Online shopping

Online shopping is a form of electronic

commerce which allows consumers to
directly buy goods or services from a
seller over the Internet using a web
browser or a mobile app. Consumers find
a product of interest by visiting the
website of the retailer directly or by
searching among alternative vendors
using a shopping search engine, which
displays the same product's availability
and pricing at different e-retailers. As of
2020, customers can shop online using a
range of different computers and devices,
including desktop computers, laptops,
tablet computers and smartphones.

An online shop evokes the physical

analogy of buying products or services at
a regular "bricks-and-mortar" retailer or
shopping center; the process is called
business-to-consumer (B2C) online
shopping. When an online store is set up
to enable businesses to buy from another
businesses, the process is called
business-to-business (B2B) online
shopping. A typical online store enables
the customer to browse the firm's range of
products and services, view photos or
images of the products, along with
information about the product
specifications, features and prices.

Online stores usually enable shoppers to

use "search" features to find specific
models, brands or items. Online
customers must have access to the
Internet and a valid method of payment in
order to complete a transaction, such as a
credit card, an Interac-enabled debit card,
or a service such as PayPal. For physical
products (e.g., paperback books or
clothes), the e-tailer ships the products to
the customer; for digital products, such as
digital audio files of songs or software, the
e-tailer usually sends the file to the
customer over the Internet. The largest of
these online retailing corporations are
Alibaba, Amazon.com, and eBay.[1]

Terminology
Alternative names for the activity are "e-
tailing", a shortened form of "electronic
retail" or "e-shopping", a shortened form of
"electronic shopping". An online store may
also be called an e-web-store, e-shop, e-
store, Internet shop, web-shop, web-store,
online store, online storefront and virtual
store. Mobile commerce (or m-commerce)
describes purchasing from an online
retailer's mobile device-optimized website
or software application ("app"). These
websites or apps are designed to enable
customers to browse through a
companies' products and services on
tablet computers and smartphones.

History

History of online shopping

One of the earliest forms of trade

conducted online was IBM's online
transaction processing (OLTP) developed
in the 1960s, which allowed the
processing of financial transactions in
real-time.[2] The computerized ticket
reservation system developed for
American Airlines called Semi-Automatic
Business Research Environment (SABRE)
was one of its applications. There,
computer terminals located in different
travel agencies were linked to a large IBM
mainframe computer, which processed
transactions simultaneously and
coordinated them so that all travel agents
had access to the same information at the
same time.[2] At some point between 1971
and 1971, students at Stanford and MIT
used the internet precursor ARPANET to
make a deal to exchange marijuana, but
the interaction doesn't qualify as e-
commerce because no money was
transferred online.[3]

The emergence of online shopping as it is

known today developed with the
emergence of the Internet.[4] Initially, this
platform only functioned as an advertising
tool for companies, providing information
about their products. It quickly moved on
from this simple utility to actual online
shopping transaction due to the
development of interactive Web pages and
secure transmissions.[5] Specifically, the
growth of the Internet as a secure
shopping channel has developed since
1994, with the first sales of Sting's album
Ten Summoner's Tales.[6] Wine, chocolates,
and flowers soon followed and were
among the pioneering retail categories
which fueled the growth of online
shopping. Researchers found that having
products that are appropriate for e-
commerce was a key indicator of Internet
success.[7] Many of these products did
well as they are generic products which
shoppers did not need to touch and feel in
order to buy. But also importantly, in the
early days, there were few shoppers online
and they were from a narrow segment:
affluent, male, 30+. Online shopping has
come a long way since those early days
and – in the UK – accounts for significant
percentage (depending on product
category as percentages can vary).

Growth in online shoppers

As the revenues from online sales

continued to grow significantly
researchers identified different types of
online shoppers, Rohm & Swaninathan[8]
identified four categories and named them
"convenience shoppers, variety seekers,
balanced buyers, and store-oriented
shoppers". They focused on shopping
motivations and found that the variety of
products available and the perceived
convenience of the buying online
experience were significant motivating
factors. This was different for offline
shoppers, who were more motivated by
time saving and recreational motives.

