E-Commerce: The Great Retail Equalizer

摘要

E-commerce continues to redefine the way people shop. Online retail sales in the United States totaled $394.86 billion in 2016, representing a 15.6-percent increase over 2016, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Excluding sales of fuel and cars, 11.7 percent of retail sales in the United States in 2016 were e-commerce sales, according to Internet Retailer calculations. It's getting harder to define "e-commerce," as merchants blur the distinction between buying online and buying in a store. Crossover moves-such Amazon's foray into brick-and-mortar bookstores and its plans to acquire the Whole Foods chain, and Walmart's purchase of Jet.com and Bonobos - make the picture especially fuzzy. For consumers today, buying a product online for in-store pickup, or whipping out a phone in the store to order an item that's out of stock at that location, is just part of the everyday shopping experience.