Online shopping is a common part of life in today's society. Called the digital age, our current culture is so steeped in technology that today's youngest generation will have never experienced life without a computer, the Internet, or a smartphone. For this reason, it can be easy to take technology, and all the benefits and conveniences that it affords for granted. But to fully appreciate online shopping, it's crucial to understand why it's such an important step forward for the technological world. Below are five different reasons why online shopping is revolutionary. Businesses are always aiming to tap into new markets. From reaching out to a new target audience to moving into a previously unexplored geographic region, businesses try many different tactics to expand their customer base. With traditional brick-and-mortar storefronts, the options open to business owners for expansion are limited; businesses can either expand their product line to attract a new target audience or open new locations. Thanks to the Internet, business owners can now expand into new markets and geographies without actually moving their operations. An online storefront, be it a website or a store on a third party site, like Etsy or eBay, has the ability to attract customers from virtually any country with an Internet connection. With just the click of a button, as they say, you can hypothetically open your business doors to every person who has access to the World Wide Web. Increased competition, in most cases, means better prices for consumers. This has proven true across many of the markets that have a substantial online presence. Instead of being limited to the prices that are available in your area, you can simply open up a browser and search for whatever you want to buy. In just a fraction of a second, you'll have access to online storefronts that are offering what you want at various price points, and you have the power to make your purchase from any of them. A related perk associated with e-commerce is the larger variety of products that you can browse. For example, your local store may have a product you want in just three or four colors, and an online store may have seven or eight. Additionally, you may find that you can get a higher quality product for the same price or even less by going the e-commerce route. For savvy entrepreneurs, saving on overhead is an activity that can be done in their sleep. Rent, utilities, inventory, a full staff-these are all costs that are necessary to a brick-and-mortar storefront, but dip into profits and, in some cases, can keep a company from running at all. With online shopping, business owners can take many of these costs out of the equation, allowing them to run a tighter ship, maintain better margins, and offer you better prices. One of the most indispensable aspects of a business is its engagement with the customers. This greatly influences shoppers buying decision as well as helps to forge relationship with the customers. Online storefronts have a leg up on the brick-and-mortar stores in this respect since they have a myriad of ways to connect and communicate with their patrons. Be it through social media, emails notifying about latest merchandise or sale, blogging, product review, apps, et al., online entrepreneurs have more options to connect with their customers. Online marketers gather a wealth of information about their customers based on the historical data, which helps them to come up with attractive offers for them. The information gives them not only about customer preferences but also their demographics and location that helps them to devise a more customized shopping experience for the shoppers. This information gives a better understanding about shopper's buying behavior, which can be leveraged to create compelling offers that will keep the shoppers hooked on to a website. At the end of the day, it all boils down to 'shopping experience', and if a website is engaging with its customers on a one-on-one basis, offering them hassle-free return and exchange policy, and providing them with relevant and responsive offers based on their action and preferences, then it is going in the right way. Typical brick-and-mortar businesses are here to stay, and they should be. These are cornerstones of the modern market, and they're necessary in today's world. But the advent of online shopping has revolutionized the way that today's generation does business. Thanks to the Internet and e-commerce, you're able to enjoy the perks of technological innovation.