Michael Aldrich, pioneer of online shopping in the 1980s.

English entrepreneur Michael Aldrich was

a pioneer of online shopping in 1979. His
system connected a modified domestic TV
to a real-time transaction processing
computer via a domestic telephone line.
He believed that videotex, the modified
domestic TV technology with a simple
menu-driven human–computer interface,
was a 'new, universally applicable,
participative communication medium —
the first since the invention of the
telephone.' This enabled 'closed' corporate
information systems to be opened to
'outside' correspondents not just for
transaction processing but also for e-
messaging and information retrieval and
dissemination, later known as e-
business.[9] His definition of the new mass
communications medium as 'participative'
[interactive, many-to-many] was
fundamentally different from the
traditional definitions of mass
communication and mass media and a
precursor to the social networking on the
Internet 25 years later. In March 1980 he
launched Redifon's Office Revolution,
which allowed consumers, customers,
agents, distributors, suppliers and service
companies to be connected online to the
corporate systems and allow business
transactions to be completed
electronically in real-time.[10] During the
1980s[11] he designed, manufactured, sold,
installed, maintained and supported many
online shopping systems, using videotex
technology.[12] These systems which also
provided voice response and handprint
processing pre-date the Internet and the
World Wide Web, the IBM PC, and
Microsoft MS-DOS, and were installed
mainly in the UK by large corporations.

The first World Wide Web server and

browser, created by Tim Berners-Lee in
1989,[13] opened for commercial use in
1991.[14] Thereafter, subsequent
technological innovations emerged in
1994: online banking, the opening of an
online pizza shop by Pizza Hut,[14]
Netscape's SSL v2 encryption standard for
secure data transfer, and Intershop's first
online shopping system. The first secure
retail transaction over the Web was either
by NetMarket or Internet Shopping
Network in 1994.[15] Immediately after,
Amazon.com launched its online shopping
site in 1995 and eBay was also introduced
in 1995.[14] Alibaba's sites Taobao and
Tmall were launched in 2003 and 2008,
respectively. Retailers are increasingly
selling goods and services prior to
availability through "pretail" for testing,
building, and managing demand.

International statistics
Statistics show that in 2012, Asia-Pacific
increased their international sales over
30% giving them over $433 billion in
revenue. That is a $69 billion difference
between the U.S. revenue of $364.66
billion. It is estimated that Asia-Pacific will
increase by another 30% in the year 2013
putting them ahead by more than one-third
of all global ecommerce sales. The largest
online shopping day in the world is Singles
Day, with sales just in Alibaba's sites at
US$9.3 billion in 2014.[16][17]

Statistics on online retail sales

Country % Retail Sales Online

United States 9.8%[18]

Canada 2.8%[19]

United Kingdom 20%[20]

Customers
Online customers must have access to the
Internet and a valid method of payment in
order to complete a transaction. Generally,
higher levels of education and personal
income correspond to more favorable
perceptions of shopping online. Increased
exposure to technology also increases the
probability of developing favorable
attitudes towards new shopping
channels.[21]

Customer buying behaviour

in digital environment
The marketing around the digital
environment, customer's buying behaviour
may not be influenced and controlled by
the brand and firm, when they make a
buying decision that might concern the
interactions with search engine,
recommendations, online reviews and
other information. In modern shopping
environments, people are more likely to
use their mobile phones, computers,
tablets and other digital devices to gather
information. In an online shopping
environment, interactive decision may
have an influence on aid customer
decision making, through online product
reviews and user-generated content,
typically provided through software from
companies like Bazaarvoice and Trustpilot,
or via social media.[22][23] This content,
which can include text or video-based
reviews, customer photos, and feedback,
is often displayed alongside products
being sold on websites like Amazon,
Target, and most other digital storefronts.

