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Officetronics Shopping

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Benefits of online shopping
1. Bargaining power of consumers. They enjoy a wider choice
2. Supplier power. It is more difficult for consumers to manage a non-digital channel.
3. Internet increases commoditisation
4. Threat of new entrants. Online means it is easier to introduce new services with lower over-heads
5. Threat of substitutes
6. Rivalry among competitors. It is easier to introduce products and services to different markets
History

Online shopping pre-dates the internet/www, the IBM PC and Microsoft. It was invented in the UK in 1979 by Michael Aldrich of Redifon Computers. Aldrich connected a modified 26" colour television to a real-time transaction processing computer via a domestic telephone line and demonstrated online shopping.[1] From 1980 onwards he sold his systems in the UK with considerable success.

The world's first recorded B2B online shopping system was Thomson Holidays in March 1981.[2] The world's first recorded B2C was Gateshead SIS/Tesco in May 1984.[3] The world's first recorded online home shopper was Mrs Jane Snowball of Gateshead, England in May 1984.[4] During the 1980s online shopping was also used extensively in the UK and some parts of continental Europe by auto makers Peugeot-Talbot, Ford, Nissan and General Motors.[5] All these organizations and others, particularly in Financial Services and manufacturing industry, used the Aldrich systems. These systems operated over the switched public network in dial-up and leased line modes. There was no broadband capability.

In 1990 Tim Berners-Lee created the first World Wide Web server and browser.[6] In 1992 Charles Stack created the first online book store, Book Stacks Unlimited (aka Books.com), two years before Jeff Bezos started Amazon.[7] In 1994 other advances took place, such as online banking and the opening of an online pizza shop by Pizza Hut.[6] During that same year, Netscape introduced SSL encryption of data transferred online, which has become essential for secure online shopping. In 1995 Amazon expanded its online shopping, and in 1996 eBay appeared.[6].

Customers
In general, shopping has always catered to middle class and upper class women. Shopping is fragmented and pyramid-shaped. At the pinnacle are elegant boutiques for the affluent; a huge belt of inelegant but ruthlessly efficient “discounters” flog plenty at the pyramid’s precarious middle. According to the analysis of Susan D. Davis, at its base are the world’s workers and poor, on whose cheapened labor the rest of the pyramid depends for its incredible abundance.[8] Shopping has evolved from single stores to large malls containing many stores that most often offer attentive service, store credit, delivery, and acceptance of returns.[8] These new additions to shopping have encouraged and targeted middle class women.
In recent years, online shopping has become popular; however, it still caters to the middle and upper class.[citation needed] In order to shop online, one must be able to have access to a computer, a bank account and a debit card. Shopping has evolved with the growth of technology. According to research found in the Journal of Electronic Commerce, if we[who?] focus on the demographic characteristics of the in-home shopper, in general, the higher the level of education, income, and occupation of the head of the household, the more favourable the perception of non-store shopping.[9] An influential factor in consumer attitude towards non-store shopping is exposure to technology, since it has been demonstrated that increased exposure to technology increases the probability of developing favourable attitudes towards new shopping channels.[9]
Online shopping widened the target audience to men and women of the middle class. At first, the main users of online shopping were young men with a high level of income and a university education.[9] This profile is changing. For example, in USA in the early years of Internet there were very few women users, but by 2001 women were 52.8% of the online population.[9] Sociocultural pressure has made men generally more independent in their purchase decisions, while women place greater value on personal contact and social relations.