Presently, the virtual marketplace provides many advantages for shoppers: “publishing catalogs [are] cheap, there are many different ways for people to access stores, and merchants can present multiple levels of descriptions of items tailored to the individual customer's interest” (Minar). In addition, sales using credit cards or digital cash transactions make the payment process just as easy as stores. Also, “software agents can be employed to ease the process of locating items and negotiating a trade” (Minar).

Despite its appealing features, virtual marketplaces have the potential of alienating consumers. Online shoppers loose people to people interaction; instead all they need to do to make a purchase is click a button. Not to mention, the physical marketplace provides a social environment where one actually experiences the activity of shopping instead of staring at a computer screen. It is good to venture out and be surrounded by the public—shopping offers just that. Thus, the physical space of a marketplace is a necessary feature of the shopping experience. Nevertheless, a main question involving the future of online shopping is: “what happens to shopping when physical space disappears? (Minar).