Digital Landscape: An Analysis of E-Retailing Case Study Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the digital landscape's impact on e-retailing, focusing on the decline of traditional high street stores due to the rise of online shopping. It examines various business models, including 'clicks,' 'bricks,' and 'bricks and clicks,' assessing their sustainability and relevance. The report further explores the concept of omni-channel retailing, explaining its significance and how businesses can leverage it. It also delves into the popularity of online travel services and the advantages of distributing digitizable products electronically versus physically. The study highlights the challenges faced by physical retail outlets, the changing consumer behavior, and the need for businesses to adapt to the digital age to remain competitive, including the rise of brick and click model and the need for omnichannel approach for expansion.

RUNNING HEAD: THE DIGITAL LANDSCAPE
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Electronic Retailing
Case Study
Student Name
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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Task1: Does the growth in ‘online shopping’ mean the extinction of the typical ‘high street’ store?........2
Task2 Examine the various models; clicks, bricks, bricks and clicks and clicks and bricks. Which if any is
the most sustainable?.................................................................................................................................3
Task 3We are increasingly hearing the term Omni channel retailing what does this mean and how can
businesses exploit this new phenomenon?.................................................................................................4
Task 4 Why are online travel services such a popular Internet application? Why do so many web sites
provide free travel information?.................................................................................................................4
Task 5 Compare the advantages and disadvantages of distributing digitizable products electronically
versus physically?........................................................................................................................................5
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................6
References...................................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
E-Commerce is selling and buying goods through the online platform or over the internet. The
platform provides the opportunities to do buying and selling for the business purpose or to
encourage retail sales directly to the customers by eliminating the middleman (Linzbach, et al.,
2019). The growth of e-commerce sector majorly impact on the retail segment of the United
Kingdom as more than half of retail shops in UK will be vanished in upcoming years most
probably by 2030 and the e-commerce segment will capture approximately 40 percent market
share in UK in the upcoming years (Butler, 2019).
The assignment includes a deep view on the impact of growth of online shopping on the retail
street outlets in UK by understanding the various business models that are brick and click, brick
and mortar, click and click. Furthermore, the assignment describes the new phenomena of Omni
channel retailing and pros and cons of distributing the products through digitalized platform.
1.
The online shopping segment is affecting the high street stores as it is analyzed that the UK
streets are changing, the stores are closing, and sales are declining and fewer people are visiting
the stores for shopping. The decline in the number of shops resultant in disappearing of the local
jobs from the market and due to that employees in UK retail stores loss their jobs and that laid by
2.4% in 2017 (Somerville, 2018). There are chances that the high street may soon become
obsolete as both chain stores and independent stores feel the burden of the growth of online
shopping (Lissitsa & Kol, 2016). In last couple of years, the major retailers in the United
Kingdom closed their doors that were Woolworths in 2008, BHS in 2016 and Toys R us in 2018
and due to that closure 21,355 retail employees were laid off in 2018. This is happening as the
businesses are not able to understand the current business model and demand of the today’s
shoppers and all this resultant in failure of high street stores 48 businesses are in the category of
danger and 53 businesses made a loss in 2016 out of 200 large businesses. It is estimated that
online industry will be reach to £36.2 billion by the end of 2030 that will be approximately 63
percent as compared to current market share at 21 percent (Thomas, 2018).

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The Future of the high streets stores lies with the technology if the brands will use technological
innovation in their physical stores that will bring and engage more customers towards the retail
stores (Grewal, et al., 2017). Nowadays, people love to buy and sell online as it is easier and the
cheapest way for them. Traders sell the stock at competitive price by comparing it with others in
online platform whereas customers also purchase at the best affordable price by comparing it
with different retailers at the same time in a click. So high street stores need to adapt the changes
as soon as possible to compete in this digital age with the online retailers otherwise the retail
segment or retail stores will face challenges that will be difficult to overcome in near future.
2.
Business model includes clicks that means when a business has only presence in the online
platform. Bricks means when a business has physical presence or stores and there is no way to
buy a product through online platform. The most useful and significant business model is bricks
and clicks by which a business integrates both offline and online presence. The popularity of this
model is due to the excessive use of mobile application and increasing scope of the online
shopping in the market as brick and click model helps the businesses to fulfill the needs of online
as well as offline buyers (Herhausen, et al., 2015).
Click to bricks model is adopted by the companies to make its presence in physical form.
Amazon set up its first physical store and decided to step into the brick and mortar retail model.
That indicates that company is opting for clicks to bricks model which shows that retail stores
are also an important part to attract the customers who still believe in physical shopping rather
than online shopping (Barnard, 2016).
The brick and click model is considered to be the most suitable on as of now most of the
companies prefer to make their presence on multiple channels and through this model companies
are moving from brick and mortar model to brick and click model. The selling opportunities for
the company are not only limited to online and offline stores but expand to various other online
channels (Pauwels & Neslin, 2015).

