Chapter 3 Nonstore Retail Operations 67 4. The number of people using the Internet as a research tool greatly outnumbers those using it as a purchasing tool. Given the advantages of shopping online, why do you think all people are not shopping online? 5. Perform an Internet search for “shopping bots” and select one of the sites returned in the search. Conduct a price comparison on your favorite brand of jeans. Look at the results closely, including shipping costs. How did this tool make your shopping easier? Why is it an advantage for the consumer to use shopping bots? 6. For many consumers, online product reviews are an important factor in online shopping. If there are many reviews for a product, there are likely some good reviews and some bad ones. In what ways do you believe customers allow reviews to infl uence their decisions? Is this an advantage to the e-tailer or customer or both? 7. One disadvantage of doing business on an e-tail site is that you cannot see or touch an item before purchasing. Search at least three different online stores for a piece of your favorite clothing. What are some of the ways that e-tailers address the fact that you cannot see and touch the products? 8. Which types of nonstore retailing would be best to sell a newly developed video game? Explain your choices. 9. Infomercials are expensive to produce and usually broadcast during hours of low viewership. Yet, they often have very successful sales rates. What are some reasons that might explain the success of infomercials? 10. Online customers are often catalog customers, as well. Provide reasons why this may be the case. Check Your Retail IQ Now that you have fi nished the chapter, see what you learned about retail by taking the chapter posttest. If you do not have a smartphone, visit the G-W Learning companion website. G-W Learning mobile site: www.m.g-wlearning.com G-W Learning companion website: www.g-wlearning.com/marketing/ Career Ready Practices Maintaining a healthy lifestyle has an impact on how you function physically and mentally. Make a list of unhealthy behaviors you think could have an effect on how well you do your job. How do you think employers should deal with behaviors that affect the personal health of their employees? Listening Active listening is fully participating as you process what others are saying. Practice active listening skills while listening to a news report on the radio, the television, or a podcast. Select a single story and prepare a report in which you analyze the following aspects of the business story: the speaker’s audience, point of view, reasoning, stance, word choice, tone, points of emphasis, and organization. Reading Affi x means to add a prefi x or suffi x to a root word. Write a paragraph explaining how the word e-tail was created. College and Career Readiness