Subsequently, risk and trust would also are

two important factors affecting people's'
behavior in digital environments.
Customers consider to switch between e-
channels, because they are mainly
influence by the comparison with offline
shopping, involving growth of security,
financial and performance-risks In other
words, a customer shopping online that
they may receive more risk than people
shopping in stores. There are three factors
may influence people to do the buying
decision, firstly, people cannot examine
whether the product satisfy their needs
and wants before they receive it. Secondly,
customer may concern at after-sale
services. Finally, customer may afraid that
they cannot fully understand the language
used in e-sales. Based on those factors
customer perceive risk may as a
significantly reason influence the online
purchasing behaviour.[24]
Online retailers has place much emphasis
on customer trust aspect, trust is another
way driving customer's behaviour in digital
environment, which can depend on
customer's attitude and expectation.
Indeed, the company's products design or
ideas can not met customer's
expectations. Customer's purchase
intention based on rational expectations,
and additionally impacts on emotional
trust. Moreover, those expectations can be
also establish on the product information
and revision from others.[25]

In several studies, perceived value,

shopping style, and brand trust are the
main factors that affect online consumers'
decisions.[26]  The perceived value means
that people can compare the products and
prices online, bringing them the perceived
value of getting more benefits online than
in an offline store.[27] The comfortable
environment that online shopping brings
to customers can make consumers get
more perceived value.

Product selection
Consumers find a product of interest by
visiting the website of the retailer directly
or by searching among alternative vendors
using a shopping search engine. Users can
compare and evaluate products using
product information on the website, as
well on other websites such as websites
about product tests.

Once a particular product has been found

and selected on the website of the seller,
most online retailers use shopping cart
software to allow the consumer to
accumulate multiple items and to adjust
quantities, like 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
(although full credit card numbers, expiry
date, and Card Security Code,[28] or bank
account and routing number should not be
accepted by e-mail, for reasons of
security).

Impact of reviews on consumer

behavior
One of the great benefits of online
shopping is the ability to read product
reviews, written either by experts or fellow
online shoppers. The Nielsen Company
conducted a survey in March 2010 and
polled more than 27,000 Internet users in
55 markets from the Asia-Pacific, Europe,
Middle East, North America, and South
America to look at questions such as
"How do consumers shop online?", "What
do they intend to buy?", "How do they use
various online shopping web pages?", and
the impact of social media and other
factors that come into play when
consumers are trying to decide how to
spend their money on which product or
service. According to the research,[29]
reviews on electronics (57%) such as DVD
players, cellphones, or PlayStations, and
so on, reviews on cars (45%), and reviews
on software (37%) play an important role
in influencing consumers who tend to
make purchases online. Furthermore, 40%
of online shoppers indicate that they
would not even buy electronics without
consulting online reviews first.

In addition to online reviews, peer

recommendations on online shopping
pages or social media websites play a key
role[30] for online shoppers when they are
researching future purchases.[31] 90% of
all purchases made are influenced by
social media.[32]

Payment
Online shoppers commonly use a credit
card or a PayPal account in order to make
payments. However, some systems enable
users to create accounts and pay by
alternative means, such as:

Billing to mobile phones and

landlines[33][34]
Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies
Cash on delivery (C.O.D.)
Cheque/ Check
 Debit card
Direct debit in some countries
Electronic money of various types
Gift cards
Invoice, especially popular in some
markets/countries, such as Switzerland
Postal money order
Wire transfer/delivery on payment

Some online shops will not accept

international credit cards. Some require
both the purchaser's billing and shipping
address to be in the same country as the
online shop's base of operation. Other
online shops allow customers from any
country to send gifts anywhere. The
financial part of a transaction may be
processed in real time (e.g. letting the
consumer know their credit card was
declined before they log off), or may be
done later as part of the fulfillment
process.

Product delivery

Foodora's home delivery by bicycle in Tampere, Finland

Once a payment has been accepted, the
goods or services can be delivered in the
following ways. For physical items:

Package delivery: The product is

shipped to a customer-designated
address. Retail package delivery is
typically done by the public postal
system or a retail courier such as FedEx,
UPS, DHL, or TNT.
Drop shipping: The order is passed to
the manufacturer or third-party
distributor, who then ships the item
directly to the consumer, bypassing the
 retailer's physical location to save time,
money, and space.
In-store pick-up: The customer selects a
local store using a locator software and
picks up the delivered product at the
selected location. This is the method
often used in the bricks and clicks
business model.

