In this new era, technology can be seen as a critical element that changing the retail environment radically; online shops have took over the bricks and mortar stores and became the most frequently used channel for customers to purchase products (Andreas, Parimal and Varinder, 2009). Internet shopping has had a significant impact on many categories in the high streets stores, customers are showing preference for ordering bulkier item such as books, hair care and wine online, to be delivered directly to their doors; however, these are not the only categories of goods that are affected, according to Walker Sands (2014), consumer electronics and clothing are seeing to be purchased online more frequently than before; it is believed that once the customers buy a category online, they became more comfortable and start doing it more frequently. .
Drivers for Increasing Online Spending.
There are a lot of reasons that makes people enjoy online shopping more than shopping in an actual store on the high street. According to PwC (2012), the top four factors given are: .
1. The 24 hours and seven days access to shopping .
2. Free or fast delivery.
3. Wide range of products from which to choose.
4. Reasonable pricing.
It is believed that the ease to access an online shop and the freedom given, being able to shop wherever and whenever is the main reason why the customers decided to shop online. Furthermore, according to PwC research (2011) retailers can gain an additional margin opportunity of 8% to 12% by offering free shipping, it is believed that customers are more willing the purchase online when they are offered a free or fast delivery for their products. Apart from this, it is suggested that the wide range of products form the Internet allowed customers to find the exact product they want more easily on the Internet stores, all they need to do is to type in the keywords on the search engine and they will find what they want.
