Online vs Physical Store Shopping

A recent Neilsen survey shows that online shopping is now the favourite (59%) shopping method for consumers. This has been trending upwards for several years. Generally, the approach favoured by shoppers has been using the online sites for research and then buying at the store. There is some indication in this survey that this is now changing. It indicates that shoppers are checking goods out in the store and then buying online in order to get a better price. An interesting development that retailers have noticed. No doubt they will watch their online pricing more closely to minimize the cannibalization of their store sales by online shoppers. On the other hand, the pricing differences may be viable because online selling carries less overhead with it - less need for staffing costs, for example. So there are issues for the retailers to consider before making drastic changes. In any event, it's an area of policy that warrants close attention. Here is a write-up on the Neilsen survey.