The Death Of The Retail Store

In today’s world e-commerce is becoming more and more important. Recently I actually went into a bookstore to get something I needed in a hurry. The time it took me to get to the store and try and find what I wanted and get home was 60 minutes. The ironic part is I did not even walk out of the store with the book I needed because their online stock was wrong. I ended up jumping on amazon.ca and managed to order my book in all of two minutes.

My experience aside why do I think the retail store is going to die.

Their are several reasons:

1. Rent is expensive is retail malls. it is cheaper to have a warehouse in an inexpensive part of town and setup an operation to ship from their. A call center/order center can be setup in the same building.

2. Online shopping allows me to shop whenever I want. The Internet is always open – stores do close.

3. I hate lineups. If I shop online I do not have to stand in line.

4. It costs money to go to a mall. Gas needs to be in the car or public transit fare needs to be paid. If I do not have to leave my home, I can save money.

5. Online shopping is really an extension of catalog shopping. The premise is all the same and we as consumers have done catalog shopping for years.

6. Many companies now offer free shipping/discounted shipping to attract customers.

7. My time is worth money. Even if I am going to the mall I can me doing something more fun.

8. The mall shopping experience is awful – crowds/heat/trying to park/dealing with the noise. This is not my idea of fun.

9. Many Online retailers offer better pricing if you purchase offline.

Many people would pose the question – am I all talk. What did I purchase Online in the last week. To answer that I purchased books, computer parts, home accessories, electronic parts and even business supplies.

I do believe food and clothing stores will always exist. These are two types of items that I will always go to the store for. As for everything else I will continue to purchase items from the comfort of my home with less stress and more time for me. What do you think?