Online shopping vs. Traditional shopping (comparison and contrast essay)
Elizabeth Marie Veira
A01153441
Traditional shopping vs. Online shopping
As it is known, technology has changed almost every aspect of human life, if not every single one of them. To be more specific, technological advances have had a huge impact on the way that shopping is carried out; thanks to this, now there exist two ways to do it: traditional shopping and online shopping. Shopping or traditional shopping is defined as “the action of visiting stores in search of merchandise” by The Free Dictionary. On the other hand, Business Dictionary defines online shopping as “The act of purchasing products or services over the Internet”. The intention of this essay is to explain these activities and compare them.
Traditional shopping is an activity that the human kind has been doing for a very long time. Going back in history, the bases of shopping started when humans started trading things. According to ThinkQuest, the first money was used over 2000 years ago. Fairs and markets were the first “shops” that appeared, but they were not estable; a few years later, shops began to be permanently established and got specialized in selling bread or meat, for instance. After that, grocery stores, markets and supermarkets appeared to make it easier for people to find everything in the same place.
Online shopping is a recent activity. It appeared in the 1990s aproximately, but was not very popular nor succesful at that time because technology was not available for most people. In the last decade, however, it changed and became very popular because of the impact that the success of technology generated. In 2012, U.S. e-commerce sales amounted to 289 billion U.S. dollars and the number of U.S. digital shoppers is expected to grow from 137 million in 2010 to 175 million in 2016, according to eMarketer estimates.
Online shopping and traditional shopping are often blended. Some consumers check online to find product info while shopping in-store. People that prefer online
A01153441
Traditional shopping vs. Online shopping
As it is known, technology has changed almost every aspect of human life, if not every single one of them. To be more specific, technological advances have had a huge impact on the way that shopping is carried out; thanks to this, now there exist two ways to do it: traditional shopping and online shopping. Shopping or traditional shopping is defined as “the action of visiting stores in search of merchandise” by The Free Dictionary. On the other hand, Business Dictionary defines online shopping as “The act of purchasing products or services over the Internet”. The intention of this essay is to explain these activities and compare them.
Traditional shopping is an activity that the human kind has been doing for a very long time. Going back in history, the bases of shopping started when humans started trading things. According to ThinkQuest, the first money was used over 2000 years ago. Fairs and markets were the first “shops” that appeared, but they were not estable; a few years later, shops began to be permanently established and got specialized in selling bread or meat, for instance. After that, grocery stores, markets and supermarkets appeared to make it easier for people to find everything in the same place.
Online shopping is a recent activity. It appeared in the 1990s aproximately, but was not very popular nor succesful at that time because technology was not available for most people. In the last decade, however, it changed and became very popular because of the impact that the success of technology generated. In 2012, U.S. e-commerce sales amounted to 289 billion U.S. dollars and the number of U.S. digital shoppers is expected to grow from 137 million in 2010 to 175 million in 2016, according to eMarketer estimates.
Online shopping and traditional shopping are often blended. Some consumers check online to find product info while shopping in-store. People that prefer online