Describe Two Advantages of E-Tailing and Two Disadvantages $\underline{Advantages}$ 1 Extensive Selection: No Other Channel Offers the Breadth and Extensive

question 50

Essay

Describe two advantages of e-tailing and two disadvantages.
$\underline{Advantages}$
1. Extensive Selection: No other channel offers the breadth and depth of selection. From information search to purchase, the Internet gives consumers greater access to more choices and different product options.
2. Considerable Information Available for Product Research and Evaluation: The Internet dramatically expands consumers' knowledge, offering an almost unlimited number of websites that research, evaluate, and recommend products and services. From retailers (Best Buy in electronics) to independent testing organizations (CNet in technology), consumers can find information on anything.
3. Build Product Communities: The Internet brings together groups of individuals with a shared interest to create virtual communities. These communities share information, ideas, and product information.
4. Individualized Customer Experience: The Internet allows a great deal of personalization for both the consumer and the company. Consumers can get one-on-one interaction from a customer service representative and create their own web content based on personal preferences. At the same time, companies can tailor messages and web content by analyzing consumer web history. The end result is a more customized, personal experience for the consumer.
$\underline{Disadvantages}$
1. Easier for Customers to Walk Away: The customer is in total control of the web experience and has the opportunity to walk away at any time. In sharp contrast to a personal-selling situation or even a retail store, the customer can simply click to another site. This puts additional pressure on the website to attract and then hold on to visitors.
2. Reduced Ability to Sell Features and Benefits: Websites incorporate sophisticated tools to display and highlight critical features and benefits. However, unless the customer initiates additional contact via web live chat, phone, or e-mail, it can prove challenging to engage the customer to answer questions or deal with objections.
3. Security of Personal Data: Over the past several years, numerous highly publicized data security breaches have occurred involving e-retailers (as well as retail stores). While companies work hard to make their websites secure and keep personal data such as credit card numbers private, many consumers still have concerns about the security of their data. These concerns lead some consumers to limit their electronic purchases.

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