E-commerce has fundamentally changed the way you shop. What does retail look like today and what effects does e-commerce have on providers?
The starting shot: The history of online shopping
E-commerce as you know had its beginnings in the years 1994/1995. It was then that the Internet was opened up to business and the first companies were pushing to do business on the Web. Amazon was able to use this successfully and founded the first online department store. It is now one of the largest department stores in the world. To date, nobody has managed to catch up with this lead. eBay also entered the market shortly afterwards and for the first time made it possible for everyone to be able to offer their goods online with comparatively little effort.
Smart Shopper: Online trading today
In your time, it is natural to do business online. It is almost impossible to imagine a company without an online shop. But the Internet has also made it easier for customers to compare the prices of the providers with little effort. The competition increased as a result and the providers are fighting for attention and customers on the web. E-commerce has forever changed the way you shop.
According to studies, online retail will grow more in the future. Companies trade most of the music, entertainment media, computers, books and toys online.
Cross-border online trading is also growing. This enables manufacturers to market their products directly to consumers all over the world from just one production location, without having to rely on local intermediaries. The online retailers assume that they will generate even more sales in the future with sales abroad.
Smart Shopper: More competition and decreasing customer loyalty
The number of new providers and the transparency provided by comparison portals and price search engines also means that competition is increasing. Although sales are increasing, profits cannot keep pace, as a clear decline in margins is observed in many areas of e-commerce. Channel shopping is also a major challenge for retailers. Customer loyalty is low. Instead, customers jump from one online sales channel to the next. They aim of finding the best offer at the lowest price.