Marcus Chobdzynski, owner of Wagga's Intersport store, believes online shopping is a "necessary evil".

"Our online store drives business into our store," Mr Chobdzynski said.

He said the company's online store was particularly helpful during COVID.

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"It was great then because people weren't coming into the store due to the lockdowns and other reasons."

Despite this, Mr Chobdzynski said not all online stores are created equal.

"There are bricks and mortar stores which are all on the same playing field, and then there are those with just an online presence," he said.

"Those stores don't have the same overhead costs like rent to worry about, making it hard to compete."

On the flipside, Mr Chobdzynski said the benefit of being part of a chain of stores is that he doesn't need to run it by himself.

"We wouldn't be able to manage the online store by ourselves," he said.

Last month, Wagga was named number two place in regional NSW for online deliveries, according to an Australia Post report.

The 2022 eCommerce report lists our city as having the second highest volume of online shopping behind Sanctuary Point.

Meanwhile, longtime Wagga businessman Don Tuckwell said online shopping has not really affected sales at his music store.

He said while there are many ways for people to get music, downloading is the main factor impacting sales.

"Hard copy music has now become the alternative, if people want the whole album rather than just downloading one song," he said.

He said another negative trend for the sector is that cars how come with Bluetooth instead of CD players.

"I believe this trend has affected the business a lot more than online shopping," he said.

Weighing in on the issue, Wagga Business Chamber president Jennifer Hand believes online shopping is key.

"It's important for any business to provide an online offering to diversify their revenue stream," Ms Hand said.

"By doing do they open up new markets. So, there is an incentive to invest into the technology to enable e-commerce," she said.

But Ms Hand said there is no substitute for face-to-face service.

"We believe our local businesses have a strong offering being able to provide personalised service and unique contributions," she said.

Another initiative to help local businesses was the Shop Local program, set up by the Wagga Business Chamber off the back of COVID.

"That initiative was designed to educate people on the importance of keeping our money invested in local businesses," Ms Hand said.

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