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The promises of technology often end up getting mired in senselessness. Take for example online shopping.

The promise of online shopping has been primarily about ease. People don't really want to go to the mall every weekend. Many times they have other interests that they want to pursue on those precious days off. So, being able to shop for things they need and want online makes the whole process of consuming much easier.

There's a second promise to online shopping though. When you consider the average American spends two hours a day in their vehicle and the average commuting speed is 25 mph many people now are looking for ways to avoid driving. On top of that, all the expense of driving, both economically and environmentally, is causing people to view online shopping as a beneficial practice for their pocketbooks as well as the environment.

When it's all said and done items bought online should cost much less than those purchased in stores. Where's the overhead for online merchants? Online vendors most often don't even touch the merchandise. It is wisely shipped from the company that made it. There's no store-front with the attendant expenses of utilities, taxes and upkeep. So if Wal-Mart is selling 50 recordable DVDs for $5 then the same thing ought to only cost $2 online. This is where online retailers really mess things up and strip the value out of online shopping. Instead of looking at store prices and charging the same, they should be seeing how much less they could charge since there's a lot more volume opportunity online than there is with any real-world retail store.

The other thing online vendors ought to do is get control of the shipping and handling charges. So often when you buy online the shipping and handling costs as much as the product. Does this make any sense? If the product's online price was lower than the real-world-store-price then shipping and handling costs would be palatable. Online vendors are notorious for posting a cheap price and then making up for it when you check out by hitting you with exorbitant shipping and handling fees. This is being just plain deceptive and for me is a waste of my time since at that point I just abandon my cart and go elsewhere.

Online retail shouldn't be fashioned after retail storefront operations and it is the online retailers who get this first who are going to represent the next wave of progress in retail operations.

Learn more about this author, Duane Craig.
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