Geographical features have a great influence over online shopping. Rural and urban communities have major differences geographically. Rural areas around the country have many disadvantages when it comes to online shopping. Rural areas are very isolated and are not usually surrounded by many shopping malls or stores. Rural areas have longer distances to travel to malls, stores, and other types of industrialization. These areas need to outsource all of their goods and services to other more urbanized areas. Areas like this have less economic opportunity than urban areas. Internet usage in rural areas are not as high as in urban areas which leads to less online shopping. Rural areas normally do not have high percentages for online purchasing. This can be caused for a number of reasons. The adaptation to technologies is much slower in rural communities that would lead to less Internet usage. This link shows not only the “digital divide” in the United States but also in China. This site shows some statistics of Internet usage in rural and urban areas of China. This link is just an example on how Internet usage is divided not only in the United States but globally also. Online shopping would be a very valuable resource to use in rural communities.
(Home Broadband Adoption in Rural America)
This image also displays how rural areas tend to use the Internet less than the urban areas, which tend to use this more. The resource for online shopping would be very valuable for people in rural areas to use. Local rural businesses can take advantage of online shopping to promote their business. These small businesses can use the Internet to sell their goods and services to a larger market than just locally. Small businesses can not only survive but also make a large profit from doing this. Online shopping makes it possible for local businesses to sell globally to any consumer who wants to purchase this good or service. This will improve the sales of these businesses, expand their business and also increase economic opportunity. The resource of online shopping can give economic opportunity to those who live in rural communities. This will then impact more jobs and job opportunities to those who live in rural areas. This becomes cycles that will positively influence rural communities. The number of people who are in poverty in rural areas would go down. Online shopping has so many advantages for rural communities to use much more than they do now. Time will allow for Internet and online shopping to grow and become more widely used.
This YouTube video seemed to be a great example of how the rural “digital divide” is happening in the United States at this time especially in Ohio. This man explains how Internet access is very expensive and small and poor rural communities cannot afford this.
For urban areas online shopping is widely used. In urban areas there tend to be more wealthy people that are populated there. These people have easy access to stores, malls, and other places to shop. But with all these resources people still decide to online shop frequently more than rural areas. This could also been contributed to technology and Internet usage are used more in urban places. With more people using and searching the Internet people are more likely to shop online and feel more comfortable with this process than rural people might feel. These are only some of the reasons why urban places seem to have the upper hand when it comes to Internet usage and online shopping.
Online shopping is not only affected by geographical factors but also demographic factors also. Many factors need to be taken into consideration when looking at consumer buying online.
No comments:
Post a Comment