Internet shopping has revolutionized the retail trade over the past 20 years or so, both for consumers and traders. It currently accounts for around 10% of retail sales in the USA and continues to rise.Many products can be found for a more affordable price online and having the product delivered to your door can be very convenient for buyers. Critics, however, highlight the time delay caused by delivery, plus the problems that can be caused by the buyer not being able to check out the product in person, or communicate face to face with a retailer before the purchase.As e-commerce forms such an important part of many peoples lives in the modern world, I thought it would be interesting and useful to list the relative merits and downsides of this still relatively recent phenomenon. ConvenienceYou can shop from the comfort of your own home, your workplace, or virtually anywhere. All you need is a device to search for and view the products that you are interested in (usually a computer, tablet, or smartphone), plus some form of internet access, and a convenient address where you can receive the goods that you order.
ChoiceYou have a maximum amount of choice when buying products via the internet. You are not limited to what an individual store sells or stocks. If a product exists, then you will almost certainly be able to buy it online somewhere, and often you will also get options of purchasing a product that is in a used condition, as well as new. International AvailabilityAs well as internal markets, shopping online gives you access to international goods. If you can't find the right product in your home country, then you can look abroad.
Prices Comparisons and ReviewsYou have easy access to price comparisons and reviews of the products that you are interested in buying. You can also easily compare prices at different vendors. Relaxed Decision MakingThere is no pressure from a salesperson when shopping online. You can proceed at your own pace, researching when necessary, without anyone pushing you into anything. Financial OrganizationIt can be easier to keep records of what you have bought. Emailed receipts are often harder to lose than the paper version. BargainsLast, but not least, another plus point is that you can often get some great bargains by buying this way.
Big retailers often price products cheaper online than they do in their bricks and mortar stores. Many items can also be bought at bargain prices through online auction sites such as eBay.
There are plenty of coupons, and other types of special offers out there. Time DelayThere is always a time delay in receiving your purchase while you wait for it to be delivered.
Buy it in a bricks and mortar store and you can take it home with you straightaway. Product ProblemsThere may be potential problems with the seller when you buy online.
They can describe a product wrongly, or in a way that is misleading, as they have almost total control over how a product is portrayed. They may also be more difficult to communicate with than your local store. PricingRetailers can also use methods regarding the pricing of products that many buyers can find underhand. For instance, a product can be displayed at a certain price online, only for excessive shipping, or other costs, to be added later on in the buying process. DeliveryYou can have problems with delivery when ordering a product online - either it arrives broken, or it doesn't arrive at all. This may happen only rarely, but it can be very frustrating and time-consuming when it does occur. ImpersonalThere is very little scope for building any sort of rapport with the seller when you go to buy a product online.
This makes the process very impersonal. There is no shop owner or employee to give you specialist advice, help, or tips. Neither is there generally someone to give you follow up help in person, should you have any problems with your product.
PsychologyThere are all sorts of potential psychological and emotional problems associated with the ease with which people can buy online. Impulsive buying, addiction, overspending, and debt-related issues can all be exacerbated. Also, it is easier for people to buy products when intoxicated, or for children to purchase unwanted items using their parent's credit cards and online accounts without permission. FraudFraud and identity theft are a constant threat when buying over the internet. There are also major issues concerning the privacy of the data that is supplied to retailers by buyers. Contact With ProductsYou can't try out the product in advance, when you buy online.
Neither can you touch a product, or see it close up with your own eyes. This can be a considerable disadvantage when it comes to certain types of products, for example: clothing.
Generally speaking, yes online shopping is safe. There are some security issues that the user/buyer needs to be aware of, and some that the store/website is responsible for. The user/buyer should make sure that their computer software and operating system is up to date, that they have an effective firewall and anti-virus, passwords are secure, and that they don't give out their card information without being reasonably sure that it is secure (e.g., the URL should usually start with 'https' when you proceed to checkout, also be wary of giving out info over the phone unless you are confidence in the company you're dealing with).
Even if you are defrauded, you may well be able to get your money back via your bank in some circumstances. The store/website should have provisions for keeping the user's personal and payment information secure, there have been some high profile cases where this hasn't happened, but the system usually works. I personally have been shopping online for many years and not had any issues. It's important to be aware that in most circumstances, your card information is probably less secure when you pay in a restaurant, than when you pay online. For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: Show Details NecessaryHubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized.
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Online shopping is a type of e-commerce that allows the customers to purchase different products available online by different means. Online shopping is popular with different names like online store, e-store, internet shop, e-shop, web shop, virtual store, and web store. Most of the people around the world are going to online stores to purchase different products. You have variety of choices to choose from and there are plenty of websites offering you the best deals with great accessories and discounts. You can find nearly everything online like clothes, gadgets, footwear, home appliances, home essentials, office essentials, inner wears etc. But however, online shopping has certain drawbacks.
