The Rise of Online Shopping and Its Impact on Consumer Practice

This essay examines the profound impact of online shopping on consumer practices, highlighting its evolution from a novel concept to a dominant force in the retail market. It discusses the factors driving the growth of online shopping, such as increased broadband penetration, rising consumer incomes, and the convenience of 24/7 accessibility. The essay also explores the significant boost online shopping received during the COVID-19 pandemic, as consumers sought to avoid physical stores. It further analyzes both the positive and negative impacts of online shopping, including increased convenience, wider product selection, and competitive pricing, alongside potential drawbacks. The study concludes that the shift towards online shopping has fundamentally altered consumer behavior and reshaped the retail landscape.

SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT

Table of Contents
In what ways has the rise of online shopping impacted upon consumer practice?.....................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

In what ways has the rise of online shopping impacted upon consumer practice?
The present essay based on the topic online shopping that are impacting the practices of
the consumer, it is very common now a day for shopping via digital tools. It helps to direct buy
goods or service from seller all over the world with the help of internet. Some of the important
which were discussed in the essay such as human thinking for shopping online, how Covid 19
affect the normal shopping pattern which were more popular in the past (Ali, 2020). Also,
discuss the advantages and disadvantages of online shopping according to the current market.
The online shopping is one of the basic word which are used by everyone in the talks or
in action it is allow the consumer to buy the product or services via E-commerce application. For
the first time this is established by Michael Aldrich who is English entrepreneur invented online
shopping in the year 1979. At that time there were very less people aware about this because it
connected the system which are modified domestic TV into real time transaction by processing
the computer into domestic telephone line. This shopping pattern is took more than significant
segment which are related to retail market during the 21st century. When the personal computers
are increased in the market people are getting more ware about using it and then they realised
that online shopping are come up with different types of techniques (Cranfield, 2020). There are
some of the key factors which are boosting the online shopping sector by increasing the
broadband penetration. Also, when the income of consumer increases it helps to increase the
online shopping in order to using more android mobile phones.
Along with this, people are more prefer the online shopping as compared to as street
shopping or malls. People have less time to invest as well as at the same time people are
expecting to do online shopping while they were free, there is no fix time needed for the online
shopping because it provides 24 hours’ services. Moreover, because of Covid 19 people are not
wants to go in the markets for shopping at that time it increases by 30% as compared to last year.
People are conscious about their health while pandemic so that they choose beast option which
are more relevant for them for shopping (Pantano and et.al., 2020). Now a day there are
medicines that also available in Th online sites have wide option at the same place consumer are
prefer to buy online so that it can avoid directs contacting with the shopkeeper. Along with this,
the technology is more used while lockdown because all the students and employees have time
for spending on the social media whips help to attract people for buying the same products at the
time people are l8ike to buy the clothes at free time. There is large amount for the revenue

generated by amazon, myntra, Ajio, etc. The discount available at the sites which attract more
consumer at the same time it gives the facility of return or exchanged the product if not liked by
the customers. In the festive season consumer are waiting for getting big discount such as
Christmas comes with great deal at all the websites which attract more and more customer and
increased the sales by 30%. At this type of situation customer are aware of having benefit from
the festive season. On electronic the major discount seen because at that time suppliers are ready
to sale old stock and wants to create new one. There are terms and policies which are followed
by any company. Also, the pandemic help people in order to promote more and use of digital
tools for shopping. UNCTAD secretary general Mukhisa Kituyi said that this change helps to
recover the world's economy from the last effect. Also, he said that this is biggest opportunity for
all the countries to make high revenue from digitalisation this is the only way people can recover
from the pandemic. According to the consumer survey it has been showed that there are 6 to 10%
are online purchasing are increasing in the product category. The major products which are
purchased by consumers are electronics, gardening, ICT, pharmaceuticals, furniture, education,
cosmetics, clothing etc. These all are the essential products which were important in the
pandemic.
As per the above picture it has been clarify that this graph shown at some point of Covid -
19 or in the peak situation the average sales starts falling in per product category because at that
time people are more focus on spending only in the essential products such as eatable things or
groceries. The ratio is different as country to country but such as China and Turkey has the
weakest in order to engaging in e-commerce (TRAN, 2020). This is the enormous opportunity

