Benefits of Online Shopping

In this internet age, many have taken to online shopping in lieu of traditional stores. Personally, I'm a fan of both, so am glad to say that both types of shopping have their advantages and disadvantages. This is a simple article to explore the benefits of online shopping versus traditional brick and mortar shops.

1. Convenience

Forget about looking for carpark lots at busy malls and jostling with thousands of other shoppers and standing in queue for hours just to get something you want. Online shopping is at the click of a finger. You can do it in your PJs at 3AM in the morning if you want. Online shopping is in a nutshell convenient. And with a credit card you can buy almost anything nowadays from airline tickets to pizza to hiring a dance instructor and buying your wedding gown.

Personally I'm not a big fan of crowds and I fancy online shopping for just that reason.

2. Easy Comparison

Let's say you want to buy a computer. You head down to the nearest computer store in your local mall and you see like 5 different brands with 2-3 models each. Yes you get a pretty good comparison. But back at home in front of your computer, you'll probably be able to find several times that number of brands and models AND you can compare across computer stores for the best price for a particular brand and model. And you can probably also find pretty good review sites with first hand customer reviews on their experiences with the different models. How's that for comparison?

3. Pricing Advantages?

I say that with a question mark because it's not absolutely certain you'll find the cheapest thing online or in the mall at a bargain. That said, see above point no. 2 easy comparison, it's certainly easier for you to try to find the cheapest source online than combing several malls to find the store with the cheapest price.

That said, my logic is this - brick and mortar stores they have some very high costs - they need to pay rent, and hire salespersons, and pay electricity and such. These costs are inevitably passed on to the consumers. Online stores on the other hand I would think pay much less for the equivalent costs. This allows them to pass on the savings to the consumers as well.

4. Free Shipping

A lot of online stores nowadays offer free shipping. It's certainly more fun to click and buy a TV and wait for it to be shipped to you at your doorstep than to try to carry one home while injuring your back.

Disadvantages?

That said, online shopping can't be all good points and none bad, otherwise there will be no malls left in this world. A lot of us consumers still prefer actually looking at a product in real life and maybe for example for clothes, trying it on, before deciding to buy something. Take the case for clothes, you'll never be sure if a design will fit you well or flatter your own body shape just by seeing it on a skinny six foot model in size 2. Of course it will look good on her.

That said, more and more people are getting more "savvy" when it comes to online shopping. Personally, i've learned to recognize clothing just by its stated measurements to see if they'll "more or less" fit me. And with busy schedules and bad traffic, sometimes online shopping does seem a more attractive alternative.

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