 2019 since physical stores really can’t offer these services. Numbers also show that while there is still a significant percentage of people with no access to internet coverage, the number is set to decrease significantly in 2019 and that is why we have experts predicting that ecommerce is well placed to dominate physical retail in 2019 since increased internet connectivity should lead to more people available to shop online. The operational costs involved in setting up and running an online shop are also significantly lower than those of a physical retail store. With decreased operation costs to worry about, online stores are usually in a position to offer better and more services as opposed to retail stores which usually have bigger operation costs making many people likely to go shop on ecommerce platforms. It is also much easier to find things on online stores than on physical retail stores, with the trend set to be accentuated in 2019 with improvement in online search technology such as voice search.
There are many other factors that tend to support the claim that ecommerce will dominate physical retail in 2019, however, on the flipside there are other factors that should give physical retail owners hope in 2019. One thing that works in favor of physical retail stores is that customers shopping here are able to physically check for the quality of the items and try them out, something that is quite difficult as far as ecommerce stores goes. It is also easier for physical retail store owners to built stronger relations with their customers as they can physically interact with them as opposed to ecommerce stores. This enables them to built strong bonds and loyalty, as is covered in detail on tyguo.com. Another thing that works in favor of physical retail stores is that it is easier for customers to return faulty goods or exchange goods as opposed to ecommerce stores which is one of the biggest pain folks doing online shopping have. It is also worth mentioning that conversion rates are much higher in physical retail stores than it is in ecommerce stores where cases of cart abandonment are high. Most people going to shop in a physical retail shop are likely to carry out the purchase.
From the above it is clear that an argument can be made either for or against as far as ecommerce dominating physical retail in 2019. However, all in all it is clear that there is a shift from traditional brick and mortar stores to ecommerce and as such it is recommended by the experts over at tyguo.com that businesses adopt to the changing times.