Changes in sales in the digital economy

1. Introduction

The world is entering a new era of digital economy. With the advent of artificial intelligence, our lives are constantly changing. The disappearance of banknotes, the birth of takeaways, unmanned supermarkets, unmanned hotels, unmanned self-service banks, the traditional physical industry is changing to the network industry. The disappearance of fee-based services, the advent of the intelligent era, affects our lives and also affects the social form. Now the cost of society is getting higher and higher. Industry, education, culture, and interpersonal relationships are all changing as the digital economy changes. The digital age has indeed solved many problems in life, making us more convenient and effective.

2. Main body

2.1 physical stores sales changed in the digital economy

The era of digital economy development is not just about changing an industry, several fields, it’s that simple. It is changing all industries and even more emerging industries. Its appearance has brought us great convenience, and the lifestyles of travel, shopping, medical treatment and transactions have changed greatly. However, there is a bottleneck in a career replaced by the Internet. These people are sales in some physical stores. At first, Internet sales services were welcomed by many people due to their low price and wide range of advantages. Therefore, because of the impact of the Internet, many large and small stores around the world have gone bankrupt due to lack of traffic, and the rate of entrepreneurship has dropped dramatically, the profit of physical store sales is far more than that of Internet sales. (Wu, 2019). Internet sales cover all physical industries, whether working, setting up stalls, opening stores, opening companies, or doing business, most of them have been replaced by Internet sales. At the same time, the “Industrial Internet” covers all physical factories. If the factory is not upgraded to the “Industrial Internet”, it will be difficult to face the challenges of the future market. “New retail” covers all physical industries, because without good stores, companies, factories, will face crisis. New retail is also an industry that integrates the Internet, transforms, upgrades, and innovates. Finally, “AI artificial intelligence” also covers all physical industries, and future changes are bound to be the era of competition between humans and robots, the Internet and physical stores. According to the current survey, as the main consumer groups are younger, the entrepreneurial subjects of Internet platforms are getting younger and younger, and Internet sales continue to be a trend in entrepreneurship. On the Ali retail platform, more than 60% of the shop owners are aged 30 and under, and young people are becoming the backbone of entrepreneurship.(Stephanie, 2017).

2.2 physical stores sales change further in the future

According to the survey, in the future physical store sales must be highly integrated with online sales. Moreover, large-scale supermarkets are likely to develop in the direction of experience stores. At the same time, 5G has been widely used after five years. 5G communication has fast transmission speed and cheap data, which will allow customers to further migrate from PC to mobile, which will definitely promote the further development of the digital economy. Currently, more physical store traffic is shifting to online e-commerce. (Rhian, 2018)More and more people choose to buy things online, which will undoubtedly put more pressure on physical stores. Especially those products with intense competition and poor experience are not suitable for operating in physical stores. Therefore, the physical store needs to develop in a more experiential direction in the future, and the disadvantage of online stores is that the experience is poor, and the vitality of physical stores is that they have a direct sensory experience. As people’s income levels rise, consumption levels will grow. Therefore, brick-and-mortar stores will inevitably improve the store level and move closer to the middle and middle income groups.(Kimberly, 2020)Physical stores must guarantee high quality to win the market. The high-end consumer population will further expand, luxury goods sales will become more and more prosperous, and luxury store business will become better and better. The rise of e-commerce and the decline of the physical industry are an inevitable phenomenon of social development. Only competition in the physical store industry can make progress. Secondly, many physical industries cannot be replaced by e-commerce, such as restaurants, hotels, KTV, etc. These service-winning industries cannot be given through the Internet. A great shopping experience is totally different from shopping online.

3. Conclusion

In general, from the sale of physical stores without the Internet era to the subsequent sales of e-commerce companies such as Alibaba, it has brought huge changes in people’s lives and sales professions. I think the physical store will be a good business under the reinvention of the Internet. Under the blessings of big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence, although online and offline, there are also disadvantages, and the biggest advantage of physical stores is experience, which is currently not possible with online platforms. In the next few years, I believe that the pursuit of experience will become a goal optimized by major physical stores.

4. Reference

Wu Z. (2019). The digital economy is here, new changes in work.Retrieved from: https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_5354162

Stephanie K. (2017).  What’s in store for the future of retail?Retrieved from: https://www.thestorefront.com/mag/whats-in-store-for-the-future-of-retail-physical-storefronts-with-digital-touchpoints/

Rhian M.(2018).Comparing “bricks and mortar” store sales with online retail sales.  National Statisticsarticles Journal, 9. 

Kimberly A. (2020).  Retail Sales Report. Journal of Business article, Volume 20, Number 3.