Online Buying vs. Brick and Mortar

As the popularity of online shopping is increasing, more and more consumers are trying the convenient services offered by many e-tailers.  But is virtual shopping really an easier, overall improvement on face-to-face buying in physical stores? There are several pros and cons for each shopping method to consider, particularly when you’re looking to purchase a diamond for a special occasion.

Advantages and Disadvantages: Pricing

An online store has very low overhead and since there is no need to pay for retail display space, storage costs are negligible or non-existent. Shipping of the product (e.g. diamonds) is often factory direct, which further reduces warehousing costs and eliminates the expense of multiple shipments to various distributors. All these factors create significant savings that can be passed on to the consumer, and which allow even more moderately sized diamond businesses to successfully compete with their much larger, brick and mortar high street competitors.

A brick and mortar store has unavoidable expenses to contend with. A physical location has to be lighted, heated or cooled which creates electrical and gas expenses. Wages, maintenance, and warehousing costs, plus "shrinkage", e.g. shoplifting, must be accounted for and that too costs the retailer. Stock must be transferred to the shopkeeper before it can be transferred to the consumer. These are all expenses normally avoided by the online stores.