The popularity of e-tailers has shot up over the past few years as many of these sites offer free next day delivery encouraging people that the best, easiest and quickest way to shop is online.

Due to offers of free next day delivery many people feel that there is no need to leave the comfort of your own home and battle the winter weather to go Christmas shopping when you can stay at home and order presents from your computer in the warmth. Not only that

but online shopping has become much more reliable over recent years as many retailers obtain large amount of sales from online shopping and so make more of an effort to make their delivery get to the customer with no fuss.

Also developments in technology are encouraging more and more people to shop online as you can download apps to your smart phone that let you shop online while you are on the go, this makes it much easy for busy men and women with families and a full time job to shop without it taking up too much of their time. The number of people in the UK that own smart phones is now 60% and is rising rapidly, this effects the future of retailers as they have to adapt their trading with customers to keep up with advances in technology and the kind of lifestyles people are leading in the 21st century. For example, there is a Topshop app that lets you shop online from your phone while you are on your way to work or on your lunch break. There has also been an increase in the amount of e-tailers that only sell products online

that do not have any stores you can go to. For example, very.co.uk, asos.com and misguided.co.uk. All of these websites have large amounts of annual sales and they are becoming more and more popular and this increases the amount of people shopping online. These websites and the way they operate is becoming more and more advanced which attracts customers as these shops are keeping up their advanced technology that other retailers are not.

But for many retailers it costs them dearly to take time advancing in technology when other retailers have already done it and are advancing faster than them and then they risk losing customers and creating a decrease in their profits. For example the electrical store Comet has been forced to close 166 stores from its original 236 leaving only 70 stores still trading but the remaining stores could possibly cease trading by Christmas. The advances in technology and the lifestyles people are leading nowadays as they rely on technology a great deal and it is an increasing market that many retailers will have to keep up with if they wish to make profits in the future. But a change in the way we shop

will have a huge effect on the fashion industry and in the future we may have to buy all of our clothes via the internet.

Written By Ellen Armsby