To know about online business vs offline business, this article will be a perfect fit for you·

These days, a number of businesses have entered the industry to reach out to consumers through various platforms. Hence it is important to understand the structure of the operations you want to use when starting your own online and offline business models. Brick and Mortar, and E-commerce are the two types of operating structures designed to start a business.

There is a huge difference between online and offline retail. So now let’s discuss online and offline business models individually.

Brick and Mortar Stores(Offline Business):

A brick and mortar store/offline business is a business outlet with one physical location or more. For example, the shops you’ll find in your local shopping center are known as brick and mortar shops or offline businesses.

Therefore at present many customers still prefer a brick and mortar store. They can go and physically view the product before purchasing it, as well as ask physical rather than virtual shop assistants for advice.

Probably the biggest example of a mainstream company in Brick and Mortar is Walmart. It is a global retailer with more than 4000 outlets in 28 countries. Moreover a Walmart Supercenter occupies a shopping area of nearly 200,000 square feet. Also, it has more than 2 million staff globally, with annual revenue of over $400 billion. Additionally being the world’s biggest store, in the U.S. Walmart is the biggest food store, the second largest optical store, and also the third-largest provider of pharmaceuticals.

eCommerce(Online Business):

eCommerce is the purchase and sale of goods and services, or the transfer of funds or data, via an electronic network, mainly the Internet. In certain cases, the words e-commerce and e-business are used interchangeably.

The widespread use of e-commerce sites such as Amazon and eBay has led to substantial growth in online shopping over the last decade. Hence eCommerce accounted for 5.1% of overall retail revenues in 2007; e-commerce accounted for 16.0% in 2019.

The days have gone by when commercial activities such as the exchange of goods and services for money between parties take place only in the offline mode, i.e. the customer has to go to the shop, look at the variety of products, choose the necessary items and buy them by paying the specified sum. But with the rise of eCommerce, people can buy goods with just one click, pay bills, or transfer money.

Online and Offline business models are completely different in all aspects. So for a better understanding of both the models, we have explained the difference between online and offline retail below in the table.

*Source: www.cedcommerce.com