30 Sep
Did you know that in 2021 online retailers accounted for around 20% of retail sales globally? But that does not mean that brick-and-mortar stores are falling behind. Both retail and eCommerce have significantly contributed to business growth in recent years. Hence, eCommerce for retailers has become quite popular. Though you might consider retail and eCommerce to be similar, they are different. The way they sell to consumers varies and both have their benefits and limitations too. Let’s take a look.
About Retail Sales
Retail sales are made in brick-and-mortar stores. They include everything from small grocery stores to shopping malls and departmental stores. The retail store business model has a supply chain where the products come to the retailers via manufacturers, wholesalers, and distributors. Retailers are the last link of the chain that sells the products to consumers.
About eCommerce Sales
eCommerce sales are made digitally. It involves making purchases through online stores, apps, and social media. The eCommerce supply chain is generally shorter than retail. That’s because online sellers have more alternatives for stocking and shipping goods. Several online businesses are also opting for multi-store eCommerce platforms wherein they can manage multiple store sales from a single platform.
Retail vs eCommerce
Now that you know the difference between retail and eCommerce sales, let’s take a look at a few more differences between retail and eCommerce.
Here are a few differences between retail and eCommerce shopping for consumers.
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Shopping experience:
Retail, for consumers, means going to the stores, browsing items, completing purchases with the salesperson’s help, and taking the products home. Whereas, in eCommerce, customers can directly go to their favorite online seller, browse for products, compare, place orders, and wait for the products to get delivered.
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Customer support:
Retail stores have proactive customer support. The salespeople are always there to assist customers with shopping and checkout too. Whereas, in eCommerce, customers must find products by themselves, buy, and checkout.
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Convenience:
Online shopping is definitely more convenient. Customers need not travel to stores. They can find everything with a few taps on their smartphones. Moreover, eCommerce services for online retailers are making online shopping more hassle-free and less time-consuming than retail stores.
Now, let’s see the differences between retail and eCommerce from a business point of view.
Businesses choose retail or eCommerce based on what they need. They consider a few factors when deciding to purchase.
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Investment and cost:
Investing in a physical store is costlier than an online store. Retail stores involve overhead costs like utility bills, rent, stationery, etc. which makes them much more expensive than an online store.
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Operations:
Retail stores involve a lot of manual labor compared to eCommerce stores.
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Multi-channel sales:
eCommerce stores offer their products across different channels – social media, apps, and an eCommerce site. Whereas, retail stores offer products both in their physical store and online store.
Retail and eCommerce are different but similar too. However, they both offer different shopping experiences to customers. For the best retail store shopping experience, POS software is a must.
Are you into retail business?
Then you must try Hana Retail, the latest revolutionary pos systems for retail that is set to transform the way retail businesses operate. Created in a way to support a plethora of different businesses and industries, it allows you to customize the system to perfectly suit your special and unique needs. With amazing third-party integration, robust marketing support, a highly efficient inventory management system, and lots of more features to explore, Hana Retail is just the one tool that you need.
So, what are you waiting for? Give it a try now!
