Online retailers are rapidly taking their audience away from conventional stores. Today you can buy everything from yogurt for breakfast to the latest iPhone. More and more people want to shop at home on their computers rather than wasting time and energy going to supermarkets, dealing with annoying consultants and queues.
Online shopping is becoming more and more convenient. It is now possible to see products virtually in person, pay for them via smartphone, and order delivery to any country in the world.
There is a whole village in China where conventional shops have long been forgotten. Beixiaju is a streamer village. Thousands of residents sell a huge range of products at low prices via live streaming.
The village, which covers an area of just 22 hectares and has 13,000 permanent residents, is located near the city of Yiwu, the world’s largest small-scale wholesale market for goods. China’s №1 e-commerce village sends a million parcels a day.
The number of offline shops is likely to go down shortly, but there are still products that are difficult or impossible to choose from online. We’re talking about big purchases like real estate or a car.