Online Shopping
Definition
Buying products and services over the internet instead of visiting physical stores. Like having access to every store in the world from your home.
Use Cases
- Amazon: Large-scale online retail marketplace where customers search, compare, and purchase products with fast checkout and delivery options. — Runs a global e-commerce platform supported by distributed systems for product catalog, search, recommendations, payments, and order fulfillment; uses elastic compute and storage to handle traffic spikes (for example during major sales events). (Enables high availability and the ability to serve very large numbers of shoppers concurrently, supporting rapid purchasing and reliable order processing at global scale.)
- eBay: Online marketplace for auctions and fixed-price listings, connecting buyers and sellers with search, bidding, and payment workflows. — Operates a web and mobile platform with backend services for listings, search, user accounts, messaging, and transaction processing; uses scalable infrastructure and data systems to support high volumes of concurrent users and listings. (Supports a large multi-sided marketplace with continuous availability, allowing buyers to discover items and complete purchases while sellers manage inventory and orders online.)
- Walmart: Omnichannel online shopping including grocery pickup/delivery, online ordering, and integration with physical store inventory. — Uses a combination of e-commerce applications, inventory and order management systems, and integrations that connect online storefronts to store operations; scales capacity to meet peak demand and supports features like pickup time slots and substitutions for grocery orders. (Expands customer reach beyond physical stores and improves convenience through pickup/delivery options, helping handle increased digital demand during peak shopping periods.)
Frequently Asked Questions
- What's the difference between online shopping and e-commerce?
- Online shopping is the customer activity of buying items on the internet (browsing, adding to cart, paying). E-commerce is the broader business system that makes online shopping possible, including the online store, payments, inventory, shipping, customer support, and marketing.
- When should I use online shopping for my business?
- Use online shopping when you want to sell beyond a physical location, offer 24/7 purchasing, reduce reliance on in-store traffic, or provide convenience features like delivery, pickup, subscriptions, and personalized recommendations. It’s especially useful if your customers already research and compare products online.
- How much does online shopping cost to run?
- Costs vary by approach. Common factors include: e-commerce platform fees (hosted storefront or marketplace commissions), payment processing fees (often a percentage plus a fixed amount per transaction), shipping and returns, customer support, marketing/ads, and technology costs (domain, hosting, security, analytics, and development). Costs typically scale with traffic, order volume, and feature complexity.
Category: business
Difficulty: basic
Related Terms
See Also