Online Shopping vs Retail Shopping

Dustin Fernandes
                                ST0008323
                            Business Strategy
                          Group Assignment
                                  Group 2
                                                          London SAM

Introduction
With the growth of the internet retail sector and the availability of almost all products on the internet for direct purchase it is becoming increasingly difficult for retailers to maintain their customers many retailers are looking at selling off their retail divisions and repositioning themselves as online retailers .U-link is one such company that has planned a future strategy to reposition itself as an online retailer of mobile phones. This makes it important to look into the advantages and disadvantages of this step especially since the CEO is strongly opposed to the suggestion of selling of the retail division as he feels the shop based approach to selling phones formed the original business model of the company.
It is broadly seen that the leading retailers in the mobile phone industry such as Phones4u or Carphone Warehouse use a multichannel retailing model where they operate from both the physical and online divisions ensuring they give the customer no reason to look anywhere else.
A side by side comparison of buying online vs. in a store..
In terms of customer urgency:
Online purchases require credit card, pay pal account or some other online financing medium, and the delivery time depends on various factors such as distance and holidays and mode of delivery chosen. Sometimes the wait can be endless. Retail is the easiest place to purchase a product if u have money. There is no waiting involved. In the mobile phone industry however, some customers need to be connected urgently...these customers prefer the retail outlets where all they need to do is carry their identity proof and a mode of payment such as cash or credit\debit card.Instead of waiting for delivery or the...