Today marks the 20th Anniversary of what is widely accepted as being the first secure online sale of a product. That product was the album Ten Summoner’s Tales by Sting and it sold for $12.48 + Shipping.
A year later Jeff Bezos launched Amazon.com… the story of online sales would change forever!
Recent reports suggest that 95% of people in the U.K. now shop online regularly. Books, Clothes & Accessories and Music are our favourite online purchases, their respective high street sales are continually challenged by the demand online. We love the speed and ease with which you can buy just about anything on the Internet but, we also love our hometown and part of what we want to encourage on Ballymena Today is, a return to the High Street. Face-to-face interaction with a local retailer should be rewarding, informative and part of our community life… it’s vital.
But are online sales always going to be the preferred option for everyone?
“Click and collect is set to be the next big thing on the high street, as discerning online shoppers look to the convenience of the high street as much as their computer screens,” says one Tory Minister
Britain is currently the biggest global user of the click and collect model and estimates suggest 82 Million deliveries of that type this year in the U.K. [source]
Can you have the best of both worlds? This service is already available via Tesco in our town of Ballymena so can businesses of all sizes make use of this method?
We believe so… will it revolutionise online shopping and help our local economy and local business?
Let’s see…