Shopping online may one day become the main source of shopping in the United States. In the early days of the internet, very few individuals used it, generally white males with educations, referred to as ìtechiesî. The times have changed and so has the population of individuals who access the internet for shopping. Almost everyone who owns a personal computer has used it to make an online purchase at least once.

Since so many people shop online, there became a need to track the buying trends. This was done in an effort for retailers to provide the customer with the items that were in demand. This tracking is called B2C e-commerce. The tracking results from online shopping are posted for the retailers. Using the B2C e-commerce reports, the retailers are able to improve products and services. They can also use the information to anticipate what shoppers will be looking to purchase around the corner.

Retailers have made numerous improvements to online retailing over the years. Customers now have the option of returning merchandise that they are not happy with, pick up the purchase at a local store, or have the purchase delivered. Most customers now feel more secure using their credit cards online with the advances that have taken shape in the area of security.

Common Questions Answered by B2C E-commerce

There are many questions individuals have about B2C e-commerce. The biggest questions are how fast sales will grow as well as which areas of the retail world will have the largest growth in regards to e-commerce. Retailers want to know why customers enjoy shopping online compared to conventional shopping as well as the risks with participating in online shopping endeavors. B2C helps provide answers to these questions to keep retailers and customers happy and secure while shopping online.

Market Size and Growth

It is anticipated by the United States Department of Commerce, known as DOC, that the e-commerce retail sales in the United States for 2003 was more than $56 billion, up from $44 billion in 2002. The biggest portion of the 2003 sales where done in the last quarter, during the holiday shopping season. The B2C 3-commerce reports anticipate online sales to continue growing, considering they were only responsible for 1 Ω % of the total retail sales in 2003.

The Future

The B2C e-commerce predictions indicate the total retail sales from internet purchases will be about 3% by 2007. If the online leisure travel sales continues to rise, the amount may top 5% by 2007. This is quite a large number of sales in the United States.

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