Shopping mall or cyber-mall （网上商店）?
[ A ] This is part of everyday life for most young Americans—about three-quarters of 18~24 year olds regularly go online. Many have now added Internet shopping to email and other activities. Since the mid-1990s, shopping online has grown from almost nothing to about five percent of all US retailing （零售业）. Sales have been increasing by over 25% per year. And last year goods and services worth $93 million were bought online.
[ B ] In the beginning, many predicted （预测） the end of traditional shopping, but will this really happen? Are ordinary shops and even shopping malls about to close? Could millions of sales staff lose their jobs?
[ C ] Well, Internet shopping certainly has big advantages. Travel websites can quickly find the cheapest flights. In fact, most Internet prices are lower than shop prices. It can also be very convenient to do your shopping from home, day and night.
[ D ] However, there are problems. Orders can take two weeks or more to arrive and have to be returned if something is wrong. Many people worry about the security of their credit card details. Some also miss the fun of shopping with friends.
[ E ] Online retailing has brought different levels of success to different types of business. Amazon.com is a very successful online retailer, but many others have failed. They spent too much, sold too little, had delivery problems and finally went bankrupt.
[ F ] But, perhaps surprisingly. Some traditional retailers have also done well. Big traditional retailers have introduced their customers to multichannel shopping even more successfully. Walmart （沃尔玛）, the world’s largest supermarket chain also cleverly mixes offline and online channels. For example, you can leave a film at Walmart store and then collect digital images from the company’s website.
[ G ] Multichannel shopping’s biggest winner is often the customer. Look at American car buyers: 75% now research everything from cost to color on the Internet before go to the car dealer with the best offer.
[ H ] It now seems clear that Internet shopping is not going to replace traditional retailing. Rather, it is making traditional retailing more flexible, efficient and competitive. This is great news for the consumer.
