The growth of technology has resulted in most of the organisations switching to the online mode of selling goods. In fact, they look at online shopping to be one of the excellent options for saving costs and providing an enhanced experience to the shoppers. The number of online shopping services or E-Commerce sites have been increasing to a considerable extent.
In sharp contrast to the scenario a few years ago, people are no longer wary of online shopping anymore. No doubt, there are many advantages of online shopping but, at the same time there are few downsides too. In this post, we will try listing out a few common advantages & disadvantages of Online Shopping.
Advantages of Online Shopping
1. Effortless and time-saving
No one has got the time to visit a store and buy things. In this rat race, we don’t have time to eat our food properly so, you can imagine how much difficult it is to manage time for shopping. In such cases, online shopping comes at our rescue and allows to shop just by clicking a single mouse button. No need to visit the store in scorching heat or chilling cold.
You no longer need to stand in queues and arrange for the logistics with the ease that online shopping offers you. In fact, you need not spend time or take a day off from your work to buy your favourite product. The ease of shopping from your home or office seamlessly enhances the experience.
Online shopping also provides you with access to improved efficiency in searching for your products. Compare different products and choose a product that best meets your needs. The stressful life has been one of the huge issues that you would come across when opting for offline shopping. Online shopping removes the need for finding time for shopping. The whole process of online shopping not only saves you a lot of time but, also makes shopping completely effortless and hassle-free.
2. A great range of choice
A single e-commerce store consists of thousands of products. Now just imagine three to four stores of these types. No matter how much you try, you just can’t get such a huge range of products and choice at any offline store. These choices come very handy in cases of clothes and apparel. Of late the electronic products too have been widely bought on online stores.
The choices offered by an online store are just amazing. You would get access to practically every brand and every model that each of these brands offer. Yet another advantage offered by the online shopping would be that you are NOT limited to a particular location. You can shop for products beyond the limitations of geography. No matter which part of the country you are in, you can place your order without issues. In fact, some online shopping stores deliver to a different country as well.
3. Exclusive Deals and Offers
This one is one of the biggest advantages of online shopping. Thanks to the rewards and special offers that you can get the same product at an almost half price as compared to offline shop. Free delivery, cashback offers, and excellent packaging attracts users from all corner of the nation and gives them a very big reason to do Online Shopping rather than going to store or shop.
You would also find that online shopping stores run different festivals and deals from time to time. Even the brands run special deals from time to time in association with the online shopping services. Cheaper deals and better prices are what would make it one of the huge options to go with online shopping. There are reward coupons and discount offers provided by the brands or the online services themselves help you save enough money.
4. Best Gifting Options
Online shopping is a great option for gifting something to someone you love. If your loved ones live far away, the logistics of sending a gift can prove to be quite a tougher decision. Online shopping simplifies this. In fact, this would also make it rather easy and simple to surprise your loved ones with surprise gifts.
Online shopping services also let you get your gifts sent to your loved ones in a gift wrapping. You can even send a customised gift message as well. If you are sending gifts for special occasions such as Fathers day, Valentine’s Day or New Years Day, you are always blessed with a few special deals. Distance is no longer an excuse for not sending a gift.
5. Best price Comparisons
Online shopping lets you compare the prices of different products rather easy and simple. You can even check out a few customer reviews to arrive at the best possible choice of products. The reviews from the real customers would ideally hold more value than the sponsored reviews that you may otherwise come across. In addition to the reviews about the products, you can even check out the reviews about the sellers as well.
Online shopping has changed the way you would buy things. You can compare the prices across different sellers and products and even compare the features.
Disadvantages of Online Shopping
1. Waiting for the delivery
No matter how fast the delivery system is but, you will eventually have to wait for your order. Things get worse when it takes as long as a week for delivery of the product. However, websites like Flipkart and Amazon are trying to solve this issue as they have brought the concept of one-day delivery where you can get the product on the day of ordering.
However, you would normally need to wait at least around three days before you can receive the delivery. This may be in sharp contrast to the offline shopping where you would get the product right away. Even when the online stores may be fast in delivering your products, there may be times when they would face dealys due to the improper inventory management or issues on account of sellers.