that are help the people at the time of Covid-19. After this consumer habit are changed and
people are more focus on the online shopping as well as in the working hours’ people can shop
online from office which cans be most beneficial for them. Also, it helps to maintain the safety
of consumer and saves time. Along with this, there are many traditional retailers who were start
their business online in order to provide online services it helps then to generate more profit. The
product line is increasing online groceries shopping are more convenient for people. Further,
Walmart has increases its product line in grocery product line in the year 2021 (Ali, 2020).
It has been analysed that there is perception of people related to online shopping
are different because they are expecting to buy all kind of product at online. Such as groceries,
fruits & vegetable, books, clothing’s electronics, etc. It can be preferable for those who are not
wants to wait in the long que as well as they can avoid traffic or holding lots of racks while
shopping in the local market. Apart from this online shopping are more convenience because the
product of fuel is rising and it results people are avoiding using more auto mobile for buying
clothes and groceries (Helm, Kim and Van Riper, 2020). Availability of choices are more rather
than normal shopping because individual can use put the selected product in the favourite cart so
that they buy it later while it has discount, trending or other benefit.
There are some of the factors which are positive impact on the growth of economy by
online shopping such as consumer has built the new shopping habit because it helps to avoid run
in street or mall shopping which can be takes more time. When the quarantine ends people are
still addicted to that and cautious while go for shopping. Also, fruits and vegetable are easily get
through this so that it can be help for further category of product in order to buy online dairy
product or fruits and vegetable etc. Further, the growth of mobile devices is making easier in
context to browse online because they need one handed from device which are likely in hand or
pocket (Donthu and Gustafsson, 2020). The rapid growth in mobile devices are help to increases
the economic growth as well as people are getting more aware of using mobile for shopping.
According to strategy of omni-channel marketing it involves mobile, web, email or more
in this customer will appreciate more option in transact the business. It increases the competition
in the digital marketing in order to making their website more attractive because consumer is
attracting through website and they are expected to choose those products which are already on
the traffic website. Moreover, it has been analysed that the consumer is like to attract with those
application which are provide more offer and discount. There are large number of discount given

by Amazon in the pandemic or end of the year, so that it can help the manufacturer to sale their
old stock with discount. Consumer can buy the product in bulk so that they can sale the product
to the next consumer. So that they can start small business at home there are many women who
are inspire through small business in order to make handmade product according to the need of
consumer. Amazon has new website online giant for different product line such as whole or
natural food. The firm get better response from the customer side and opened retail stores in
several cities as Los Angeles, Seattle, New York etc. It helps to increase online as well as offline
presence so that customer can order online from the site and pick the product from stores.
Further, Alibaba is one of biggest online shopping website for China that provide wide variety of
products because in China not allowed other shopping sites that are not belong to the country.
Positive impacts of online shopping
The emergence of online shopping has made the consumers as well as the whole market
comfortable with ordering things online and getting it delivered at their doorstep. As consumers
do not have to get into long shopping queues and face traffic while reaching to shopping malls.
Instead, they get a wide range of products and services online with the convenience of their
homes (Akar and Dalgic, 2018). Earlier, consumers had to wait for at least 7 to 10 days in order
to get something delivered but now, brands like amazon are offering same day deliveries.
Therefore, now consumers don’t need to wait for long. Unlike shopping malls and market, online
portals do not have any opening or closing hours. Customers can access the websites and apps at
any time and from anywhere in the world (Bhatti, Saad, and Gbadebo, 2018). This has made
shopping experience quite easy for the working class people as earlier they had to wait for
themselves to get free from work and manage their time for the purpose of going to marketplace
but with the emergence of online shopping, it has become easy for them to shop at any time from
the comfort of their home or even workplace.
Online shopping has brought ease to its customers as now they can avoid shopping things
under pressure. Online shopping saves the consumers from unnecessary pitching of shopkeepers
and decides for themselves if they actually want to buy something or not. Online shopping also
provides the advantage of comparing the products from different brands online without the
feeling of being judged or pressurised for seeing something and not buying it. Most of the time,
consumers get a better deal while buying something online. That means, there is a better
availability of huge amount of discounts on online shopping apps and shopping portals as

