I think the scenario is still in the transitional state currently. Though traditional sales(offline or store sales) is dominating the market currently, I do foresee online sales overtaking it eventually. The same trend is being seen across the globe with seamless technology empowering customers. Traditional sales is never ever going to completely die out but with retail spaces getting costlier by the day, online sales is fast catching up. From e-commerce to m-commerce, the world is highly connected thanks to the proliferation of smartphones , higher internet speeds, improved security , ease of access and reduced cost to the end customer is definitely making things favorable for online sales. Online stores across the globe have already started making use of augmented reality to enrich the customer's shopping experience. And the best thing is that technology is cutting across industries and more and more people are using the internet to purchase various kinds of products/services.
From QR Codes to BitCoins to Augmented Reality to Google Wallet to Google Glasses- the future definitely looks bright for shopping and especially online shopping.
Traditional business houses in a single word have started realising the need for a online presence.
Many large contracts for specialised hardware are signed after the enquiries were made via a website. We can consider this an Online sales "lead".
Similarly retailers have also started online ortals to display their offline wares online creating a quasi sales pipeline.
It all depends on the target market segment and the type of sale products.
Clothing, electronics, disposables, stationery etc are products that target all market segments and there is a greater chance to lose customers to the online channel.
Vehicles, persihable goods, specialized tools are unlikely to be greatly affected.
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Mohamed Hendy , Commercial director & Co- founder , The matchers
now online sales are growing up as we live in the technology age but don't miss the very important P in the four Ps which is Physical evidence, and personally I saw many companies their core business are online and they go for Presence offline to show up them self and make more money.
from what i mention above, I can say that online sales are growing up but till now not dominating.
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Kokab Rahman , Managing Director, Head of Business Development , Radeya Business Services http://www.radeya.biz
I think that, like in Japan, traditional store based sales will dominate the scene instead of online in GCC areas like UAE. This is because here the areas are overcrowded, with many people living in small apartments and the people, especially expatriates, are pretty much in solitude, away from families. Their only outings are to work and to malls. So people will continue to use malls and stores for shopping because they get a chance to get out of the house.
