Holidays are fast approaching and online as well as brick-and-mortar stores are fighting for your business. Online shopping accounts for approximately seven percent of the U.S. retail sales and year over year online sales are increasing. Last year approximately 50 percent of shoppers looked into online buying. During the holidays e-commerce becomes a more powerful tool for the retailors. More and more people are carrying smartphones and it has become a convenient tool to compare prices while shopping in a traditional mall. The National Retail Federation estimates that online sales will jump to 16 percent of the $586 billion retail sales. Online sales behemoths include Amazon.com, EBay, Gilt Groupe and many others.
Traditional brick-and-mortar stores such as Macy’s, Nordstrom, J.C. Penney, Target, Sears and others are fighting back the surge in online marketers. They are offering matching prices and same day shipping and/or delivery to combat online marketers. Those who operated online sales separate from their store sales are meshing them. The 4,000 plus U.S. store locations of Wal-Mart are becoming distribution centers for its same-day delivery. Toys “R” Us allows customers pickup their online order at the nearest store location. J.C. Penny and others provide touch screens at stores to compare prices with others.