Is this the end of High Street retail shopping?

I know that I am biased, in that I have an online umbrella shop Hello Brolly, but I want to spend a moment in contemplation on why online sales are growing at an astonishing rate throughout many retail sectors, and the traditional high street is struggling.

1. Open All Hours

On the internet he accessibility of being able to shop at whatever time you want, and not being restricted by opening hours, makes shopping for Great Auntie Ethel's slippers, at 4am in the morning, so easy, perfect for people who work unsociable hours the ability to shop in their off time has opened their lives.

Also for parents online shopping has been a god send. You know that moment when you need to go shopping for the weekly shop with toddlers in tow, and you spend most of the time replacing items back on to the shelves that your little darlings have decided that you must have, well with supermarket online shopping you can do all the shopping without one pester or major tantrum. You can now put the little ones to bed, then sit there in your leopard print onesie jimjams, or in nothing if that's your thing, and buy what you like without being hassled.

2. Perfect for the less abled.

Disabled people, and a growing number of older infirm web users have benefitted greatly in being able to shop for pretty much anything they need without having to try to negotiate busy shops.

When I went out with my best friend and her mother, who in her later years had to use a wheelchair, I discovered how hard it was to get round a town centre, and it's shops, whilst pushing a wheelchair.

Most shops are not designed for people with difficulties, and everything is aimed at the eyeline of the walking customer, so using the internet allows the same shopping experience to all, with an ability to browse at your own pace.

3. Choice

Wherever you live, small village or big city, you have access to a huge amount of products, that unless we made the whole of Yorkshire into a shop you couldn't possibly get under one roof. This means none of us is now limited to putting up with buying our washing machine from the local retailer at an inflated price, due to it being the only place to buy it in your area (a lesson that Comet, so drastically, never learned).

4. Treated well

I know you may think this is a weird one, but we no longer have to put up with the sulky shop staff, the 17 year old Kylies and Kenzies and their mobile phone fascinations, or have to wait until they've finished their animated discussion about the club they went to last night, and the bloke they copped off with, before we get served. You can now press a couple of buttons, and hey presto you've bought what you need. Bliss!
(Before you revolt, I also have a bricks and mortar retail shop, and therefore know not every staff member is like this, but I, like you probably, have experienced enough of this to add it to the list.)

5. No Queueing

or Parking charges!

Again pure bliss!

So does all this mean the end of physical retail shopping? 

Well no, it just means that traditional shopping will have to up it's game to keep people buying, it is no longer OK to just, in the words whispered to Kevin Costner's character in Field of Dreams, 'Build it and they will come.'
We want more, we want an enjoyable experience!