Describe the state of the online retail sector today

What will be an ideal response?

The online retail sector is one of the smallest segments of the total retail market but is growing faster than its offline counterparts. During the recession, online retail revenues were basically flat but they since have resumed their upward trajectory. More people than ever are shopping online and millions more look for information about purchases they make at offline stores. Offline retailers who have the brand-name recognition, supportive infrastructure, and financial resources have entered the online marketplace successfully and continue to integrate their online operations with their physical store operations in order to provide an "integrated shopping customer experience," and leverage the value of their physical stores. The most significant changes in retail e-commerce in 2015 were the explosive growth in social e-commerce, the growing ability of firms to market local services and products through the use of location-based marketing, and the rapidly growing mobile platform composed of smartphones and tablet computers. Tablets are being called "the ultimate shopping machine," enabling consumers to browse online catalogs just like they used to do with physical catalogs, and then buy when they feel the urge. Social network sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and others have developed into major marketing and advertising platforms, implementing trials of a Buy button directly on their sites as well as directing consumers to external Web sites to purchase products. In addition, location-based mobile marketing and advertising solutions such as Groupon have enabled local merchants to inexpensively enter local mobile marketing. Social and local e-commerce are enabled by the tremendous growth in mobile Internet devices, both smartphones and tablet computers. In 2015, U.S. retail mobile e-commerce was expected to generate around $77 billion overall. In 2015, over 70% of online purchasers were expected to make a purchase using a mobile device, and it is estimated that this percentage will grow to over 80% by 2018.