Apple spend millions on understanding and formulating retail. The Apple Retail Chief, Angela Ahrendts, says people will "shop" online but "buy" in-store. So more shopping will be done online but the actual purchase will be made in-store.
It makes a lot of sense that for many items it is fine to do your research online but the actual purchase, the feel, the look, the specialist advice, will best come face to face with the product and the sales specialist.
If all that is true, then market traders have a positive future, perhaps with one caveat - you need to be online to be included in the game. In other words it will help if those online shoppers find you during their "shopping" before they venture out for the physical bit. See our separate articles about your website presence.
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