So let us review some of the major drawbacks of online shopping.Disadvantages of online shopping. The online shopping sites do not provide fix time of delivery. These generally mention within 15 days of order for national delivery and 30 days for international delivery. But, actually it takes more than the estimated time in most of the cases for delivery of heavy products. You might be charged with high shipping cost for delivery of items like furniture, heavy electrical appliances and lots more. You do not have the option of testing the product before its delivery.
The product might have some faults. You can only see the visuals of product online but not the actual product. What is shown in the picture might not be similar to what delivered to you. The online stores do not have local offices in every city which might cost high to the customer in return or exchange of the products. There is always a risk of security of payment through cash cards. An internet spy might crack out the pin and card number and can utilize it for his own profit.
The cash on delivery option is not valid for all products. Generally the products having low price are delivered by cash on delivery mode while the high ranging products can only be delivered after complete payment online. Sometimes, the wrong products are delivered to the customer.Advantages of online shopping.
You can search the exact product you are searching for. There are heavy discounts on online products. You can find variety of option at one place. You need not to go anywhere for shopping. You can easily shop while sitting at home.
You can get the cheapest deal for the product online.ConclusionIn my opinion, you can go for online shopping only if you are searching for low range products and that too with cash on delivery option. For buying products with greater cost, you must try to visit the standardized shops outside and bargain for the best price. In this case, if anything goes wrong, you can directly complain to the person from whom you had purchased the products.
You’ve been reading these emails every second minute in your mail inbox, but does it hurt to know that the discount only for you is also only for millions or maybe a billion other people? Online shopping has spread like a viral bug, perhaps more since the antivirus prevention is scarce. Online shopping is convenient? You think so too? Where have the good old days of retail therapy disappeared? The only therapy or rather treatment I believe I’d have to have after online shopping is probably vision treatment.
I mean come on. Retail therapy- doesn’t it ring a bell?Alright, Online shopping might not be all cons and no pros but neither vice versa. You’ve got arguments? I have all the time too, but I bet you’ll rest your arguments or at least not raise them on parameters I enlist as cons. And trust me there are many.
Disadvantages Of Online Shopping
So, say bye to the major disadvantages of online shopping and return to the good old shopping mall days or the ‘I am at the market place days’ you won’t quite miss the shopping bit I bet. Internet woes, Hidden Costs. Alright, they say online shopping comes free, right up to your doorstep, but does it? I have my doubts. Most online shopping websites are picture heavy, and you know what that means? It means consuming all the data in the world, quite literally. So all those people who have not subscribed to unlimited data or internet packages will incur heavy charges on their online shopping.
Now those are sure to be much more than what will cover your travelling costs. Or maybe you’re in a mood to make your service provider richer. Great idea then. I wish I was your Internet Service Provider. The Real Hidden Costs- Shipping chargesAlright so luck just went that right that you stumbled across a product on an e-commerce site that had made you make numerous trips to the mall but to no fruitful use? You might as well order it online, even if it’s a brand you don’t get in your city, or country. You’ll get that product alright but you might end up paying more for the shipping than the product is worth.
And what happens in events like these? You end up not enjoying your product as much for that pricking conscience for the shipping cost remains. Trust me, I hardly ever use my Michael Kors Tote Bag which was ordered online for the shipping and custom costs I paid made the bag worth a Louis Vuitton. No bargaining.sobs. NO BARGAININGOh yes you needn’t be a genius to read that, it ain’t no rocket science.
I am well aware of the fact that a majority of products we but today are branded products with fixed prices and almost no bargains but then that quest for something extra never dies, and if you’re regular to the store you often end up reaping not just membership and loyality benefits but those due on staff favouritism too. I have ended up with a lot of free gifts with my purchases with no official schemesSo cash or like, bargaining is bargaining, and if you don’t bargain- you don’t bargain and that’s worse than not having an iphone. Specially for a android lover. Reality fades: Why aren’t you tangible?So technology might have made it almost possible for man to intervene in the solar orbit (I hope I am not making up my own astronomy but it’s sad how touching the screen would never be the same as touching the real product per se. For gadgets I believe itsperhaps the worst thing to do for the dimensions, structure, brightness et all, whatever be the specifications are more subjective and dependent on personal preferences. But personally for me, I’d hate buying clothes- specially winter ones without feeling the texture.
Screen time overloaded- Partying trashedOh! So you’ve despised the scientist type of people all your life, more so the workaholic bunch who’d rather work than party? Not that you’d be working, but shopping online is so much like it.
Its more like fulfilling a responsibility. No more surprise visits to the mall with friends and family, hanging out, spending all your money on the food and then asking dad for fund transfers. Alright, I am going far-fetched.
