Is traditional shopping on the verge of disappearance? With the rapid growth of online shopping, more and more buyers do not bother to go outside in order to shop, particularly when it comes to electronics, house appliances, and even clothing. While shopping for food still means going to an actual market or supermarket, online markets are becoming an option for people who do not have time for this activity either. At a first view, traditional shopping seems to be condemned to fade away, as online shops become more and more popular. From children to older individuals, everyone seems to know how to fill a virtual shopping bag today.
The interest in this topic sparkled when I realized that I had not gone to an actual shop for a while, except for buying one or two small things. I became so accustomed with shopping online, that I buy absolutely everything I need from the internet. From presents for my friends to a new telephone for example, everything is available on the internet. This is particularly frightening because it means less opportunities to go outside and socialize, it means less opportunities to use my senses in order to decide to buy a product or not, and more opportunities to spend countless hours on the internet, searching all over the web for a specific product that I may not even like once I see it with my own eyes.
The purpose of this research paper is to study traditional shopping in comparison to online shopping, and to determine which one is superior and why. While more and more users begin shopping online every day, traditional shopping continues to represent a separate type of activity, which offers many advantages as compared to online shopping. The thesis of this research paper is that, despite the flourishing of online shopping, traditional shopping will continue to have an important place in the society due to its additional functions as a social and therapeutic activity.
While online shopping is a new way of acquiring products, traditional shopping has been practiced for hundreds of years. Traditional shopping refers to shopping which occurs in physical locations, such as markets, supermarkets and malls. Shopping has been perceived for a long time as a pleasurable activity. As Backstrom (2011) showed, shopping has been acknowledged as a form of leisure activity, and researchers have engaged in determining the psychological effect on people who engage in this activity. Recreational shopping may have different purposes, such as allowing a person to disconnect from problems, to socialize or to interact with others. For example, in a study on informal social activities as a strategy of enhancing older women’s well-being, it was found that social shopping has a positive effect on these individuals, because it allows them to socialize with peers in a pleasant way (Kang & Ahn, 2014).
However, with the advent of online shopping, and with people spending more time at work, and less time with their families, traditional shopping has been denigrated as an activity which causes one to lose time. Ganapathi explains that, “Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly purchase products or services from seller over the internet using web browser” (p.123). As more and more people gained access to internet, traditional shopping has emerged as one of the most important activities that users perform online.
Online shopping is not only addictive, but it has become a gigantic industry, which aims to attract consumers of all ages by means of complex strategies and by focusing on its positive aspects. Children are not shielded from these practices either. Children today navigate on the internet independently, and can be easily deceived to purchase items that the family will have to pay for upon arrival. For example, in their study, Boulay et al. (2014) tried to determine the preferences of children under the age of 12 regarding sales channels, because “advertising and shopping are also part of their daily lives and even if their identity is not primarily based on consumption, they visit online stores” (p.1020). While children often accompany their parents to shopping, the difference is that most often, children are alone when navigating online, and they are easier to fell prey to online vendors. Apart from children, adults are also easily deceived by internet shops, particularly because researchers spend time trying to build buyer profiles, and to determine what kinds of products would sell easier on the internet. In a study which looks at the profile of online buyers, Lian & Lin (2008) tried to establish what kind of people are more likely to buy products online and how other buyers may be attracted, by being persuaded to belief that they are safe, or their personal information will not be disseminated.
Internet shopping is gaining in popularity because online vendors try their best to augment the benefits of this experience, and to diminish its negative aspects. As Jiang, Yang and Jung (2012) showed convenience and less time spent shopping was one of the most important reasons for which buyers reoriented towards the online environment. However, this study and others similar to it, leave from a mistaken premise, because individuals typically perceive grocery shopping for example, as a burden and a loss of time. Grocery shopping however is rarely conducted online. On the other hand, shopping for clothing or more expensive items is perceived in more positive terms. On the other hand, one negative aspect of internet shopping is the regret that people feel when the physical product does not measure up to its description. As one study showed, regret is more likely to appear after purchasing an item online, than by means of traditional shopping (Park, Hill & Bonds-Raacke, 2015). The authors recommended that marketers replace the sensory information that people miss while shopping online with more information on the product because higher cognitive effort minimized regret (Park, Hill & Bonds-Raacke, 2015). However, it seems unlikely that this will be successful, because no matter how detailed description is, it cannot replace the information provided by one’s own senses.
Despite the best efforts of online retailers, it is clear that traditional shopping is superior to online shopping, not only because it has an additional social component, and a therapeutic effect, but also because it is safer. One of the most important negative aspects related to online shopping, is lack of safety. According to Maic & Vojodic (2014), security and privacy concerns have become major issues for online retailers, who lose customers due to the perceived insecurity of the online environment. Furthermore, online shopping may also involve delivery delays, which can annoy customers, or may frighten them, believing that the product is lost (Liao & Keng (2013). These negative aspects of shopping are missing from the traditional shopping experience, where personal information is most often undisclosed, and where gratification is instant. Overall therefore, traditional shopping offers a superior and more complex experience, which cannot be replaced by online shopping. It allows people to socialize and disconnect from problems, to have physical activity and to use their senses when making a purchase, without the fear of personal information disclosure, product delays and post-purchase regret.
References
Backstrom, K. (2011). Shopping as leisure: an exploration of manifoldness and dynamics in consumers shopping experiences. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 18(2011): 200-209.
Boulay, J., de Faultrier, B. & Feenstra, F. (2014). When children express their preferences regarding sales channels Online or offline or online and offline? International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management 42(11/12): 1018-1031.
Ganapathi, R. (2015). A study of factors affecting online shopping behavior of consumers in Chennai. Journal of Management Research and Analysis 2(2): 123-126.
Jiang, L., Yang, Z. & Jun, M. (2012). Measuring consumer perceptions of online shopping convenience. Journal of Service Management 24(2): 191-214.
Kang, J. & Ahn, M. (2014). Enhancing older females’ psychological well-being through social shopping, social coping and informal social activities. Family & Consumer Sciences Research Journal 42(4): 341-357.
Lian, J. & Lin, T. (2008). Effects of consumer characteristics on their acceptance of online shopping: comparisons among different product types. Computers in Human Behavior 24:48-65.
Liao, T. & Keng, C. (2013). Online shopping delivery delay: finding a psychological recovery strategy by online consumer experiences. Computers in Human Behavior 29: 1849-1861.
Matic, M. (2014). Customer-perceived insecurity of online shopping environment. International Review of Management and Marketing 4(1): 59-65.
Park, J., Hill, W. & Bonds-Raacke, J. (2015). Exploring the relationship between cognitive effort exertion and regret in online vs. offline shopping. Computers in Human Behavior 49: 444-450.
