Online shopping has been named the second most useful innovation of the last decade in a survey by research firm Foundation, falling second to the invention of home broadband. I am hardly surprised. For a long time, consumers have been sick of the limited retail options supplied by the average high street (think Bognor Regis, not Oxford Street!) Buying online often yields bargains for shoppers also and this is imperative selling point of purchase decisions in these tough economic times.
I would hazard a bet that online auction website eBay and retailer Amazon are the main driving forces behind the second place win for online shopping. The electronic payment service that is PayPal has only helped to increase the popularity of buying goods online further, allowing those with poor credit histories and credit cards for bad credit to send to online retailers monetary payments without the need for credit and debit cards.