If you want to find the best option to make your purchases over the Internet, you must take into account different factors. Some of them are the security with which they will treat your data, the cost of shipping and the state in which you will receive the product.
Instead, if you prefer to choose a physical storeYou will need to consider the time you will lose and the cost of traveling to that place.
As you will see, there are different points that you must take into account to choose if you want to buy online or go to the commercial premises. To help you with this topic, we will tell you why Amazon and Walmart are undisputed leaders in online and physical stores and what are the advantages of buying in each of these companies.
The king of ecommerce How did Amazon master this way of shopping?
Its current owner, the electrical and computer engineer Jeffrey Bezos, created in 1995 a platform to sell books through the Internet. He called this site "Amazon.com" which, after a month of life, sold in more than 45 countries including the United States. Its strategy was based on a very clear exposition of the product catalog, which was offered to visitors in a very simple way.
In 1996, just a year after its creation, its success continued to grow. I had over 2000 interested visitors per day in buying books online. This made the magazine Time name him Bezos as the Character of the Year 1999.
In the following years, Amazon began to integrate other lines of business until it had a list of 20 products that could be marketed online. Not without first having created your subscription program Amazon Prime, which consists of sending the products that were purchased in the store within a period not exceeding 48 hours for free.
This brought more success to the platform, generating unimaginable income in its beginnings. In this way, with Internet-based commercial strategies, it was possible to Amazon to become the king of ecommerce. It currently has Alexa, Echo, Music, Fire, Kindle Fire, Cloud Drive as its main lines of business. Amazon is currently estimated to be valued at $ 460 billion.
The king of physical stores Is Walmart the best retail market in the world?
Walmart's success is related a little further back in time, since this company was born in the early 1960s in the United States.
Walmart's business model focuses on product rotation. You must bear in mind that the profit of a company is made up of the rotation (the time it takes for the product to be sold since its purchase) at which the price must be multiplied.
In other words, in simpler words, Walmart focused on the fact that the price had to be as low as possible for people to be interested and thus be able to sell more units. At first this would not be logical, since the profit margin is very small, but if the large turnover is taken into account, we will realize the success of this retail chain. Due to this, in 1970 he managed to open his main office and after 2 years he started trading on the Stock Market.
Nowadays is the largest retail chain in the world, offering the largest offer of private sector jobs on the planet. In addition, it is considered the largest retailer of all, due to the installation of almost 11 thousand stores it owns.
Within the planning of the business units, there are different operating premises that are related in principle to the number of inhabitants and the proximity of other stores. In this way, 4 types of Walmart stores arise. The "Supercenter", the Neighborhood Market, the "Supermarket" and the Express. The variety of products will depend on each of these units, with the smallest ones having only basic necessities.
In addition to this, Walmart also owns Sam's Club and Walmart International, the latter being very similar to what we know, but it differs because they have full ownership of everything.
Buy online vs buy in physical stores What is the best option to spend my money?
There are discussions about whether it is convenient to buy in physical stores or do it online, since each of these have advantages over the other. If you want to spend your money, You can find the best option according to the analysis we have done below:
Shipping
Regarding the cost of shipments, you will have significant savings if you make your purchases in a physical store. But you must consider that to go to the commercial establishment you will need to spend fuel on your car, unless you are walking or cycling. Which also has a drawback, and that is that you will not be able to buy too many things because you will not be able to load them manually.
Anyway, always the costs of fuels and other expenses will be less than those that an online store will charge you. Therefore, we can determine if you want to save on shipping, you will have to buy in a physical store.
Comfort
It will always be more comfortable to buy from home and avoid queues at the checkouts of supermarkets or stores. In addition, if you are already a frequent user, you will be able to find all the products you need more easily, and even take less time to go to a store.
Payment methods
The payment methods are practically the same, since in the physical stores and those of the Internet they receive credit and debit cards. But in case of paying with cash, which is not recommended, we suggest that you do it through a physical store, since online pages do not always receive this type of payment.
You must bear in mind that to buy online you will have to have a secure connection so that your card is not hacked. This is a disadvantage in relation to the physical store, since in this you will always have control of your card and you will only give it to the person who receives your payment.
Satisfaction
Satisfaction is directly related to customer expectations. Therefore, it is estimated that when a person buys by computer means the feeling of satisfaction is much less than that of a client who did it physically.
This is because, when there is touch and vision, the senses are activated and act positively in the brain so that expectations have been exceeded. The same does not happen through an online store, since there are so many image editing programs there is always a tendency to think that the products will not arrive in the same conditions as the customer imagined at the time of purchase.