But what exact fun would you make of shopping minus the hanging out with people who make the most damned moments worthwhile. That’s like the only reason I love to go shopping at all.
Terms and conditions and more of themOh yes you’ve been lured by the advertisements which say they’d take back products even if you’ve kept them with you for almost forever but their refund policies suck. Pardon me for the colloquial usage of vocabulary but e-commerce ventures I have stumbled upon leave me with little choice. They’ve got you to make more formalities to send back their product and receive your refund than you would in selling your land property and receive the funds. It’s that tough. They’d require you to sign what not documents and they’d probably let the product lie around till you finally decide that you’d use it as trash. And there are more terms and conditions too. No sales assistant, No sales assistanceSo it’s like you’re left in the middle of a forest where there are thousands of ways but just one’s correct.
I agree that at events so many sales assistants are downright irritating and you keep finding ways to turn them down but it’s when you do not have them that you need them most. You might have friends to choose for you but none to suggest what’s hot and what’s not. For lingerie sales specially, most often than not people end up making the wrong choices (I won’t blame them though, not in hell will you find corsets with descriptions or a clear distinguishing with under-wires from non wired).
That said, you won’t even have people to suggest you the most amazing stuff, yeah you’d save money, but you miss out on amazing stuff too. I’ll be right here waiting for youRichard Marx rose to fame with this, you’d probably dose to sleep each night wondering when finally would it so happen that your parcel will arrive. They give you shipping details but the courier services seem to have an entire round of playing passing the parcel before that most awaited package finally reaches you. A personal advice, never order medicines online, you’d probably receive them after you’re hospitalized. Credit card hoaxes, Multiple transactionsAlright, so it is though not a con focussed only on online shopping but for online shopping a major con is often misuse of credit card details and years of spending time, money and energy tracing with the cyber crime cell what exactly happened.
Need to remain safer? Stay away from online shopping It causes something I’d call virtual pickpocketing. Also, God forbid your internet go slow, you might end up paying twice. If its alright with you. Don’t judge a book by its cover.
I elaborate time and again on that, don’t dare judge the product by its picture. They’ve been fooling you to join the bandwagon of all those luxury hotels which the pictures make believe have rooms larger than 500 square feet while they’d probably just cramp you in less than half. I ordered a sequined blazer, and I kept searching for the sequins. That and the size charts are as wrong as they would be in an export surplus market, trust me on it. Plus they’d never do the alterations if needed.
So don’t you think the trip to the mall was a better idea? Maybe I can accompany you there.
Are you stuck because you do not know whether to open an online or physical store? Can you not decide whether to open a virtual version of your local business?Here at Doofinder we lend a hand so you can make the best decision. So today we have brought you an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of both models. If you want to start your business with the peace of mind that your choice was the right one, you just have to keep reading. Advantages of online stores versus physical storesIt is often said that the numbers speak for themselves.If we trusted only this criteria, we might say that virtual stores have already won local businesses by KO. According to the company RetailMeNot,. If the growth in Europe lies around 20%, according to the National Commission Markets and Competition, Spain exceeds those numbers.
In the first quarter of 2016, sales via e-commerce rose about 22% from last year. Do you want to know why?We will tell you the reasons.
You are open to the worldOne of the main advantages of having an online business is that you break the physical barriers. You do not depend on the number of people passing through your street or the number of brochures you have delivered to mailboxes.From the Internet you can sell to the world. New CustomersHave you ever been travelling and wished that incredible shop you discovered was in your city?With a local business you can only attract customers who come to your store.
With the Internet, it doesn’t matter where customers are, it only matters how good your product are. New sales optionsis an attractive option for starting a new business and for those who already have one established.If you have a shop, dropshipping allows you to open new lines of products and diversify your revenue streams without making a big investment. Remember that the key is to. Lower costsHere there is no doubt, the costs of opening an online store are much lower than if you had to open a local business.
No schedulesOne of the major disadvantages of physical stores versus e-commerce is this.There aren’t any holidays or closing times, your business is operating 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. Advantages of physical stores versus online storesAs they say, every coin has two sides and this issue would not be an exception. Physical stores continue to excel at several points that the virtual stores have not yet reached.Let's see what they are. Customers want to see the productThere are still people who need to touch, see and feel the product before buying it.The online businesses have set the wheels in motion in this regard and are increasingly offering the possibility of a completely free return if the product does not satisfy. The difficulty selling certain products onlineThere are products that for the price or special nature that seem impossible to sell online.
