Advantages and Disadvantages of Internet Shopping
You open the latest edition of Vogue on your way to office and browse through all those eligible wardrobe additions. Suddenly, you land on these awesome pair of Gucci pumps that you immediately fall in love with. You check for the code and the item number, and surf the Internet with it. You like them better in the color blue. You check the price and it seems just perfect for those perfect pumps. You check the stores in your city and hope just one store would sell these. To your disappoint and the brands' as well, there is no store that would help you. However, there is one store in the next state that would still have them in stock. What do you do now? You shop for them via the Internet. Simple! Since it's so simple, there are more and more people shopping on the Internet. The increase in these online shopping trends brings us to the advantages and disadvantages mentioned below. As you continue reading, you will come across some problems you must have experienced on your own. It is these problems that need a solution to make Internet shopping one of the best ways to shop.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Shopping
There is nothing that could ever put an end to Internet shopping, and there is just one reason that people will continue shopping via the Internet, irrespective of the drawbacks. The human need to satisfy a want is stronger than we think. Just like those Gucci pumps made you buy them, there are many others too. When you want something and know you can have it through the Internet, if nothing else, so be it!
Advantages:
Yes, it is an absolute relief to shop sans those irritating vendors. I have nothing against vendors, but they need to understand that they can't disturb women when they are shopping. You somehow just lose the focus! However, apart from the riddance from vendors, there are more advantages of Internet shopping, as follows
- The best part about Internet shopping is the convenience it provides to the person shopping. Usually, you need to visit a few malls before you find what you have been looking for. On the Internet, you just have to sit in one place and search for what you want until you find it. You get what you want, delivered right to your doorstep. You save money of fuel, the problem of parking your car somewhere, and various other issues. When you shop on the Internet, you don't have to actually plan your shopping trip as such. If it's something urgent, you can order it when you're in office itself!
- When you visit a particular store during your shopping trip, you see the amount of clothes that are possibly going to fit in that store. Any store, selling any number of brands, can sell so only for a limited number. On the Internet, you have unlimited variety and unlimited number of those items too. There is no such thing as 'out of stock' on the Internet. If it is shown on the website, it's available. There is no limited shelf space as such and thus, there is no disappointment.
- When we talk about the advantages and disadvantages of Internet shopping, we have to talk about this one particular advantage. If you have to buy a pair of pants, you will go to the mall and check out a few stores. When you visit the first store, you like what they have to offer but you think you can get better. So you travel some more and visit a few more stores. In the end, you realize that you have to buy from the first shop itself as those were indeed the best out of the lot. This advantage of easy comparison is possible only when you're shopping online.
- Agreed that you can exchange and return your clothes if you shop from a mall and even if you shop online, if obviously the policies allow so. However, there is no way you can exchange or return what you buy on the days when the stores are closed. This again, you don't have to worry about with Internet shopping. The exchanging and returning can be done almost anytime you wish to.
While talking about these advantages and disadvantages from a customer's perspective, it's very important for you to know that there isn't any grave drawback of Internet shopping. Yes, it does get boring when you shop alone, and have no opinions when you just need them. Or the fact that you will always need a computer to shop online.
- The first thing we need to talk about here is the disclosure of private information. It is very difficult to convince people when it comes to this. You have to shop with your debit or credit card, and have to provide your card details when you shop online. This information is available to the company from whom you buy. Though hardly any companies are frauds, it's still some valuable information.
- The next drawback of Internet shopping (only in respect to clothes) is that of the fitting. There is no way you can be absolutely sure about how a particular dress or shirt will look on you in reality. There are virtual models on almost each website, but you just can't ever be sure. This problem doesn't come in the picture when you talk about shopping other stuff on the Internet, such as airline tickets (which also happen to be one of the hottest selling items on the Internet as of today.)
- It is said that Internet shopping has just started affecting the employment of people at malls and individual stores as well. The problem here is that the forecast says this effect will increase in impact in a few more years. There will be high unemployment in this sector due to Internet shopping. You don't need people to show you around or to help you select a particular item you need to buy.
- Another drawback here is that people have to pay extra costs for ordering items from another state of country. These include shipping costs too. In most eastern countries, not all the luxury brands are available. People have to pay extra to order them from abroad. Sometimes, there are taxes applicable on these transactions as well.
