Like this:

Remember the heady days of the early 90s, the golden period of Internet, when it was predicted that brick and mortar shops will be obsolete in another 15-20 years and how consumers can shop, from the comfort of their bedroom and pajamas, without having to step out of their homes. Well, we are almost close to the 15 year mark and guess where we stand now. Yes, you are right. We are still standing in the long aisles of the supermarket.

So where is the problem? To be fair, the prediction on comfort shopping has turned out to be true. But brick and mortar stores did not become obsolete as predicted. The reason behind this is customers have not dropped their psychological fears related to online shopping.

This article is the result of interacting with retailers and consumers on the current state of Internet shopping, and looks at their aspirations and expectations. The article also identifies areas for improvement that the retailers should work on. Before proceeding further few points are worth noting.

1. The past few years witnessed rapid growth in the number of online stores
2. Many brick and mortar stores now have a web presence
3. There is an overall increase in the number of online shoppers
4. Shoppers nowadays depend on Internet to do product research to aid their purchase decisions

Detail                                                                Malaysia                Singapore
.                                                                      (Dec-2008)              (Dec-2008)
(A) Broadband Connection (2007)                   1,614,200                4,715,900
(B) Dial-up Connection (2007)                         3,910,000                   103,800
Total (A + B) (2007)                                         5,139,000                3,104,900

Source: Malaysia – http://www.skmm.gov.my Singapore – http://www.ida.gov.sg

Before proceeding further let us first look at the advantages and disadvantages of Internet shopping in the next two posts.