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3.
Omni channel retailing is an integrated approach to commerce that gives a unified experience to
shoppers to buy across offline and online channels. Omni channel means presence of a business
to multiple channels so that customers get access to the products and services easily as Omni
channel platform shopping extends from brick-and-mortar to ecommerce marketplaces, mobile
applications and social media platform, onsite storefronts and retargeting (Birkin, et al., 2017).
Omni-channel as a philosophy is about offering reliable yet exclusive brand experiences to
multiple customers through aware touch points, including marketplaces, mobile application, and
social media and through brick and mortar. By opting for the Omni channel platform the
business get various benefits that are greater efficiency as there will be common database of
prices, offers and products all across the stores whether online or offline. Increased margins in
selling as selling strategy will change and also improvised communication that will be helpful in
fulfilling the demand of customers on time (Gao & Su, 2016).
The businesses are exploiting this phenomenon of Omni channel by expanding their businesses
to online selling and not only limiting it to offline stores. The concept of Omni channel is simply
means using multiple channels for offering products to the customers that may be through
partnering with the online sellers. The business can take advantage of this opportunity by
offering the products on websites, email and mobile applications. In the Omni Channel world,
businesses getting the best advantage by offering good experience to the customers and to make
the products accessible from different sources. Omni Channels includes branded stores and web
stores such as eBay, Amazon, and Wal-Mart (Rusanen, 2019). The concept is implemented and
controlled efficiently by the business or well established brands using the software to manage
their products information, online listings, queries and orders.
4
The travel industry has changed due to digital transformation, now most of the bookings are done
through online platform by the consumers. Today’s traveler demand has changed as they want
easy and immediate access to manage their trips in a secure and safe environment. Due to that
changing demand of the customers the online travel services become the most useful and
trending internet application as most of the travelers want personalized and customized packages

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and easy to go services immediately whenever and wherever they want (Haucap & Stuhmeier,
2016).
Due to e-commerce the travel industry has changed the way it works. Online bookings,
automation and accessibility make the online travel services affordable and accessible to the
customers and that is the reason behind the popularity of travel services on online platform. The
millennial demands more of these services from the businesses that make the services more in
demand and due to technological advancement the travel industry has been expanding.
The travel services provider give free information to the customers to increase their reach and
website traffic. The information on sites helps the company to attract more customers and to
build the brand image in the mind of the customer (Hall, et al., 2017). The travel websites
includes information like best hotels, vacation packages, flights availability, route plans, tourism
recommendations, weather report and travel guide. This strategy of the travel service provider
help in gaining the trust of the customers and that helps in increasing the market share and
customer base for the company.
5.
The product can be distributed through multiple platforms nowadays; this platform includes
distribution through electronically and by physical store. The online platform or distribution
through electronic platform has various advantages that are easy access to the websites by the
customers, lower cost and no physical handling by the customers (Turban, et al., 2017). Whereas
when products are delivered physically it increases the transaction cost for the business as well
as handling cost by the customer. It is beneficial for the customers as they go to physical store to
check the product and then buy it but in distributing through electronic platform the customers
are not authorized to check the product before delivery and sometimes there are issues when
product is delivered as digitalized products are riskier to check and reliable on. Digitizable
products are to be delivered through online platform that is beneficial rather than offline platform
as more physical space is saved and online transaction cost is lower as comparison to physical
distribution (Turban, et al., 2017).

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Distribution of product through electronic platform is beneficial for the businesses as well as for
the customers. The cost of per transaction for the businesses become low and on other side
customers can track their order easily and check the order update. Digitizable products if
distributed physically increase the handling cost for the businesses and customers also have to
visit the places or stores for buying the products that is more time consuming (Melacini, et al.,
2018).
Conclusion
E commerce take the current era and all this affecting the high street stores as most of the brads
are closing their physical stores and opting for the brick and click model. From the analysis of
the market in the UK it is known that expansion of online platform for shopping highly affected
the retail street stores in the UK and this leads to shift of the businesses to brick and mortar
model to brick and click model. The most suitable model that is applicable in the current
businesses is brick and click and well established brands are trying to adapt this change and
opting for Omni channel to reach the customers and to improve their experience. E- Commerce
also changed the way the travel industry works now most of the traveler use online travel
services and that make the online services popular. So the expansion of businesses to digital
platform is become the necessity in order to gain the competitive advantage and to fulfill the
demand of customers.

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References
Barnard, S., 2016. Retail or e-tail? Brick or click? Is e-tailing the ideal solution for all
industries?. The retail and marketing review, 12(1), pp. 89-91.
Birkin, M., Clarke, G. & Clarke, M., 2017. Retail location planning in an era of multi channel
growth. New York: Routledge.
Butler, S., 2019. Thousands of UK shops left empty as high street crisis deepens. [Online]
Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/may/02/thousands-of-uk-shops-left-
empty-as-high-street-crisis-deepens
[Accessed 25 June 2019].
Gao, F. & Su, X., 2016. Omnichannel retail operations with buy online and pick up in store.
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Grewal, D., Roggeveen, A. L. & Nordfalt, J., 2017. The future of retailing. Journal of Retailing,
93(1), pp. 1-6.
Hall, A., Towers, N. & Shaw, D. R., 2017. Understanding how millennial shoppers decide what
to buy: Digitally connected unseen journeys. Journal of Retail and Distribution Management,
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Haucap, J. & Stuhmeier, T., 2016. Competition and antitrust in internet markets. Handbook on
the Economics of the Internet, 96(2), pp. 183-210.
Herhausen, D., Binder, J., Schoegel, M. & Herrmann, A., 2015. Integrating bricks with clicks:
retailer-level and channel-level outcomes of online–offline channel integration. Journal of
Retailing, 91(2), pp. 309-325.
Linzbach, P., Inman, J. J. & Nikolova, H., 2019. E commerce in physical store: Which retailing
technologies add real value?. Marketing Intelligence Review, 11(1), pp. 42-47.

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Lissitsa, S. & Kol, O., 2016. Generation X vs Generation Y: A decade of online shopping.
Journal of retailing and consumer services, 31(1), pp. 304-312.
Melacini, M., Perotti, S., Rasini, M. & Tappia , E., 2018. E-fulfilment and distribution in omni-
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[Online]
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[Accessed 25 June 2019].
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