A typical example are cars, although as you commented on one occasion, the are a reality that is becoming closer. Customer loyaltyIt is true that to serve customers in person promotes loyalty, but this isn’t a definitive argument in favor of local shops.Online stores have their own ways to get If your products and services are competitive, you will earn their trust.Conclusion: physical stores vs. Online storesAlthough each business model has its advantages, the trend is that sales through e-commerce is a growing slice of the pie. If you set out now, except in a very strange case, it is best that your first steps are with an online store.But, all the money you save on rent and other costs, invest it in creating a good digital marketing strategy.If you think that all you have to do is upload products online to your website, you are very wrong. Do you have a physical store?The reality is that with every day that passes without you creating the virtual version of your store, you’re losing money. This is a minimum investment for all the benefits it can bring you.
Have you made a decision?Now that you know all the differences between online stores and physical stores, which one do you prefer? Do you prefer a local business or e-commerce?.
Technology has changed everything for us and this also includes shopping. There is no need to drive up to a supermarket or a mall to get the things that you need. You can now order it at the comfort of your home and you get the stuff delivered to your house. Isn’t that really convenient? It surely is. There are new things coming up in the online retailing and the technology is really transforming our lives. You can order gifts and you can even order products from other countries with the help of online shopping.Online shopping surely has a lot of benefits and there is no denying to this fact.
In addition to this, online shopping also has some of the disadvantages. The main purpose of writing down this article is to share the advantages and disadvantages of online shopping with you.So, we will start by talking about the advantages of online shopping and then we will jump to the disadvantages of online shopping.Starting with the advantages of online shopping, we have listed some of the major ones below. Advantages of Online Shopping1. Ease of ShoppingOnline shopping offers the ease of shopping.
There is no need to stand in queues and there is no need to visit the market which is miles away from your house. In addition to this, you are also saved from crowded places and the pain of travelling in extreme cold or extreme heat. Ultimate epic battle simulator ps4. Online Shopping has surely made it easy to compare the stuff that you need in a single click. You can compare the specs and the price as well very easily. Isn’t that a great deal about online shopping?2.
Home DeliveryYou don’t have to visit the place and get the stuff home because of online shopping. You often get free home delivery because of the online shopping and this is certainly a great thing to follow.
In addition to this, you are saved from the pain of carrying heavy shopping bags. Apart from this, you can also order furniture, refrigerator and other bulky goods with the help of online shopping and all this is delivered to your home.
You don’t need a pickup truck anymore to get your things home.3. Offers and AvailabilityApart from the benefits mentioned above, the offers and availability of things at online stores are higher. You get a lot of offers which you would not get in offline stores and in addition to this, you can also check for the availability. While shopping physically, you will have to visit another store to check for the availability of something that you need but this is not the case with the online shopping. You can check a different website for availability.4. Return Policy.
The return policies are also usually great and they are quite user-friendly. If you ordered a pair of shoes and if it doesn’t fit you then you can simply replace it and the delivery agent will collect the shoe that doesn’t fit you and he will deliver the right size. This is true for almost anything apart from electronics.5. Sending GiftsSending gift has also been made easy with the help of online shopping.
You can go ahead and send a gift directly to the person whom you wish to send a gift. This is made possible via online shopping. If you take the offline route then you need to purchase the gift first then wrap it up and then you need to visit DHL or FedEx to deliver the gift. So, a lot of people now resort to online shopping for sending gifts as well.So, we have talked about the advantages of online shopping.Let us now look at the 5 disadvantages of online shopping.
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Disadvantages of Online Shopping1. Bad for Physical RetailersOnline shopping is surely bad for brick and mortar retailers. They are not able to match the offers and people prefer purchasing from online This has impacted the business of the physical retailers and it is something which is the greatest disadvantage of online shopping. In a way, that is also impacting the employment of the people negatively.2. Easy to Cross BudgetWhile you are shopping online, you are spending via card and it is a well-known fact that people tend to spend extra when they are using their card. So, you can end up crossing your budget easily if you are involved in online shopping.
You need to be very strict with yourself so that you do not end up making this mistake.3. Risk of Fraud and CounterfeitsAnother problem with online shopping is that the customers have reported receiving fake products and they have also reported receiving broken products. This is another problem with online shopping. While you walk to a physical retailer, you can be assured that the product is genuine and it is not defective.4. Waste GenerationOnline shopping also generates a lot of waste in terms of packaging A lot of logistics are involved while you shop online and this is certainly creating a negative impact on the environment. When you choose to buy the stuff from a market, you save up on that wastage of the packaging material which is a part of the online shopping.5. Return PolicyReturn policy was listed as an advantage of online shopping but many times, it can also turn out to be a disadvantage.
This is mainly because of the fine prints and there are products which can’t be returned. So, a lot of people prefer buying the products from brick and mortar retailer so as to eliminate the need for returning the product.We tried to cover up all the major advantages and disadvantages of online shopping. In addition to this, you can now judge if the advantages are more than the disadvantages or if it is vice versa.
You can choose your shopping medium as per your choice.
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