Brick and Mortar VS Online Stores

Everyone wants to know more about eCommerce. And this article too is about the same: Ecommerce. But we’re going to go still more deeper into it and analyse the differences between online stores and brick and mortar business.

If we divided business today into two broad categories, they would be:

1. Brick and Mortar Businesses, and

2. Online Businesses

Brick and Mortar :

This is the traditional way of doing business that requires the three factors of production namely, land, labour and entrepreneurship. Well, that obviously means that it is shorn of the usage of technology and the advantages that it provides making it a good game for the big money players and an expensive one for the new guys. But there are certain advantages to Brick and mortar stores. What are they?

The Pros:

- It allows the customer to touch and feel the product they’re out to buy. They can inspect the product physically, look for defects if any, and be sure of the product they’re buying.

-The internet is rife with defective products, scamsters and fake brands that dupe the gullible customer. In contrast to this, brick and mortar stores offer you a sense of trust and comfort.

- Location is crucial in a brick and mortar store. Find a location where people congregate, and you get the eyeballs. 1 in 10 eyeballs will definitely fall for your store.

The Cons:

- As we already saw, land, labour and entrepreneurship. Among the three, land is probably most difficult to obtain and is therefore a huge cost to the average businessman.

- You are constantly engaged in a lopsided battle with the established players and it takes a lot of time to get even.

Online Businesses :

Firstly, an online stores is way easier to setup. It requires some research and marketing but overall, the costs involved are much lesser when compared to a brick and mortar business.

The Pros:

- Your ecommerce will be available 24 * 7, 365 days a year for customers to access.

- If you've generated good reviews and built a good reputation among your clientele you can be sure you’re site will be talked about and searched. All you need is some hardselling.

- Yes you do have some limitations but they are not one of space and sales reps. An online store lets you serve thousands of customers simultaneously.

The Cons:

- Limited interaction with clientele.

- Easy for the customer to get distracted as you’re constrained by space.

Finally, each of them have their own advantages. But, if you want to get a positive business graph even in next decade, its better to go with online stores.