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Thursday, June 17, 2010

Better Understanding Of Online Sales

Better Understanding Of Online Sales


An online sale is the process where consumers go through
to purchase products, goods or services over the Internet.
An online shop, eshop, e-store, internet shop, webshop,
web store, online store, or virtual store evokes the physical
analogy of buying products or services at a bricks-and-mortar
retailer or in a shopping mall. An online sale is a type of
electronic commerce which is commonly known as
(electronic marketing) e-commerce or eCommerce, consists
of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic
systems such as the Internet and other computer networks
is used for business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer
(B2C) transactions.

Buying online introduced new ways of reducing costs by reducing
the number of staff needed. It is a more effective way of
getting products to people and spreading into different
demographic. In recent years, online shopping has become
popular; however, it still caters to the middle and upper
class. In order to shop online, one must be able to have
access to a computer, a bank account and a debit card.
Shopping has evolved with the growth of technology.
According to research found in the Journal of Electronic
Commerce, if we focus on the demographic characteristics
of the in-home shopper, in general, the higher the level of
education, income, and occupation of the head of the
household, the more favourable the perception of non-store
shopping. An influential factor in consumer attitude towards
non-store shopping is exposure to technology, since it
has been demonstrated that increased exposure to
technology increases the probability of developing favour able
attitudes towards new shopping channels.

Online shopping widened the target audience to men and
women of the middle class. At first, the main users of online
shopping were young men with a high level of income and
a university education. This profile is changing. One third of
people that shop online use a search engine to find what
they are looking for and about one fourth find websites by
word of mouth. Word of mouth has become a leading way
by which people find shopping websites. When an online
shopper has a good first experience with a certain website,
sixty percent of the time they will return to that website to
buy more. Books are one of the things bought most online.
However, clothes, shoes, and accessories are all very popular
things bought online. Cosmetics, nutrition products, and
groceries are increasingly being purchased online. About one
fourth of travelers buy their plane tickets online because it
is a quick and easy way to compare airline travel and make
a purchase. Online shopping provides more freedom and
control than shopping in a store. From a sociological perspective,
online shopping is arguably the most predictable way to shop.
One knows exactly what website to go to, how much the
product will cost, and how long it will take for the product to
reach them. Online shopping has become extremely routine
and predictable, which is one of its great appeals to the
consumer. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting
the website of the retailer directly, or do a search across many
different vendors using a shopping search engine. Once a
particular product has been found on the web site of the
seller, most online retailers use shopping cart software to
allow the consumer to accumulate multiple items and to adjust
quantities, by analogy with filling a physical shopping cart or
basket in a conventional store. A "checkout" process follows
(continuing the physical-store analogy) in which payment
and delivery information is collected, if necessary. Some stores
allow consumers to sign up for a permanent online account
so that some or all of this information only needs to be
entered once. The consumer often receives an e-mail
confirmation once the transaction is complete. Less sophisticated
stores may rely on consumers to phone or e-mail their
orders (though credit card numbers are not accepted by
e-mail, for security reasons).

Online shoppers commonly use credit card to make
payments, however some systems enable users to create
accounts and pay by alternative means, such as Debit card,
Various types of electronic money, Cash on delivery
(C.O.D., offered by very few online stores), Cheque,
Wire transfer/delivery on payment, Postal money order,
Reverse SMS billing to mobile phones, Gift cards and Direct
debit in some countries. Some sites will not allow international
credit cards and billing address and shipping address have to
be in the same country in which site does its business.
Other sites allow customers from anywhere to send gifts
anywhere. Once a payment has been accepted the goods
or services can be delivered by Downloading, Shipping,
Drop shipping, In-store pickup, In the case of buying an
admission ticket one may get a code, or a ticket that can
be printed out. At the premises it is made sure that the same
right of admission is not used twice.

Advantages include convenience, Information and reviews,
Price and selection. 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.
Online stores must describe products for sale with text,
photos, and multimedia files, whereas in a physical retail
store, the actual product and the manufacturer's packaging
will be available for direct inspection (which might involve
a test drive, fitting, or other experimentation). Some online
stores provide or link to supplemental product information,
such as instructions, safety procedures, demonstrations,
or manufacturer specifications. Some provide background
information, advice, or how-to guides designed to help
consumers decide which product to buy. One advantage
of shopping online is 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, online price comparison services and
discovery shopping engines can be used to look up sellers
of a particular product or service.


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