Shopping online started out as just an option. It was a nice option to be be able to find that item you’d been searching for for a long time at a decent price. eBay was always a great place for locating that hard-to-find treasure, and Amazon was the place to go to buy books, and now it’s the place to go for …. just about everything. But in the years since, has the popularity of shopping online now rendered the brick-and-mortar store irrelevant?
We can look all around us and see the evidence of what has happened to the brick-and-mortar store. Blockbuster seemed to have been dying a slow death and recently finally admitted defeat, closing its remaining locations in the U.S. Best Buy is hanging in there, but probably only because it’s in the Tech industry. It also helps that they are partnering with others by offering stores-within-a-store and holding some great deals. But the question remains if this will keep them profitable enough to stay alive as shopping online continues to become the preferred shopping option.
Will Best Buy and other stores be able to stay alive despite the onslaught of shopping online? Or will the likes of eBay, Amazon, and the multitude of other online stores eventually put all brick-and-mortar stores out of business?
Has shopping online rendered the brick-and-mortar store irrelevant?
