Why Shop Online?
It’s no surprise that the statistics of online shopping over ‘brick and mortar’ stores, show that millennials and the younger generation are more likely to online shop than those baby boomers. But there are reasons for anyone still against it, to open their minds a bit more to the virtual world of shopping.
- Reviews, Reviews, Reviews. Online shopping allows customers to review items and post their experience. This kind of feedback is quite novel and powerful because it’s very honest. I’ve bought items based on reviews alone, and definitely reexamined items after negative reviews. In a store setting, you rarely meet people who have yet to use the items and so you select items based on your own intuitions.
- Online shopping can save you money. It is easy to see price comparisons on exact or similar items when you google search, or when using big online ecommerce sites. This makes bargain hunting much easier as it can be automatically generated.
- It’s great to interact with an item before purchasing it and is the main argument against online shopping, but the year is 2020 and things are changing. Many companies try their best to take out the hassle in buyers' remorse by making shipping and returns free and easy with trial periods for many subscription based shopping. So, the item interaction before commitment can still be there, and even better, you get the item at your door, you try it on or out in your living room, you decide to send some items back and place it in a pre-labeled shipping package near your door to be returned, all while sipping the same cup of coffee. The back and forth to the mall and home shouldn’t be worth it.
How to shop online
Here are some of the best methods to online shopping that I’ve conjured up. Google shopping is quite surprisingly one of the best things to come to online shopping. When you search an item in google, it will locate all the options available to you for delivery from an array of places and with prices easily visible in the basic search; giving you price comparisons right away. If you aren’t targeting a specific model or designer, big e-commerce internet companies are the way to go. Amazon, aliexpress and ebay can help you find what you're looking for by typing in descriptions or by item and having a choice of options. They also have everything from groceries to clothing. There are tiktoks and youtube channels dedicated to the best amazon finds. Lastly, if you want a designer product or a unique item from a specific store, go to the direct site but always search for an online coupon. There are many resources to find coupon codes, especially for first time shoppers, so don’t let those slip by you.
When you make it to check out it’s easy to pay once you have your credit card ready, that first time you make a purchase on your computer. After that, you can easily have your credit card information saved and crypted by a password. You can also use Paypal, Google Pay or Apple Pay for easy access and a reliable source. These companies will help you with scammers and offer great service and warranties on behalf of purchases done through them.
When to shop online
Whenever you want to shop is the answer. But to elaborate more, online shopping is great for bulk orders for items you always use. It’s uncomfortable buying bulk at stores, even when it’s Costco, because you need the car storage and manpower to carry all those items. So, when buying bulk, online shopping is an obvious choice. But even for items you don’t buy in bulk but rather always buy every few weeks, like groceries and toiletries it is best to use online shopping resources. You can buy subscriptions to favorite items on sites like amazon. In this way, you can expect your new stock of items as the old ones are running outrun. Subscription-type of purchases can be automated each month and very often are offered at a more discounted price. This is great for roommates and partners sharing household items and bearing the responsibility of who notices when the tissues have run out first. Purchases can easily be divided by split-paying apps, like splitwise and venmo that can keep track of shared expenses and offer easy-to-pay through their apps for what is owed.
The Reward
Even if you don’t consider yourself a big shopper and rarely visit the mall, you still spend that time at supermarkets, pharmacies and homegoods stores, when most of what you need is easily found online. When you take the chore out of shopping by directly and rapidly locating and placing your order online, you can fill your schedule with new productive activities. There is a reward to online shopping and that is more time in your weekly schedules to do other things and what you choose to do with your time can be endless. In person shopping is something that will continue to shrink as the pandemic continues to stir and more and more stores open online operations. Today we are seeing many small businesses turn digital and their potential for greater reach generating more sales is showing. If you haven’t made the switch, consider trying now as it’s the perfect time as online commerce continues to expand and update.