Author: Patrizia Deidda
Publication date: 24.04.2024
In recent years, shopping has also changed: if previously we used to buy clothes, but not only, exclusively in physical stores, since the introduction of the internet, the possibility of purchase is significantly increased. In fact, online stores were born. There are those who love them and those who hate them, like everything, but there is also to say that they represent a unique comfort for all people who live in areas far from shops and do not have the possibility of moving.
I don’t think there is a need to introduce online shopping, everyone at least once in their lives has had to deal with it or heard about it.
According to recent studies, online shopping is constantly increasing and this phenomenon is significantly increased after the pandemic; as it resulted in a way accessible to everyone to do shopping directly from home.
The pros of online shopping
Like everything else, everyone has pros and cons. Let’s see together what the advantages of online shopping are:
Convenience in time
Online shopping, compared to a physical store, offers the possibility of being able to buy anything at any time, going to eliminate that time barrier that imposes the physical store. This is useful for parents with young children, anyone who works during the day and during periods of bad weather.
App for shopping
Online shopping has also created shopping apps, from which you can buy directly. Whether you’re headed home or able to visit a store, phone shopping is a unique experience and a luxury.
Price comparisons
When you visit a store, you are most likely satisfied with the price the seller has placed on a particular item. With online shopping, however, has the ability to compare prices of hundreds of different suppliers, and then go to choose the most affordable, thanks to the endless reviews that are on the web.
Discounts and notifications
Online stores want to keep you as a customer, 'loyalty' and therefore can offer discounts, rewards if you subscribe to their newsletters. This can keep you updated on all the best sales coming in. In addition, there are coupon codes that allow you to have a discount on the final cart before payment.
Endless and multiple payment options
Another advantage not to be underestimated is space: if in a physical store is limited, this is not the case with online stores, where choices are plentiful. What’s more, you can pay for things differently from what you might have in a physical store by offering lots of new payment methods that are not accepted in the physical store.
The cons of online shopping
However, despite the endless advantages we’ve seen before, online shopping also has its weaknesses. Let’s see them together:
The loss of social interaction
Nowadays, especially in small realities, physical stores are not only places where you buy and sell items, but are part of a community. As online shopping becomes more and more extensive, smaller, locally owned stores struggle to match the prices that multinationals can offer online and these lead them to close, increasing unemployment.
Unable to test products
Another disadvantage of online shopping is "test". In this reality, in fact, you can’t try or test things before you buy them, but it’s a bit like going to about. It may, in fact, be very difficult to judge the quality and fit of clothes and other items if you cannot access them.
Conclusions
Online shopping has shaped our way of buying: Buying useless items sitting comfortably in the bathroom instead of having to dress and go to the store, is really an incomparable experience for many people.
Online stores like Amazon and eBay have expanded their offer enormously in recent years and have renamed themselves as a one-stop-shop for their customers. But these are just examples; now online stores are endless and the purchase proposals are multiplying more and more. In short, as we have already said online shopping, you either love it or hate it, but there is no doubt about the convenience it offers every day to millions of people.
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