Online shopping describes the process of consumers purchasing goods and services over the internet. Online shopping can be considered a sub-category of e-commerce as it predominantly refers to business-to-consumer transactions while e-commerce includes a large business-to-business sector. Shopping online offers a wide range of advantages for consumers: it is often faster, cheaper and more convenient and the product range is virtually infinite, including clothes, books, toys, movies and music (both digital and physical) and even groceries.
Online shopping has become increasingly popular over the past decade.
U.S. e-commerce sales grew from 72 billion U.S. dollars in 2002 to 228 billion U.S. dollars in 2010. About one third of
U.S. e-commerce revenue was generated by travel and flight booking websites in 2010.
The largest share of online revenues were generated by to retail shopping websites however, which earned 142 billion U.S. dollars in 2010. A
2011 e-commerce market forecast predicted that online retail revenues alone would reach 269 billion U.S. dollars by 2015. Simultaneously, the
number of online shoppers in the U.S. is expected to grow from 140 million in 2010 to 170 million in 2015 according to eMarketer estimates.
The most popular online shopping website is Amazon.com. The website started off in 1995 as an online bookstore but soon started selling CDs, DVDs, and video games. Over the years, Amazon continued to broaden its range and is now selling electronics, toys and other products. Additionally, Amazon has built a digital content business, which it supports with its own range of
digital media consumption devices. In 2010,
Amazon.com generated more than 34 billion U.S. dollars in revenue, which means its revenue has more than doubled since 2007.
Usage statistics from online shopping websites in the United States reaffirm Amazon’s leading position. In the second quarter of 2011, Amazon's websites averaged 94 million unique visitors per month, compared to 22 million visitors to Target’s website and 17 million visitors to Best Buy's online presence.
Online shopping is especially popular during the holiday season as consumers wish to avoid crowded stores when shopping for Christmas gifts. The Monday after Thanksgiving has become the most important online shopping day in the United States. Taking the concept of Black Friday to the internet, e-retailers lure consumers with special "Cyber Monday" deals. In 2011, U.S. online shoppers spent 1.25 billion U.S. dollars on this day, making
Cyber Monday 2011 the biggest online spending day of all time.
Photo: Andrey Volodin, istock