Online shopping is not just here to stay, it’s poised to one day be the most common form of retail.
To be sure, some streamlining in the delivery process is still needed. But the way we are now seeing brick and mortar retailers work hand-in-glove with their online stores is proof positive that online shopping has truly become mainstream. Most of the big box retail stores now let you shop and order products online and then pick them up at the store’s physical location in your community.
But thanks to the commercial delivery services like Federal Express and United Parcel Service and even priority mail from the U.S. Postal Service, pure online retailers are able to deliver products and gifts right to your doorstep, often the very next morning. While there are costs for delivery with online stores, the fact that online retailers have no lights and big store utilities to pay, no large staff of salespeople and clerks, no outlay in cash registers and maintainance means they can pass the savings along to consumers.
Thus, the lower overhead usually translates to lower product or item costs, usually helping to considerably offset whatever delivery...