The Name of the Class
Do online and offline need to change?
Market growth of Internet commerce has changed the online and offline customers, now people increasingly rely on the Internet, and prefer to make purchases in the web. In addition, e-commerce has become a significant influence on the traditional sale. In the minds of consumers online and offline commerce are mixed gradually cease to compete and become mutually reinforcing process of shopping. Retailers should pay attention to the absence of multi-channel communication with customers because it can lead to a reduction in sales and the loss of market share retailer, since “a core group of shoppers seeking a relatively consistent and more demanding bundle of retail attributes: broad and deep product mixes with consistently low prices” (Ganesh, Reynolds, Luckett, Pomirleanu, 2010: 107). Internet sales for traditional retailers are necessary complement to the traditional channels. The most advanced companies have already grasped this trend and actively include online sales in the company's marketing strategy, knowing that, further, the higher will be the share of revenue from online sales.
Retail trade under the direct influence of countervailing factors internal and external environment, was drawn into the orbit of geopolitical and geo-economic issues. Changing the structure of consumer preferences and values led to the development of new forms of trading by enterprises require reassessment of marketing strategies in the field of communication and product policy toward individualization of relationships with customers (Keeling, Keeling, McGoldrick, 2013). In recent years the rapidly growing role of branding in promotion of goods led to the growth of competition at the level of both producers and retailers, which led to the need for in-depth study of the laws of choice of products consumers and their mentality, because “high-density retail environments (i.e., high number of objects within a given space) accentuate perceptions of retail crowding and result in negative emotions for task-oriented shoppers” (Mosteller, Donthu, Eroglu, 2014: 2487). This raises the need to study and assess the state of the retail direction of its development. Now many consumers refuse to purchase obsolete in favor of new products with greater customer value. The migration of consumers' preferences is particularly noticeable in the use of books, films on digital media, the Internet for purchases of goods, travel packages, interpersonal communication, and so on. The consumer demands the individual approach. However, the increasing integration of global and local styles of consumption.
Consumers have always preferred shopping in online stores, as a rule, for two reasons: firstly, due to the greater than in traditional stores, the assortment of goods, and secondly, because of the lower prices. Today, besides the already mentioned the main reasons why there are complex criteria such as ease of purchase, the ability to compare products and convenient form of delivery. Traditional retail is likely to be difficult to compete with online shopping is because of "physical limitations". Online stores started only on the Internet (without outlets in the traditional format), went the way of the development of traditional retail. Among them are hypermarkets selling, as traditional retailers, products of all categories and different brands, and there are shops that specialize on one product category. Thus, online shopping, in fact, repeated the traditional retail formats. Retail trade is not expected to increase turnover by online sales. The fact that buyers have access to more sales channels, does not mean that they will spend more (Melis, Campo, Breugelmans, Lamey, 2015). Simply, they will buy differently. At the same time we cannot speak about a simple redistribution of purchases from traditional stores to the Internet. The process of changing consumer habits is much more complex. However, today it is safe to say that, thanks to the emergence of multi-channel sales will be the consolidation of purchases a limited number of retailers who can offer the same high level of service across all channels to meet the growing requirements of customers. Therefore, everything will depend on customer loyalty. It is in this area companies need to focus their efforts. Most of the companies that is limited by the fact that they create their own pages with Facebook, which serve only to advertising and information platform shop, but for the purchase users will still need to go to the website of the company. In 79% of the 500 leading retail online stores have their own pageAbout Facebook, but only 12% of them have apps or widgets that allow for electronic transactions directly in social networks.
Many people have a lack of time, so they want to deliver them to the house and quickly served. Therefore, the high demand not only express services, goods and noodles. Now consumers have a need for trust. Consumer markets abound in counterfeit goods, the quality of many goods falls, as producers constantly have to deal with increasing costs of production and sale of goods. High-quality materials and components are replaced with cheaper analogues. Goods manufactured in Europe or the United States, are now being produced in Eastern Europe or Asia. Therefore, when buying consumers want to see the seller consultant, assistant and honest partner.
The need to build long-term relationships with customers to win their loyalty mean for online retailers that they need to think seriously about improving regional delivery. This, in turn, requires major changes to the multi-level logistics infrastructure, which is used by online stores. We are talking about a number of factors, such as the right design (and IT support) site, from which the purchase; "Online merchandising"; choosing the right location and a set of logistics services for the distribution center, from which the service; identification of regional courier companies, as well as the alignment of the return of the goods, which would be effectively integrated in the logistics system online store and is not repelled by the buyer to the brand store.
The turnover of online trading indicates good prospects for the industry of e-commerce. Online shopping faster will gain momentum and, no doubt, will significantly change the landscape of the retail businesses. From now on, no retailers nor consumers will not be able to stay away from the sales on the web. However, the online trade has outgrown the era of price competition. To ensure long-term success of online shopping you need to set a goal of another order: to become the most favorite and convenient points of sale to consumers. For this purpose it is necessary to consistently achieve three objectives:
• find out what are the most valuable customers, to understand their selection criteria, preferences, consumer habits;
• interest most valuable customers: to be where they can see you, and do everything that the first experience with online shopping has become for them a positive thanks to the best possible satisfaction of the basic requirements of customers, such as easy search, fast and convenient delivery, convenient return system;
build long-term relationships with the most valuable customers, using the loyalty program, the system of bonuses and discounts, as well as constantly interacting with them on social media. Digital technologies accelerate business development. Therefore, we must be ready for emergence of new models and formats of e-commerce, as well as to ensure that continuously improve and optimize its business model in accordance with the continuously changing conditions of business.
Bibliography
Ganesh, J., Reynolds, K.E., Luckett, M. and Pomirleanu, N., 2010. Online shopper motivations, and e-store attributes: an examination of online patronage behavior and shopper typologies. Journal of Retailing, 86(1), pp.106-115.
Floyd, K., Freling, R., Alhoqail, S., Cho, H.Y. and Freling, T., 2014. How online product reviews affect retail sales: A meta-analysis. Journal of Retailing, 90(2), pp.217-232.
Keeling, K., Keeling, D. and McGoldrick, P., 2013. Retail relationships in a digital age. Journal of Business research, 66(7), pp.847-855.
Melis, K., Campo, K., Breugelmans, E. and Lamey, L., 2015. The impact of the multi-channel retail mix on online store choice: Does online experience matter?. Journal of Retailing, 91(2), pp.272-288.
Mosteller, J., Donthu, N. and Eroglu, S., 2014. The fluent online shopping experience. Journal of Business Research, 67(11), pp.2486-2493.
