Recent History Has Brought Us the Computer

Introduction

Brick-and-mortar businesses have tried to venture into the online markets in recent years. The reason for this type of business trying to find its way online is because of the loss of sales to the online businesses. We will at how these businesses affect each other. Why online shopping seems to be getting more popular and why payment options may be important to both online purchasers and brick-and-mortar purchasers.

Recent history has brought us the computer, Internet and even our mobile devices, which seems to have made lives hectic. This is forcing more and more people to look for ease and convenience when making purchases or looking for services needed in their daily lives and electronic devices are aiding in this search. The digital age has forced brick-and-mortar businesses to re-align their way of thinking to compete with their new foe, so that they may survive the shift in shopping trends.

The search for ease and convenience is driving all of us to look for the most convenient way to shop for everything from cloths to car insurance. This is the drive behind online retailers rushing to get the customers money. It is also the reason standard brick-and-mortar businesses are struggling to retrieve the money they losing to the online retailers (Rigby, 2011, p.66).

With online shopping customers are able to research products and prices quickly, allowing them to make shopping decisions based on the information found online and never have to leave the comforts of home, by having the items delivered to their doorstep. This type of shopping has been adding up through the years and is growing rapidly and accounts for $200 million in sales: This equals about 9 percent of retail sales. It may not sound like much but the percentage has increased from 5 percent just five years ago (Rigby, 2011, p.66).

Brick-and-mortar companies have to rethink how they approach the public so that they have a chance to draw the money back into the stores instead of losing it to online businesses. People are aware that they can make the trip to the store, find a parking space, go inside and then finally get to touch the product and ask questions about the product from knowledgeable staff within the business. To most of the younger generation this sounds like it takes too much time and effort, unless there is something else to make the trip worthwhile, such as the ability to have the new grill assembled and loaded into your vehicle: So that they may start grilling after a stop by the grocery store then home to unload the grill and fire it up. According to an article listed in The Economist titled "Clicks and Bricks" (2012) stated, "People in their 20s and 30s do about a quarter of their shopping online." (p.16). Leads in the direction that it is not the younger generation fueling online shopping, rather it is those of us in generation X.

The brick-and-mortar businesses have made an attempt to venture into the online sales and services approach to doing business to appease those taking their money to the online retailers. However, they are not willing to devote time, money and effort to make these areas seamless. If you ever explore Wal-Mart's website and compare it to their in-store options, the website is much more limited, but does allow in-store delivery free of charge. When we compare the