ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on e-retailing, and follows the working definition of Mokhtarian of 'searching and/or purchasing consumer goods and services via the internet'. It considers even more novel phenomena such as m-commerce and s-commerce. The chapter presents the influence of the latest developments in technology and provides some pointers to future directions of change. It discusses a range of issues relating mainly to the supply-side of the retail process and concerns demographics and retail demand. The chapter describes the interactions between consumers and retailers. The British supermarket grocer Tesco is one organisation that has been able to use electronic retailing as a means of strengthening its hold on the market. The findings from the UK Acxiom data seem to be consistent with other studies on the demographics of internet retailing. The relationship between urbanisation and the uptake of e-retail services is a subtle one. In short, e-retailing is a dynamic sector with profound social effects for producers, retailers and customers.