For digital items or tickets:

Downloading/Digital distribution:[35] The

method often used for digital media
products such as software, music,
movies, or images.
Printing out, provision of a code for, or e-
mailing of such items as admission
tickets and scrip (e.g., gift certificates
and coupons). The tickets, codes, or
coupons may be redeemed at the
appropriate physical or online premises
and their content reviewed to verify their
eligibility (e.g., assurances that the right
of admission or use is redeemed at the
correct time and place, for the correct
dollar amount, and for the correct
number of uses).
Will call, COBO (in Care Of Box Office), or
"at the door" pickup: The patron picks up
pre-purchased tickets for an event, such
 as a play, sporting event, or concert,
either just before the event or in
advance. With the onset of the Internet
and e-commerce sites, which allow
customers to buy tickets online, the
popularity of this service has increased.

Shopping cart systems

Simple shopping cart systems allow the
off-line administration of products and
categories. The shop is then generated as
HTML files and graphics that can be
uploaded to a webspace. The systems do
not use an online database.[36] A high-end
solution can be bought or rented as a
stand-alone program or as an addition to
an enterprise resource planning program.
It is usually installed on the company's
web server and may integrate into the
existing supply chain so that ordering,
payment, delivery, accounting and
warehousing can be automated to a large
extent. Other solutions allow the user to
register and create an online shop on a
portal that hosts multiple shops
simultaneously from one back office.
Examples are BigCommerce, Shopify and
FlickRocket. Open source shopping cart
packages include advanced platforms
such as Interchange, and off-the-shelf
solutions such as Magento, osCommerce,
WooCommerce, PrestaShop, and Zen Cart.
Commercial systems can also be tailored
so the shop does not have to be created
from scratch. By using an existing
framework, software modules for various
functionalities required by a web shop can
be adapted and combined.[37]

Design
Customers are attracted to online
shopping not only because of high levels
of convenience, but also because of
broader selections, competitive pricing,
and greater access to information.[38][39]
Business organizations seek to offer
online shopping not only because it is of
much lower cost compared to bricks and
mortar stores, but also because it offers
access to a worldwide market, increases
customer value, and builds sustainable
capabilities.[40][41]

Information load

Designers of online shops are concerned

with the effects of information load.
Information load is a product of the spatial
and temporal arrangements of stimuli in
the web store.[42] Compared with
conventional retail shopping, the
information environment of virtual
shopping is enhanced by providing
additional product information such as
comparative products and services, as
well as various alternatives and attributes
of each alternative, etc.[43] Two major
dimensions of information load are
complexity and novelty.[44] Complexity
refers to the number of different elements
or features of a site, often the result of
increased information diversity. Novelty
involves the unexpected, suppressed, new,
or unfamiliar aspects of the site. The
novelty dimension may keep consumers
exploring a shopping site, whereas the
complexity dimension may induce impulse
purchases.[43]
Consumer needs and expectations

Internet consumers are self-conscious and

emphasize personalized consumption,
which makes the demand for online
consumption different. Online consumers
have different needs depending on their
time and environment. Even different
online consumers have different needs at
the same level of demand due to the
difference in income level and other
factors. Compared with the centralized
nature of traditional markets, online
consumption is more decentralized. In the
online consumer market, consumers have
a short decision time, a large variability of
consumer demand, a large number of
purchases, but a relatively small amount of
each purchase, a considerable mobility of
purchases, a strong substitutability of
goods, and a large elasticity of demand.[45]
According to the output of a research
report by Western Michigan University
published in 2005, an e-commerce website
does not have to be good looking with
listing on a lot of search engines. It must
build relationships with customers to
make money. The report also suggests
that a website must leave a positive
impression on the customers, giving them
a reason to come back.[46] However, resent
research[47] has proven that sites with
higher focus on efficiency, convenience,
and personalised services increased the
customers motivation to make purchases.

