Bill Fox, director of the Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research, was recently featured by WBIR regarding the growing trend of online shopping.
Fox said holiday sales for 2016 showed double digit growth in e-commerce, while in-store sales showed essentially no growth.
He said getting back time and the ability to compare prices easily make online shopping appealing to people, but the disadvantages mean collecting less sales tax and providing less retail jobs.
According to Fox, the continual increase in online shopping doesn’t mean that brick and mortar stores will disappear completely, but rather, companies will have to strike a balance between in-store and online sales.