The Pros and Cons of Shopping Online: A Comprehensive Guide
The digital world has revolutionized the way we do our shopping. Because of the multiple advantages and benefits, people these days prefer online shopping over the standard system of going to the physical shops. There are multiple reasons why people choose online shopping, and listed below are just few of many pros and cons of online shopping –
First, let’s go through the pros list of online shopping :-
- Convenience – Convenience is the biggest perquisite when it comes to online shopping. Where else can you comfortably shop at night from the comfort of your cosy bed? Plus there are no billing lines to wait in, just select what you need to buy and choose the method of payment, making it convenient for you to shop in a jiff.
- Better prices – Deals are cheaper and prices are better in online shopping. And not only are prices cheaper, but you can save on tax as well since online stores are only necessitated to collect a sales tax if they’ve a physical store. Factor in the saved expenditure of gas and parking or travelling, and you have saved yourself a lot of wealth.
- More variety – With online shopping you can find almost any item you’re looking for and might even end up finding even better ones. You will even find gems in online shopping that you won’t find in a physical store as they don’t put all the items on display due to limited storage space.
- More Control – Numerous times, when we opt for standard shopping, we tend to spend a lot more than budgeted and end up buying items that are not precisely what we require (but we can not dig out anything better in the store). Online, you do not have to let the store’s budget mandate what you buy, and you can get exactly what you want and need.
Now, let’s go through the cons list of online shopping :-
- Negative environmental impact – Having your items packed in several layers of plastic and cardboard packaging and delivered right to your doorstep sounds good and convenient for you but not so great for the terrain. Even if you try to recycle the cardboard, you are just creating needless waste by doing online shopping.
- Shipping delays – Even the biggest shipping companies and online retailers have their bad days, so there is no way to guarantee that you will get your hands on your items in time unless you go physically and pick it up from a store. Items get lost, damaged, or even get delivered to the wrong address more frequently than you can think.
- Online fraud – If you’re shopping online, there’s a huge risk of fraud such as credit card scams, cat phishing, hacking, identity theft, counterfeit items, and other such online scams are common.
- You may not get what you see online – Unless you’re very familiar with a brand or the product, buying online requires a leap of faith, one that does not always end in your favour. Frequently there are size issues where they are either a size bigger or smaller but not your desired size. You can not judge texture, fabric, fit, cut, quality, weight, or durability just by looking at a pic. Products that looked great might feel cheap, or clumsy when you hold them in your hands.
Jeff Morgan is currently associated with NetworksGrid as a technical content writer. Through his long years of experience in the IT industry, he has mastered the art of writing quality, engaging and unique content related to IT solutions used by businesses. Topics like network security, managed firewall services, managed IT services and cloud computing like Best QuickBooks desktop hosting are his favorite.