Dyn, an Internet performance

management company conducted a
survey on more than 1400 consumers
across 11 countries in North America,
Europe, Middle-East and Asia and the
results of the survey are as follows:

Online retailers must improve the

website speed
Online retailers must ease consumers
fear around security
These concerns majorly affect the
decisions of almost two thirds of the
consumers.[48]

User interface

An automated online assistant, with potential to enhance user interface on shopping sites.

The most important factors determining

whether customers return to a website are
ease of use and the presence of user-
friendly features.[49] Usability testing is
important for finding problems and
improvements in a web site. Methods for
evaluating usability include heuristic
evaluation, cognitive walkthrough, and
user testing. Each technique has its own
characteristics and emphasizes different
aspects of the user experience.[49]

Market share
The popularity of online shopping
continues to erode sales of conventional
retailers. For example, Best Buy, the
largest retailer of electronics in the U.S. in
August 2014 reported its tenth
consecutive quarterly dip in sales, citing
an increasing shift by consumers to online
shopping.[50] Amazon.com has the largest
market share in the United States. As of
May 2018, a survey found two-thirds of
Americans had bought something from
Amazon (92% of those who had bought
anything online), with 40% of online
shoppers buying something from Amazon
at least once a month. The survey found
shopping began at amazon.com 44% of
the time, compared to a general search
engine at 33%. It estimated 75 million
Americans subscribe to Amazon Prime
and 35 million more use someone else's
account.[51]
There were 242 million people shopping
online in China in 2012.[52] For developing
countries and low-income households in
developed countries, adoption of e-
commerce in place of or in addition to
conventional methods is limited by a lack
of affordable Internet access.

Advantages

Convenience

Online stores are usually available 24

hours a day, and many consumers in
Western countries have Internet access
both at work and at home. Other
establishments such as Internet cafes,
community centers and schools provide
internet access as well. In contrast,
visiting a conventional retail store requires
travel or commuting and costs such as
gas, parking, or bus tickets, and must
usually take place during business hours.
Delivery was always a problem which
affected the convenience of online
shopping. Additionally, the online shopping
industry has not only involved the concept
of providing convenience for customers
but also improved perceptions of social
inclusion.[53] However to overcome this
many retailers including online retailers in
Taiwan brought in a store pick up service.
This now meant that customers could
purchase goods online and pick them up
at a nearby convenience store, making
online shopping more advantageous to
customers.[54] In the event of a problem
with the item (e.g., the product was not
what the consumer ordered or the product
was not satisfactory), consumers are
concerned with the ease of returning an
item in exchange for the correct product or
a refund. Consumers may need to contact
the retailer, visit the post office and pay
return shipping, and then wait for a
replacement or refund. Some online
companies have more generous return
policies to compensate for the traditional
advantage of physical stores. For example,
the online shoe retailer Zappos.com
includes labels for free return shipping,
and does not charge a restocking fee, even
for returns which are not the result of
merchant error. (Note: In the United
Kingdom, online shops are prohibited from
charging a restocking fee if the consumer
cancels their order in accordance with the
Consumer Protection (Distance Selling)
Act 2000).[55] A 2018 survey in the United
States found 26% of online shoppers said
they never return items, and another 65%
said they rarely do so.[56] Merchants may
benefit from online shopping due to low
sales inventory pressure, low operating
costs, and the scale of operation is not
limited by the site.

Delivery

Especially in cases of large or heavy

products, delivery can be not only more
convenient but also not require having or
using a car. Not using or depending on
personal vehicles, which can have
substantial impact on the environment, to
travel to local stores can make online
shopping more sustainable than buying in
local stores if such are used otherwise[57]
(especially if items are bundled[57] and
delivery vehicles are electric and use
optimized routes).

Information and reviews

Online shopping is usually more

informationally rich than shopping at
physical stores traveled to and usually has
higher comparability and
customizability.[58]

Online stores must describe products for

sale with text, photos, and multimedia
files, and sometimes have features such
as question and answers or filters,
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. Some stores even allow
customers to comment or rate their items.
There are also dedicated review sites that
host user reviews for different products.
Reviews and even some blogs give
customers the option of shopping for
cheaper purchases from all over the world
without having to depend on local
retailers. In a conventional retail store,
clerks are generally available to answer
questions. Some online stores have real-
time chat features, but most rely on e-
mails or phone calls to handle customer
questions. Even if an online store is open
24 hours a day, seven days a week, the
customer service team may only be
available during regular business hours.

