The future of Online Shopping

We asked Adrian King, the entrepreneur behind the popular online Aboriginal art gift shop, Australia Gift Shop, about the future of online shopping and online retailing. Australia Gift Shop is an online gift and souvenir shop based in Bundaberg in the state of Queensland in Australia. The online shop began operations as part of the Web Design firm, PlanetPilgrim.com, in August, 2000. It retails and wholesales gifts and souvenirs from Australia which mainly feature Australian icons or the traditional designs of the indigenous people of that continent, the Australian Aborigines. The product motifs have been drawn and painted by Aboriginal artists in Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia.

Adrian answered to our question sending us a long interview made in the past. We quoted what we feel is the most interesting part of it.

The future of Online Shopping

Niche stores, such as ours, sell merchandise that is not available in local stores. In my opinion, online retail sales and markets will continue to consistently expand for these niche e-tailers who embrace their online marketing with national and global perspectives.
Another trend is the increasing importance of online marketing in generating offline sales, especially for national rather than cross-border transactions. We are experiencing this at the moment, with an exponential increase in sales transactions over the phone as a result of being found on the Net. These customers, whether making personal gift or (usually) larger corporate gift purchases, are often visiting our site as they speak to us on the phone. The Internet and telephones (whether VOIP or not) complement one another extremely well. In combination, they provide instant feedback, undistracted viewing of products and the personal touch, all at once.
Our site is rich in content about Australia, such as a quiz about Aussie landmarks, polls about Australian Aborigines, a blog about Aboriginal art, articles about Australia and even an interactive koala jigsaw for kids. This is what online shoppers are expecting more than ever before. It’s termed value-added shopping and provides lots of informative and detailed content with the added bonus of a rich, dynamic virtual experience. The provision of value-added shopping should be considered basic hospitality by all online retailers who appreciate the honour of receiving visitors to their site.

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