Online and traditional store! The discussion often revolves around everyone's preferences regarding how to acquire items, choosing between purchasing from traditional shops or opting for online shopping, especially after we have long linked the shopping habit with going to the physical market to make the purchase, i.e., "traditional shopping." In this context, it is essential to address the many differences between traditional and online physical stores, particularly after the latter became rapidly common and widespread across the globe.

Salla: The Future of E-Commerce, an Easy Platform to Start Your Business

The primary difference between online and traditional shopping may be that online shopping is highly convenient, allowing you to shop at any time and in any place. On the other hand, traditional shopping takes a long time, but it allows you to see, touch, and try out the products you purchase.

Because Salla is committed to the principle of objectivity, it will discuss with you the pros and cons of both online and traditional stores, so you can judge for yourself which is better.

What motivates you to choose and go to a traditional store?

The traditional store is considered the classic form of store where you might feel comfortable. As you wander around physical markets between various stores, select your item, inspect it closely, and even try it if possible, you then make your purchase decision with peace of mind, collect your item upon paying, take it, and go your way.

Up to the moment of writing these lines, the traditional store outperforms its online counterpart in several points:

• Experimenting with/Testing the product: This is because it reduces the element of hesitation when making a purchase decision for you as a beneficiary, and it also lowers product return rates for the merchant. On the other hand, the customer journey to your online store is an experience through which they buy whatever they like. Also, for items that require trying out or sizing, such as clothing, it is a great opportunity to try the size before completing the purchase.

• Familiarity: The beneficiary feels comfortable and familiar with the traditional store, as it represents the shape they are accustomed to whenever they wish to buy any product. 

Comfort-Zone lovers highly prefer this option, especially in our era saturated with distracting digital choices.

• Speed of automation: This is a natural thing for anyone entering a store; they first select their item, then pay, and finally take it and leave.

• Higher trust and stronger credibility: This is expected to be achieved after all the aforementioned points that reinforce the advantages of traditional stores.

What tempts you about an online store? 

• No crowd in the markets on holiday nights: along with the associated driving around, accompanying the family, waiting troubles, and other nuisances.

• Saving time and effort: If you buy from one of these stores, it is certain and inevitable that you will not have to change your spot, instead sitting on your comfortable bed while browsing different online stores to choose the products or services that suit you best, then adding them to your basket to complete the purchase. All of this while you are sitting on your bed or sofa.

• The ability to find offers and best prices more effectively: In the traditional scene, you would have to wander between different stores—which might be located far apart—until you get the best price possible. In the case of online marketing, however, you deal with more than one store or platform with no need to change your geographic coordinates to find the best prices and places. In fact, some websites now focus their entire core idea on pricing a single product from multiple online stores.

• Distinct variations and diverse stores: Instead of searching among different alternatives and options in regular stores, online shopping allows you to review those alternatives without moving from your place.

Online and Traditional Stores from the perspective of Merchants

Despite the long-standing history of traditional stores and their acquisition of a large share of the Saudi business market—and the Middle East in general—the scale is now tilting smoothly and continuously in favor of online stores.

 Why?

Because online stores represent a real turning point for a large number of young entrepreneurs who do not possess a large capital that would allow them to realize their dreams of starting a physical shop and selling their products there. 

And do not forget that e-commerce is a promising opportunity for girls and traditional housewives who have not had the chance for greater freedom of movement. These stores came as an innovative solution for this category to start their commercial activity, especially with the logistical services provided by many platforms that offer integrated e-commerce solutions for those wishing to start their commercial activity from day one.

Therefore, you find that among the reasons for the relative superiority of e-commerce at this stage are:

1- The growing and supported rise of the e-commerce market

The e-commerce market in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia—which grew by about 60% between 2019-2020 amid a digital surge accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic—is expected to reach $13.3 billion by 2025, according to a study by "Boston Consulting Group & Meta". 

Supported by the Council of Ministers with many decisions encouraging young people to take this path, most notably the ability to open an electronic commercial register in just 180 seconds via the official website of the Ministry of Commerce, Mastercard found that "about 77% of online consumers in Saudi Arabia are now shopping online more frequently than they did before the pandemic."

This confirms the continuous increase in the number of internet users and online shopping in the region as a whole and in the Kingdom in particular. According to a report by the Saudi Communications Commission on "Internet in Saudi Arabia", the internet penetration rate in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia reached more than 98% by the end of 2021, compared to 97.8% in 2020.

2- Capital is not an obstacle to starting your e-commerce journey

You can start creating your free online store on specialized platforms, containing a minimal number of products, and take care of delivering them to customers properly with the help of services provided by those platforms.

How much does such a start cost? Almost nothing...

 Indeed, an employee with a regular job can start their online store without having to leave their job. This is another feature we discuss in:

3- Working from anywhere and everywhere

An online store owner is not restricted to a specific place or tied to a given geographic market. They can start right from their home. In fact, the Kingdom's government takes this point into account when registering a commercial business register for an online store, giving the merchant options to make their place of residence their business address itself. 

With an online store, you move with absolute freedom. There are no restrictions or obligations binding you to a specific spot, so you enjoy great flexibility in dealing and moving to serve your customers in your online store with zero pressure. For this reason, choosing to enter the e-commerce field is an achievable option alongside your official job.

4- No closed doors in online stores

Your traditional store closes its doors at certain times of the day, and on certain days of the week. In traditional stores, customers are keen to arrive at specific times to find the shop open. This is impossible to happen in online stores, which remain open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The customer navigates through it even if you are not present at that moment, and can send you electronic inquiries for you to answer whenever you have time.

They can even make their purchase order at any time, leaving you to respond whenever you are available and ship their product straight to their doorstep without needing direct communication. Of course, in the presence of an automated process for this, it might not require your intervention at all.

At the Salla platform, we offer you an integrated guide to owning and designing an online store, starting from a mere idea, all the way to your first $100.