Price and selection

One advantage of shopping online is being
able to quickly seek out deals for items or
services provided by 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. Shipping costs (if
applicable) reduce the price advantage of
online merchandise, though depending on
the jurisdiction, a lack of sales tax may
compensate for this. Shipping a small
number of items, especially from another
country, is much more expensive than
making the larger shipments bricks-and-
mortar retailers order. Some retailers
(especially those selling small, high-value
items like electronics) offer free shipping
on sufficiently large orders. Another major
advantage for retailers is the ability to
rapidly switch suppliers and vendors
without disrupting users' shopping
experience.

Disadvantages

Fraud and security concerns

Given the lack of ability to inspect

merchandise before purchase, consumers
are at higher risk of fraud than face-to-face
transactions. When ordering merchandise
online, the item may not work properly, it
may have defects, or it might not be the
same item pictured in the online photo.
Merchants also risk fraudulent purchases
if customers are using stolen credit cards
or fraudulent repudiation of the online
purchase. However, merchants face less
risk from physical theft by using a
warehouse instead of a retail storefront.
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption has
generally solved the problem of credit card
numbers being intercepted in transit
between the consumer and the merchant.
However, one must still trust the merchant
(and employees) not to use the credit card
information subsequently for their own
purchases, and not to pass the
information to others. Also, hackers might
break into a merchant's web site and steal
names, addresses and credit card
numbers, although the Payment Card
Industry Data Security Standard is
intended to minimize the impact of such
breaches. Identity theft is still a concern
for consumers. A number of high-profile
break-ins in the 2000s has prompted some
U.S. states to require disclosure to
consumers when this happens. Computer
security has thus become a major concern
for merchants and e-commerce service
providers, who deploy countermeasures
such as firewalls and anti-virus software to
protect their networks. Phishing is another
danger, where consumers are fooled into
thinking they are dealing with a reputable
retailer, when they have actually been
manipulated into feeding private
information to a system operated by a
malicious party. Denial of service attacks
are a minor risk for merchants, as are
server and network outages.

Quality seals can be placed on the Shop

web page if it has undergone an
independent assessment and meets all
requirements of the company issuing the
seal. The purpose of these seals is to
increase the confidence of online
shoppers. However, the existence of many
different seals, or seals unfamiliar to
consumers, may foil this effort to a certain
extent.

A number of resources offer advice on

how consumers can protect themselves
when using online retailer services. These
include:

Sticking with well-known stores, or

attempting to find independent
consumer reviews of their experiences;
also ensuring that there is
comprehensive contact information on
the website before using the service,
and noting if the retailer has enrolled in
industry oversight programs such as a
trust mark or a trust seal.
Before buying from a new company,
evaluating the website by considering
issues such as: the professionalism and
user-friendliness of the site; whether or
not the company lists a telephone
number and/or street address along
with e-contact information; whether a
fair and reasonable refund and return
policy is clearly stated; and whether
there are hidden price inflators, such as
excessive shipping and handling
charges.
Ensuring that the retailer has an
acceptable privacy policy posted. For
example, note if the retailer does not
explicitly state that it will not share
private information with others without
consent.
Ensuring that the vendor address is
protected with SSL (see above) when
entering credit card information. If it
does the address on the credit card
information entry screen will start with
"HTTPS".
 Using strong passwords which do not
contain personal information such as
the user's name or birthdate. Another
option is a "pass phrase," which might
be something along the lines: "I shop 4
good a buy!!" These are difficult to hack,
since they do not consist of words
found in a dictionary, and provides a
variety of upper, lower, and special
characters. These passwords can be
site specific and may be easy to
remember.

