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Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Shopping

Introduction

With the rapid global growth in electronic commerce, business are attempting to gain a competitive advantage by using electronic commerce to interact with customers (Gwo-Guang Lee & Hsiu-Fen Lin). Internet started as medium for information sharing and it has now become the biggest medium for selling goods and services (Online Shopping India, 2007). Online shopping began in the early to mid 1990’s (ESCTW, 2005). In 1994, the first online bank was opened and Pizza Hut offered pizza ordering on their Web page (ESCTW, 2005). People started reviewing products and then it became obvious that web can also be used for selling goods (Online Shopping India, 2007). The development of the online shopping market was rapid, but few places grew remotely as quick as eBay (ESCTW, 2005). While the internet becomes readily accessible, more consumers learn to look for product information from the internet prior to making purchases (Su-Jane Chen & Tung-Zong Chang). Online shopping is the process of purchasing and selling products or services over the Internet (ESCTW, 2005). With the help of Internet, now you can buy things online from the comfort of your home (Online Shopping India, 2007).

Advantages of online shopping

Convenience
Convenience includes the overall ease of finding a product, time spent on shopping, minimization of overall shopping effort (Schaupp & Belanger, 2005). Researchers identify convenience as a “fundamental objective” related to online shopping (Schaupp & Belanger, 2005). This is relevant to 72% of online shopper claim that they would rather surf online than go to retail store to attain information about product (Lokken et al., 2003). Consumers think that browsing an online catalog can be faster than browsing the aisles of a physical store. Because of convenience of online shopping, consumers can shop without limitation with 24 hours,...