The high street retailing will continue to decline as a result of the continued growth of e-commerce. This decline is inevitable because there is an intense competition between two markets. Businesses find it is more beneficial to operate e-commerce so there are less businesses operate high street retailing. This is because operating e-commerce has a low operation cost such as free rental cost and reduces the expense on human resources. Moreover, there is a larger customer base since it is able to attract customers internationally and nationally, and there is also no time restriction which is one of the main factors that leads to the growth of e-commerce. In addition to this, businesses that operate e-commerce can offer a wider range of products whereas there is a limitation for high street retailing to offer products because of the limitation of space. On the other hand, the high street retailing is not replaceable because customers are more satisfied when they can see real products in hand which enhances the levels of repeat purchasing which shows the demand of high street retailing. However, whether or not the high street retailing will continue to decline as a result of the continued growth of e-commerce depends on the external factors such as economic which affects the level of deposable income. Also, it is depends on the financial capacity of individual business which affects how well they can manage the business during changes in the market. Therefore, the purpose of the essay is to discuss whether or not the high street retailing will continue to decline as a result of the continued growth of e-commerce.

The high street retailing will continue to decline as a result of the continued growth of e-commerce because the low operating expenses attracts businesses operate e-commerce. This means businesses are able to save rental cost and other utility bills which unlike high street retailing have to pay increasing rental fee regularly. Additionally, the growth of e-commerce is because it does not need to recruit additional employees working in an office/stores meaning businesses can use human resources effectively and efficiently. To achieve this, they have greater chance to introduce flexible workforce such as homeworking where operating e-commerce businesses can mainly recruit high skilled employees to achieve specific goals, then indirect and overhead costs are reduced such as supervision expenses and overtime wages whereas in the high street retailing, it is less flexibility to introduce flexible workforce because they tend to require more number of employees to cope with workforce. As such benefits attract businesses from different industries operate through e-commerce, it shows there is a significant chance to continued growth of e-commerce. This is because the majority of businesses are able to see the potential growth in the e-market so this will lead to a negative impact to high street retailing. Ebay frequently hires talented professionals in areas of marketing, sales and offer a benefit package that includes generous salaries and flexible work arrangement. This shows e-commerce is beneficial to the business so it is not necessarily operate high street retailing which means it is inevitably continue to decline. However, whether or not the high street retailing will continue to decline as a result of the continued growth of e-commerce depend upon the leadership style, it is vital that how leaders and managers embrace the growth of e-commerce as they are responsible to give direction of the business.

The high street retailing will continue to decline as a result of the continued growth of e-commerce because the high accessibility of online site attract businesses operate in e-commerce. This means the growth of e-commerce is due to its ability to attract global and local customers which also means that it is easier to set marketing strategy such as localization of products that helps to gain awareness globally and helps advertising their brand images. Another advantage of businesses choose to operate e-commerce is that it is 24/7/365 so there is no time restriction which allows them to produce products online anytime and every potential customers from other countries are still able to access to it. This is a key element to reinforce the continued growth of e-commerce because in contrast high street retailing can only operate within certain numbers of hours so it shown it is less flexibility to get access by potential customers. This could lead to damage of sales and low awareness in the area which then lead to decline. Amazon sells 24/7/365 due to massive volume of product and this successfully attract worldwide customers who have active account in Amazon. It starts a membership system that make Amazon became more profitable because the majority of members are paying more for other services such as digital library. This shows they successfully localize products that enhance profitability. However, whether or not the high street retailing will continue to decline as a result of the continued growth of e-commerce depend upon the willingness of risk taking in new distribution channel in order to judge it is an opportunity or a threat to their businesses.

The high street retailing will continue to decline as a result of the continued growth of e-commerce because businesses have a bigger space to promote wider range of products via online platform whereas high street retailing have limited space for storage and promoting products. This means through operating e-commerce allows businesses sell wider range of products which then increase attractiveness to different segment of customers as well as increase the levels of sales. In contrast, operating high street retailing offer less choice for customers to choose within a limited space in-store meaning it has weaken the potential ability to attract customers to choose them over other competitors. As such advantages to operate via e-commerce, it also help businesses stay competiveness as the technology system keep customers’ buying habits records to businesses which then largely increase the ability to meet customers’ expectation on product ranges. Alibaba allows worldwide customers do online shopping through its difference sub-online channels such as Taobao.com which leads to become a very successful online selling platform because it also act as an intermediary to reach a lot more customers and became profitable. It offers numerous pages of products and a convenient search engine for customers which enhances satisfaction of customers, also provide shipping to anywhere within Asia countries. However, it depends on competitiveness of online market, it is vital that the business is aware of the nature of demand in a market so that they can use their strengths to become more competitive than other competitors.
On the other hand, the high street retailing is not replaceable because customers will pay significant more when they can view a real product in person which means a retail storefront will appeal more to customers and generate higher profit margin so high street retailing is still worth to exist despite the fact that there a continued growth of e-commerce. In addition to this, high street retailing will perform better when they allow customers to pick up products that they have ordered online from the high streets stores. This means high street retailing can be run effectively by operate with online channel which leads to a minor decline of high street retailing because great in-store experience will build a better brand image so customers will choose them when they shop online. As such convenience brings to both customers and businesses, the decline of high street retailing will slow down as it has been attracting certain segment of customer base. John Jewis has allowed customers to collect orders from local stores instead merely home delivery, this boost its potential local customers and has successfully stimulate the market by operating high street retailing and e-commerce together that help complementary each other. However, whether or not the high street retailing will continue to decline as a result of the continued growth of e-commerce depend upon the flexibility of the culture within the high street retailing, the flexibility of culture ensure businesses make changes between different functional areas in order to adapt to external changes.
Overall, it is inevitable that the high street retailing will continue to decline as a result of the continued growth of e-commerce because e-commerce is the main stream of business market which attracts more new businesses enter the market as well as old businesses to transfer themselves to e-channel. This is because businesses clearly see customers satisfy online shopping in terms of speed, price and convenience. This lead businesses analyses the online market and see if they are able to take the advantages of e-commerce. This means e-commerce will largely occupy customers population which have reinforced the continued growth of e-commerce conversely lessen the number of customers visit shops of the high street retailing and this leads to the decline of the high street retailing. However, the high street retailing have their sole purpose to continue presence in the market because word-of-mouth remains the biggest influence on spending decisions overall, proving more popular than consumer review and price comparison sites. Customers clearly appreciate the high street experience and have evolved lives that neatly combine the benefits of online with those of store shopping. This reinforces the need for retailers to combine both channels in an effective way. However, whether or not the high street retailing will continue to decline as a result of the continued growth of e-commerce depends upon the leadership style which indicates how well the leaders inspire employees to work along the strategies in order to stay competitive and make decisions that fit real situation no matter they are operating high street retailing or e-commerce. Also, it largely depends on the flexibility of culture of individual businesses which is the main element for leaders to make suitable changes in order to adapt to the growth of e-commerce.