Although the benefits of online shopping

are considerable, when the process goes
poorly it can create a thorny situation. A
few problems that shoppers potentially
face include identity theft, faulty products,
and the accumulation of spyware. If users
are required to put in their credit card
information and billing/shipping address
and the website is not secure, customer
information can be accessible to anyone
who knows how to obtain it. Most large
online corporations are inventing new
ways to make fraud more difficult.
However, criminals are constantly
responding to these developments with
new ways to manipulate the system. Even
though online retailers are making efforts
to protect consumer information, it is a
constant fight to maintain the lead. It is
advisable to be aware of the most current
technology and scams to protect
consumer identity and finances. Product
delivery is also a main concern of online
shopping. Most companies offer shipping
insurance in case the product is lost or
damaged. Some shipping companies will
offer refunds or compensation for the
damage, but this is up to their discretion.

Lack of full cost disclosure

The lack of full cost disclosure may also

be problematic. While it may be easy to
compare the base price of an item online,
it may not be easy to see the total cost up
front. Additional fees such as shipping are
often not visible until the final step in the
checkout process. The problem is
especially evident with cross-border
purchases, where the cost indicated at the
final checkout screen may not include
additional fees that must be paid upon
delivery such as duties and brokerage.
Some services such as the Canadian-
based Wishabi attempts to include
estimates of these additional cost,[59] but
nevertheless, the lack of general full cost
disclosure remains a concern.

Privacy
Privacy of personal information is a
significant issue for some consumers.
Many consumers wish to avoid spam and
telemarketing which could result from
supplying contact information to an online
merchant. In response, many merchants
promise to not use consumer information
for these purposes, Many websites keep
track of consumer shopping habits in
order to suggest items and other websites
to view. Brick-and-mortar stores also
collect consumer information. Some ask
for a shopper's address and phone number
at checkout, though consumers may
refuse to provide it. Many larger stores use
the address information encoded on
consumers' credit cards (often without
their knowledge) to add them to a catalog
mailing list. This information is obviously
not accessible to the merchant when
paying in cash or through a bank (money
transfer, in which case there is also proof
of payment).

Product suitability
Many successful purely virtual companies
deal with digital products, (including
information storage, retrieval, and
modification), music, movies, office
supplies, education, communication,
software, photography, and financial
transactions. Other successful marketers
use drop shipping or affiliate marketing
techniques to facilitate transactions of
tangible goods without maintaining real
inventory. Some non-digital products have
been more successful than others for
online stores. Profitable items often have a
high value-to-weight ratio, they may involve
embarrassing purchases, they may
typically go to people in remote locations,
and they may have shut-ins as their typical
purchasers. Items which can fit in a
standard mailbox—such as music CDs,
DVDs and books—are particularly suitable
for a virtual marketer.
Products such as spare parts, both for
consumer items like washing machines
and for industrial equipment like
centrifugal pumps, also seem good
candidates for selling online. Retailers
often need to order spare parts specially,
since they typically do not stock them at
consumer outlets—in such cases, e-
commerce solutions in spares do not
compete with retail stores, only with other
ordering systems. A factor for success in
this niche can consist of providing
customers with exact, reliable information
about which part number their particular
version of a product needs, for example by
providing parts lists keyed by serial
number. Products less suitable for e-
commerce include products that have a
low value-to-weight ratio, products that
have a smell, taste, or touch component,
products that need trial fittings—most
notably clothing—and products where
colour integrity appears important.
Nonetheless, some web sites have had
success delivering groceries and clothing
sold through the internet is big business in
the U.S.

Aggregation
High-volume websites, such as Yahoo!,
Amazon.com and eBay offer hosting
services for online stores to all size
retailers. These stores are presented
within an integrated navigation framework,
sometimes known as virtual shopping
malls or online marketplaces.

See also
Internet
portal
Drink
portal

Bricks and clicks business model

Dark store
Digital distribution
Electronic business
 Online auction business model
Online music store
Online pharmacy
Online shopping malls
Online shopping rewards
Package delivery
Personal shopper
Product tracing systems: allow to see
source factory of a product
Retail therapy
Types of retail outlets

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