Online Commerce As A Multi Billion Dollar Industry

Online commerce was introduced to consumers in the mid-1990’s, and in the years since, it has grown exponentially. It started out virtually nonexistent and has become a multi-billion dollar industry. Nearly every retail sector has entered online commerce; clothing, electronics, home, health and grooming items, even food and groceries are starting to gain traction online. Online commerce sites rival traditional brick and mortar stores such as Walmart and Target, as well as other big-box stores. As online retailers such as Amazon continue to expand, many brick and mortar stores have been making their way online, indicative of an increasing movement towards online commerce. With more than 80% of the online population having made an online†¦show more content†¦When online commerce first emerged, many consumers were wary of supplying their credit cards and giving their personal information to online stores. This led to the development of websites such as Paypal, which rest ricts the access a retailer has to one’s credit card number (Einstein). The threat of fraud has always been a worry for online consumers, but consumers face the same threats when shopping in a brick and mortar store (Chadwick). Even though it might not seem like it, online commerce has multiple environmental benefits. Around 80% of the time, purchasing a product online reduces the amount of energy required to transport the product to the consumer. Online shopping removes the need for the consumer to travel by using postal carriers that optimize routes for fuel efficiency. In other words, much of the time it is more fuel efficient for a product to be shipped directly to a consumer, rather than for the consumer to make a trip to purchase it. When a product is ordered online, it is shipped directly from retailer’s or manufacturer s warehouse to the consumer’s front door. This removes delivery to the brick and mortar store, and the consumer’s subsequent trip to the store, saving energy. The amount of energy saved by ordering online is typically around 30%, but this percentage