Online Shopping Sites: Virtual stores for the globe-trotter The traditional shopping methods of shopping at brick-and-mortar stores, large city malls are all slowly giving away to a more techno savvy system. The advent of technological innovations and the advantages of buying products and services from the comfort zone have paved way for the growth of ecommerce.
Irrespective of the well designed interiors of physical stores and the varieties available for the physical touch and feel therapy which pulls most customers, every store has a fixed time slot. The online shopping stores scores over the physical ones at this point. The online shopping portals are a boon to a generation who are more of a mobile workforce globetrotting most of the time. Time bound shopping for basic requirements or even gifts and flowers for the loved ones, becomes difficult option. The online shopping sites allow customers a real-time shopping experience wherein they can directly purchase goods and services from a vendor over the Internet. A form of electronic commerce, this is based on an e-store, web store, or virtual store with the likeness of purchasing products or services at physical stores. The growth of online shopping has promoted several websites to permit even the small and medium business vendors to make their presence on the web. One of the major benefits of India online shopping sites is that without much investment, the web presence gives the enterprises a global clientele. Taking cue from these most of the leading brands of consumer electronics, home furnishing stores, designer clothing, jewellery, sports gear brands have all opened their web stores on the Internet. With so much on offer on the web, the convenience, broad selection, and competitive pricing customers get attracted to these online shopping options. Designers of online shopping sites and the web store owners need to understand their customer for their success in business. As with any physical store, a user-centered design is critical, but it is all the more vital to understand customer wants and needs. Further, as compared to conventional retail shopping, customers expect the virtual shopping environment to be a more enhanced one with additional product information comparative studies and reviews and attributes of each product. With the world of ecommerce and online shopping opening up a number of online stores with secure payment gateways and cash on delivery options, the Internet plays the role of an online mall for the weekend window-shopping. Also read on - online gifts to India, Valentine' s gifts