Shopping is the most talked-about term when it comes to modern-day citizens and netizens. The growth of the retail sector in India is the quickest in global terms. Indian customers are especially very conscious about their brands and products. When it comes to traditional shopping vs online shopping, a significant difference can be observed in the behavior of the consumers belonging to the present-day digital era.
Nowadays, with the boom of e-commerce, most consumers, especially youngsters preferably choose to purchase from an online store.
Traditional Shopping
This is a shopping process, wherein consumers purchase their desired products and brands by visiting a store. It can be any local stores nearby, or a big departmental store, like Big Bazaar, Spencer, and others. In this type of shopping, customers can directly check the product and feel it with their hands before engaging in a purchase. In other words, the end-consumers can directly visit a shopping center and decides to buy in cash or credit after actually seeing the product and selecting the same.
Online Shopping
This is an e-commerce shopping procedure, whereby customers directly purchase their favorite brands from a seller in actual time without the interference of any middleman. The entire process is done on a web browser using the internet, or in a mobile shopping application, preferably, in smartphones.
Traditional Shopping vs Online Shopping: What Are the Differences?
1. Genuineness
In traditional shopping, products are usually displayed in front of the customers in racks, so that the end-consumer can touch and feel them personally. Besides, there no chance of getting any fake products, as customers can see all brands in front of them. Thus, the advantage of purchasing products from real departmental stores is that products always speak for them. So, real products can be bought at the original price.
While, in the case of online shopping, the main disadvantage is whether the items that the customers want to purchase may or may not be a bona fide product.
2. Convenience
In shopping from departmental stores or markets, a lot of time is needed to be spent by consumers to get to the shop and purchase. Besides, for the customers who live in remote locations, and do not have access to internet connectivity, or do not possess a personal vehicle, traditional shopping may prove a good option. They can visit nearby stores locally to pick and pay for their desired products according to their choice.
Now, online shopping mitigates the constraints of shopping. It is a boon to all modern-day consumers, who do not have enough time to visit any local or departmental stores. They can indulge in a shopping spree from anywhere and anytime as they like. So, it is just an order-and-wait strategy in internet shopping. No need to visit any physical store. Besides, you can always add your desired items to the virtual wish list for a future purchase, subject to their availability.
Additionally, buyers might have to pay extra for shipping charges, but the convenience of home buying that they get is much more than the price of the product. This is one of the benefits of online shopping.
3. Security Issue
When purchasing in traditional stores, customers do not have to worry about security issues like online shopping. They buy their desired items and pay by cash, or debit or credit card. There is no tension of leakage of personal data, as such. But, in online shopping, the safety issue more or less persists. During online purchases, customers need to input their debit or credit card details to order a product. So, there can be a protection issue, like stealing of the individual’s card details by online hackers.
Hence, from this scenario, conventional shopping may be a better choice for customers. This difference between traditional shopping vs online shopping is one of the most sensitive issues.
4. Selection
Here, traditional shopping does not have the advantage, as in local and departmental stores, products can be inadequately stockpiled, as there may not be any easy substitutes for the products. Whereas, shopping through the internet has many options to choose from. Hence, due to the large selection criteria, high-value products can be easily procured. However, customers may sometimes choose to visit in-store, due to the reason for immediate shopping needs.
So, traditional shopping might have a plus point in this factor. However, the benefits of online shopping might find an edge in this criterion.
5. The aspect of Instant Purchase
In conventional merchandising, buying the desired product is just as easy as it seems. A customer visits his desired shopping outlet, select the merchandise, and pay the product’s price. That’s all, no more waiting for the courier to arrive, or delay in the package, which may be the case in an online buying option. Whereas, purchasing through the internet can have problems with package postponements, due to courier delays in various stages of the supply chain. Hence, this can be an advantage of the conventional buying method.
6. Obtaining Benefit from Direct Human Interaction
The last difference between traditional shopping vs online shopping qualifies the social interaction of humans.
Now, when going to shop online, there might be an option to speak to some representatives about the product, but the information they provide may not be sufficient. So, items may not have the same characteristics as described in the order. Besides, customers might have to wait longer to get help from an online customer representative, or through an email. While, in the conventional purchase, end-consumers can directly interact with the sales representatives in the departmental stores, and also local outlets, and learn about the attributes of specific merchandise more easily.
Besides, they can also interact with other shoppers, and observe their shopping habits. This will help them to gain a better shopping experience. Hence, traditional shopping maintains a bit more advantage in this criterion.
Eventually, both shopping techniques have their advantages and shortcomings, but their merits and demerits might result from the contrasting opinions held by the end-consumers.