Gift delivery
In this point, online stores have an outstanding advantage. Since they allow you to send a product to a different person than the one you buy, so it becomes an ideal tool to make gifts to people who are in other provinces and even in other countries.
Large product
If you need to buy items that are heavy or have large dimensions, such as a washing machine, it will always be convenient for you to do it online. This is because the product will arrive in your house in perfect condition and working order.
You won't have to worry about straining or climbing it up the stairs.
Shopping for seniors
Online stores are ideal for those who have reduced mobility or are elderly. Although it is true that these types of customers are not the most common to do it through the Internet, but this type of sales channel is considered as much better compared to a physical store.
Drink coffee
Supermarkets and physical stores are characterized by having various businesses found around the commercial store. So if you are a coffee fanatic or simply want to refresh yourself and share with friends or your family at a bar table, you can only do it through physical stores.
Walmart What kind of products can I find in your stores?
At Walmart you can find two types of products. The perishables, are intended for food that has a near-expiration date (for example, meats, vegetables and dairy) and the non-perishable, which are the rest of the products.
Within these, you can find packaged food, appliances, electronics, clothing, books, music, products related to cars, pharmacy and many other things.
You should not forget that these stores are actually shopping centers, so you can also find a variety of related businesses. So you can do different activities, such as bathing your pet, drinking coffee, washing your car, etc.
Amazon What are all types of products sold from Amazon?
Products they sell on Amazon are related, if we want to compare it to Walmart, to the non-perishable. In this ecommerce store you can buy books, electronics, household items, clothing, items for your car and all those food and drink products whose treatment does not need cold and special maintenance.
Also, You will also find Amazon Prime VideoWith this technology you can rent series and movies. You will also be able to enjoy Amazon Fire, which is an Internet television service in which you can hire and enjoy channels and other family entertainment.
If you are a music fan, you can also choose to download applications related to Amazon Music so you can delight yourself after paying your license.
Amazon vs. Walmart What is the best way to shop today?
To make purchases in our country it will be necessary to analyze different factors so that you can decide where you can make your purchases at Amazon or Walmart. Next, we will see these elements that you must take into account.
Quality
Regarding this topic, in both brands there are quality products, so you can find the items you are looking for without any inconvenience.
Shipping
At Walmart you will have the advantage that you will not have to pay shipping from the store to your home. You just have to request it online or go to the store, choose the items and then ask the company to send it to you free of charge.
While Amazon provides a free service, it always takes a little longer to deliver items.
Payment methods
We have talked about something in previous paragraphs, but it is not unnecessary to say it again. In a physical store like Walmart you can pay with cash and bank cards.
On the other hand, on Amazon you can only do it with the second payment method, so if you are one of the people who likes to pay with cash, you should go to Walmart to find your products.
Customer Support
Customer service is an issue that in many business units makes a difference. While in both stores there is good service You will naturally find personalized attention at Walmart.
Don't forget that Walmart founded its empire, not only with small prices, but also with excellent customer service.
Security
It will always be safer to shop at Walmart, since the data of your credit card will be protected with greater efficiency if you decide to do it through an Internet page.
You have to keep in mind that there are different techniques to hack personal data. One of them is to create a similar page to make the navigator believe that you are on the correct page and thus have to dump the card data and then steal it.
Weather
If you are one of the people who does not like to waste too much time to buy their items, you will have to go to Amazon to buy them.
This is because the purchase process is minutes, while at Walmart you will have to walk, find the item, go to the checkout and then just return home.
Complementary articles and other offers
In marketing there is a technique called "Island". Which consists of putting a product at its cost, but exhibiting it around other complements that have a very large profit.
This is done in retail stores, so if you are avid to buy these types of products, you will have better options at Walmart than if you do it on Amazon.
Also in the physical store You will have exhibited items that can be supplementary and are next to or close to the ones you are looking for and that are often more convenient in price quality than the one you wanted to bring. Although this has a similar technique in the online store, it is not as efficient as it is done in person.
To conclude in this section, we can say that at Walmart you will be able to control your consumerism impulses a little better than if you do it on the Internet.
So what's the best way to shop?
Everything will depend on the tastes and risks you want to take. It will always be safer to buy in a physical store, since you will be able to see the product and choose it more easily. In addition, you will have the possibility to pay in cash and safeguard your credit card details.
But within these advantages we can name that you will lose more time making the purchase And if you are buying an item that is heavy, you will not be able to take it to your home in a simple way, as you can do it through an online store.
Therefore, we can say that Both Amazon, Walmart and any physical and online store are neither better nor worse. This will be determined by the client who, according to their risk aversion profile, will make a decision in which they will feel more comfortable.