Introduction
E commerce is the process by which services and products are sold through an online process. Many brick and mortar stores also include ecommerce sites to bolster sales by making it easier for the customer to purchase goods for example from their smartphones. The ecommerce sites save the brick and mortar stores the costs of employees, real estate, and many other expenses.
The largest brick and mortar store Wal-Mart is an example of a brick and mortar store that also has a large ecommerce site. This past month Wal-Mart announced that it was closing brick and mortar stores throughout the United States and is moving more emphasis to its online operations .
E-commerce sales over the holiday shopping period received the only higher experience as the Wal-Mart stores did not fare as well as expectations and the holiday shopping experience was expected to perform . WalMart is on track to out play the giant in the ecommerce field, Amazon.
Amazon is the leader in the ecommerce retail space but Walmart’s total revenues are over $419 billion to Amazon’s $48 billion . The issue with Walmart moving so quickly is one of security. Large numbers of financial transactions are ripe places for hackers to steal sensitive financial information. In these times of major losses by hackers trying to bring down the economic viability of ecommerce, Walmart has to be certain that their site has the proper security to allow for a safe online shopping experience. People need to be assured of the security of the retailer to safeguard the online information and a rush into the ecommerce space may cause a information breach.
Personally, the Walmart stores are very quick to react to the threats that are inflicted in the brick and mortar space. They have not been publically hacked by the any news reports so that it appears as though the brick and mortar site is safe. Assuming that the same security will be in place for the online site, threats should be handled as they arise and Wal-Mart should be in a position to offer security to its customers.
References
Gagliordi, N. (2016, January 15). Walmart shutters Express stores as more growth plans shift to e-commerce. ZD-Net, pp. [online] http://www.zdnet.com/article/walmart-shutters-express-stores-as-more-growth-plans-shift-to-e-commerce/. Accessed january 2016.
Manjoo, F. (2016, January 16). Walmart's Evolution From Big Box Giant to E Commerce Innovator. Fast Company, pp. [online] http://www.fastcompany.com/3002948/walmarts-evolution-big-box-giant-e-commerce-innovator. Accessed january 2016.
