Online shopping is something that a lot of people do on a regular basis. Whether this is for groceries, clothes, household items, or gifts the online shopping market has exploded in the last decade. But, how beneficial is it to buy items online in any of these categories?
We have gathered some information about shopping online to help you to decide whether or not online shopping for any products is the right thing to do for you.
The Pros and Cons of Online Shopping
Pros
- Online shopping is brilliant for those with mobility issues – not needing to leave the house or worry about the accessibility of the shops you are intending to visit.
- Online shopping is beneficial for those who need to travel on public transport – you can never be sure, especially in busier areas, whether or not you will be able to get a seat home with all of your bags.
- Online shopping can help you to focus on buying only what you are shopping for – If you shop online you will not be walking up and down the aisles and so may not be tempted by items you were not intending to buy.
Cons
- You do not get the personal recommendations of staff – if you are in a store and browsing several items but cannot decide what to buy staff recommendations can be the difference between leaving empty-handed or getting what you need.
- Delivery costs can be high depending on how much you are spending – some websites will offer you free delivery as standard or free delivery above a certain spend amount, while others will not offer free delivery. It can be tempting to spend more than you were planning to spend in order to get free delivery. It is worth weighing up whether travel costs to the store will be cheaper than delivery costs.
- Shopping online means no in-store demonstrations of products – if you are unsure of the full uses or capabilities of the item you are shopping for you can get advice on these areas from a trained and knowledgeable member of staff.
How to Counteract the Cons
If you are not going into a store you can get recommendations of the best products via a search engine. Using a search topic such as best to buy baby monitors online you will be able to go through recommendation articles of products in the same way as you could get advice in-store.
Delivery costs are something to consider, if you need to spend an additional $10 to save a lower amount in shipping then do not give in to temptation, unless you need something else from the website. If you are able to combine different items you need to get free shopping then we advise doing that. If you are still looking at a high delivery cost then move on to research which stores close by sell what you need and whether or not the cost of getting to the store and home would be cheaper.
If you are worried about not knowing how to use the item you are buying you can view videos online to show you how to use them. This can be found on search engines or on the company’s website directly.
