Online shopping is without doubt the future of vast segments of the retail trade, even established high street stores have been forced to make the investment of a strong web presence due to the fear of being left behind. The names of once famous retailers who failed to spot the seismic change in consumer spending habits makes for sobering reading.
Yet the high-street retailer still has an edge in some ways, it manages to give the consumer a retail experience that the online store cannot. The experience of visiting a retail location where the business has almost complete control over the buying environment is very powerful. It subtly sells not only the products on sale, but also the ethos and values of the brand - a good example of this is the attention to detail a major store places on every element of their customer interaction.
If it sounds like the new online shops have their work cut-out, well that's only one side of the story. For all the ways in which they can't compete with a physical retail outlet they have one very powerful advantage - convenience. However, the online presence of a highly styled and sculpted brand can't control the surroundings and atmosphere of the location where the consumer is browsing their products - it could be a quiet office or busy internet caf�. So careful attention has to be paid to try and immerse the website user in as much of a retail experience as is possible, as you can imagine, this isn't the easiest of tasks. As much detail as is lavished on embellishments such as music and animated elements it's actually the small obstructions to the retail experience that cause most disruption to that coveted immersion. Any hiccups in the path from browsing to basket to checkout need to be ironed out.
Thought must also be given to the sometimes random path the user wants to take around the store. One example is the 'basket' page, many sites don't allow the user to click on the items in their basket to navigate to the individual product pages. This, although partially understandable due to the retailer trying to 'guide' the user to the checkout, can be very frustrating to the user that simply want to review a product description before purchasing.
So the online shop has some way to go, it has inherent strengths and yet suffers some easily avoidable weaknesses. There is no stopping the future of retail and with some care and attention it can be the effortless experience that both retailer and consumers want.
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