Cyber retailing in the UK: the potential of the internet as a retail channel

A myriad opinions has been propounded to explain how“cyberspace” can be exploited by commercial organisations.For the most part they are speculative, visionary orpromotional. This work seeks to redress the balance byfocusing on the utilisation of the Internet within the UKretail sector and examining its potential as a new retailchannel. The paper presents an exploratory study usingqualitative and quantitative methods: an online survey ofretail Web activities followed by in-depth interviews. Thisapproach provides a framework of current retail usage ofthe Internet and explores retailers’ perceptions of theinhibitors and facilitators to its development. It concludeswith an emerging model that explains why current levelsof retailing on the Internet are low and provides guidancefor retailers wishing to increase their level of Internetactivity.