Cyber retailing in the UK: the potential of the internet as a retail channel

摘要

A myriad opinions has been propounded to explain howud“cyberspace” can be exploited by commercial organisations.udFor the most part they are speculative, visionary orudpromotional. This work seeks to redress the balance byudfocusing on the utilisation of the Internet within the UKudretail sector and examining its potential as a new retailudchannel. The paper presents an exploratory study usingudqualitative and quantitative methods: an online survey ofudretail Web activities followed by in-depth interviews. Thisudapproach provides a framework of current retail usage ofudthe Internet and explores retailers’ perceptions of theudinhibitors and facilitators to its development. It concludesudwith an emerging model that explains why current levelsudof retailing on the Internet are low and provides guidanceudfor retailers wishing to increase their level of Internetudactivity.