MAS T E R C L AS S
:21st century consumer
THERE WILL ALWAYS BE those who prefer
the physical experience of shopping; going to a
store with girlfriends for a dose of retail therapy
but with purse strings riding tighter and the desire
to find a great deal higher, the accessibility of
online shopping is leading the way in retail.
About 34 percent of Kiwis��� online purchases
are expected to be have been made on overseas
websites last year, according to research by
PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Frost & Sullivan.
Online stores such as Amazon, which has
reported sales of about US$48 billion ($59 billion)
over the past year, have made overseas prices
available to anyone with an internet connection
and credit card, changing the face of retailing
forever.
Our opportunities were traditionally limited
to what the local stores offered��� a careful
selection of what they believed their customers
wanted. Thanks to online shopping, we can now
shop anywhere in the world and buy just about
anything at the click of a button from the comfort
of our homes. But what to choose?
Here, three online retailers share why they
opted for a virtual store and what they���re doing
to cement their presence on a platform with
���more [stores] than any one person could visit in
a lifetime���.
60 | www.h e rmagaz i n e . c o. n z
Pauline So - Le Faire / Kelsey Genna / Caren Jasper&Treena Nixon
Kiwi shoppers have long been advised to ���let your fingers
do the walking��� and the same is true today only instead
of flicking through the dependable Yellow Pages we���re
scrolling through search engines to find solutions, services
and products.
