Online Store Vs. Physical Store Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Online Store Vs. Physical Store - Assignment Example All products further fall into categories for different markets. For instance, music accessories are sorted by price range in order to direct buyers to products that are willing to spend certain amounts. With the online store, one has the opportunity of shopping through a personal account. Personal accounts allow one the comfort of shopping without worrying about carrying along a credit card or cash. This is made possible by the available options of saving one’s payment information. In addition to this, accounts offer the opportunity of receiving news about new offers and discounts from the company through emails. In a physical store, one only gets to learn about discounts through publicly placed advertisements that are temporary and dependent on one’s location. Online stores save an immense amount of time for shoppers. People do not need to queue in order to check out. Queues can become tediously long especially during peak times. Moreover, the time it takes for differ ent customers to finish shopping is unrelated to the amount of products bought. The process of checking out at the online store is simplified to a few clicks within the site’s pages. In addition to this, burden of travelling in order to make a purchase is eliminated. The Express.com online store, for example, ships products directly to the customer free on certain purchases. What does the ‘brick and mortar’ store offer that the virtual store cannot? When customers shop at a physical Wal-Mart store, they have the opportunity to select products that they need in their actual forms. Certain aspects about the product may instantaneously affect the choice to make a purchase. One may realize that the size or the appearance of a product is not precisely, what you would want if you were in direct contact with it. At the store’s website, one only gets the chance to select the product based on visual appearances displayed online. There is a possibility of purchasing something only to realize it does not precisely match your preferences. For instance, one cannot try to fit a new piece of attire at Express’s online store, but this is possible at the physical store. This, hence, means that there is a risk of purchasing a cloth that does not fit your size. Furthermore, one may not be able to seek immediate assistance from store attendants when shopping online. Questions about a product have to be sought independently or at a time cost if one chooses to make phone calls to consult the customer support team. This slows down the buying process. Shopping at the physical store also allows one to access products instantly as opposed to the online store, where shipment has to be made over a certain period. One has the chance to interact with other buyers at the physical store, as opposed to an online situation where there will never be a chance of seeing other shoppers. Such interaction with fellow shoppers can help in gaining information about ce rtain products, for example, when trying to choose an appropriate book. Again, some products are not deliverable to certain locations if purchased online, for example, groceries. Thus, it requires one to travel physically to the store. Finally, at the physical store, one has the additional option of using cash to pay for shopping bills. If shopping is online, the only options available involve electronic money transfers. What