compared to the local marke (Cao, Ajjan, and Hong, 2018). With the continuous advancement of
technology used for online shopping, it has become easy for the consumers to track and search
something online. Brands like Myntra, Zara, H&M, provides an option to scan and search. This
option allows the users to scan a picture of the product which they are looking. If the brand has
the exact same product, it will pop up but if they do not have the exact same product, it suggests
similar products. This save a lot of time of their consumers as they do not have go through the
whole category or products to search a single product.
Further, online shopping helps the consumers in tracking the location of the goods
ordered (Duarte, Silva, and Ferreira, 2018). Online shopping provides the consumers with a
tracking link that continuously shows the status of the goods. All of these facilities which are
being enjoyed by consumers has only been possible with the help of Online shopping.
Negative Impact of online shopping
Every coin has two sides. Similarly, as online shopping has a positive impact in the lives
of people, it has its own set of negative impacts too. There are a few problems which the
consumers face with the concept of online shopping. Consumers face troubles related to shipping
most of the time (Izogo, and Jayawardhena, 2018). Though, big brands make sure that the
product packed is default free, is correctly addressed and reaches the consumer as it is. But,
small brands which have recently set up their online platforms sometimes fails in meeting the
necessary requirements. Thus, consumers have to face issues with delivery processes as there is a
probability that the goods received might be damaged or not even delivered. Another issue faced
by the consumers related to delivery process is delay in deliveries. The strikes, lockdowns, and
lack of proper management affects the delivery process and results in a delay. Therefore, it is
difficult for consumers to trust online shopping in the times of urgency.
In online shopping, consumers face a feeling of discomfort as they don’t have the opportunity to
feel or touch the product (Nguyen, and et.al, 2019). This issue is mainly faced by the consumers
ordering apparels. Consumers also face troubles with the product received as sometimes, the
product is not exactly what it looked in the image on the shopping app or on the portal.
Therefore, people get confuse and get scared of ordering online because of the misleading
images and product details available online and not getting an opportunity to try the size, fit and
material of the garments. Under offline shopping, every information the consumer needs can be
cleared by interacting with the shopkeeper but this is not possible in the case of online shopping.

Consumers have to trust the description and the images available before them for the purpose of
making a purchase online.
Most of the small business owners offering their products online charge extra money for
shipping, providing cash on delivery and makes the process of returning the goods complicated.
Though, big brands include deliveries and returns both as a part of their services, but small
brands do not offer easy returns. They ask the consumers to return the goods by way of courier
services on their own. Thus, because of this hectic process, consumers find offline shopping
much easier than shopping digitally.
Shopping online is risky for consumers because of the increasing frauds. Various shopping
websites advertise their products online but do not offer the facility of cash on delivery (Rita,
Oliveira, and Farisa, 2019). For the same, the consumers have to pay online before even
receiving the package and the consumers do not have any option of checking the authenticity of
the website from which the goods have been ordered.
Thus, it can be concluded that online shopping has its own set of advantages as well as
disadvantages. But, in today’s era it is impossible for an individual to stay away from online
shopping even though it can be found risky in some situations. The only way to utilize the
benefits of online shopping without becoming a victim of the fraud is to shop only from those
apps and websites which are authentic and have high customer ratings.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
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contribution from social network theory. Behaviour & Information Technology. 37(5).
pp.473-487.
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shopping in Iraq. Economic Studies Journal. 18(42). pp.267-280.
Bhatti, A., Saad, S. and Gbadebo, S.M., 2018. Convenience risk, product risk, and perceived risk
influence on online shopping: Moderating effect of attitude. International Journal of
Business Management. 3(2). pp.1-11.
Cao, Y., Ajjan, H. and Hong, P., 2018. Post-purchase shipping and customer service experiences
in online shopping and their impact on customer satisfaction: an empirical study with
comparison. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics.
Cranfield, J.A., 2020. Framing consumer food demand responses in a viral pandemic. Canadian
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Donthu, N. and Gustafsson, A., 2020. Effects of COVID-19 on business and research. Journal of
business research. 117. pp.284-289.
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Helm, S., Kim, S.H. and Van Riper, S., 2020. Navigating the ‘retail apocalypse’: A framework
of consumer evaluations of the new retail landscape. Journal of Retailing and Consumer
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intentions for online shopping. The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics, and
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