2. Increasing number of Frauds and Fake products.
One of the biggest drawbacks of online shopping is that you can’t actually see or touch the product. You can only guess about the originality of the product. The problem becomes worse when you receive a fake product, and you need to return or exchange it. The complete process of returning back products brought via online shopping is still a long process and requires a lot of patience.
There have been cases where the wrong products have been delivered. This may be something you may not need to worry as the E-Commerce site would return and replace the product. We have faced a few issues and found no issues with respect to returning or exchanging a product. If you want to stay safe from the risks, it would be advisable to go with the reputed online stores and avoid the ones that belong to the fly by night type.
3. Risk of identity theft
Most of the e-commerce websites are very well technically sound but, when it comes to the web, nothing is safe. There are chances that you brought a thing using coupons or scrupulous links and when the page redirected to the payment gateway, a hacker copied your data and used it for his own interests. The cases of identity theft in not so common but, still exists.
Data privacy can be seriously affected with the online shopping if you are not careful enough. The promotional messages and frequently received unwanted alerts amount to be serious nature. However, the prominent e-commerce sites let you customise your preferences with respect to the receipt of such promotional messages.
“With great powers come great responsibilities.” so goes a saying. And that holds good with respect to the online shopping as well. That is exactly what we would want to state. Online shopping has got its own pros and cons, and it depends on you as which side you look at.
The right sort of use does involve the right approach and you would definitely be able to safeguard yourself while enjoying the advantages offered by the online shopping.
Dear Atish,
Very timely post,
Yes, it has got pros and cons as any service or product. 🙂
Here is my experience with few recent online purchases!
The worst thing i faced in the recent time with online shopping is that when I ordered a product via Amazon and it took almost a week to get the product in hand. The worst part is that, they say it will be door delivered, but the sad part is that if the ordered material is bigger in size they never deliver at home instead we need to rushed to the Post Office to collect the material send via Speed Post How can a poor postman who uses cycles (in India) to deliver a bulk material to the customer? This is highly impossible with Indian postal service.
This happened to me very recently and I rushed to the Post office to collect the material, the interesting side is that along with that the same day I ordered few other electronic and apparels items and that delivered within a day since it was very handy and less weight, and they send those things via a reputed courier service.
I still can’t understand why these platforms/companies do such things, say something and do something.
Actually i thought of not taking the delivery but the ordered item was an urgent product and I collected it. Later I had a talk/ communication with the agent and they tendered their apology for the inconveniences caused to me.
I think this is common in online shopping.
Thanks Atish for sharing the pros and cons of online shopping
Have a good day 🙂
Best Regards
~ Phil
Philip Verghese Ariel recently posted…Harsh And Team! A Warm Welcome To The Erstwhile City Of Nizams! The Pearl City! The Hyderabad Blog Meet! #Shoutmeet
Hello Philip,
Thanks for sharing your experience here. It happens at times. I haven’t faced much issues till date.
Amazon Prime has pretty much eliminated the waiting. I order it on a Friday, wouldn’t have time to go to the store until at least Sunday anyway, and it comes on the Sunday. How they treat their workers is another story.
My biggest issue with ordering online is measurements. My son thought he was ordering the right side size laptop case – he discovered he needed one size bigger. The original case would have cost almost as much to return, so we just kept it and he ordered the next size up. I ordered a knife – I didn’t realize how big it was. It did the job, but I could have gotten one size smaller. Kept it anyway – it was a great knife.
I think the biggest danger are the smaller sites. It is too easy to set up a shop and not set up proper security for your visitors.
Leora Wenger recently posted…Benefits of a WordPress Test Site
Leora,
Yes this is the real challenge when we order things online. I mostly order books and household things, and till now all is okay with me. Thanks for the comment.
Hey Atish
alike coin has two faces , everything has its own advantages and disadvantages too. As far as online shopping is concerned I will say that advantages of shopping online are more than disadvantages. Your Study of both pros and cons clearly show that online shopping is a great option.
Thanks for this informative post … Keep writing
Utsav recently posted…Where to book Tickets for Adlabs Imagica Online in India
I think I would still go for online shopping but only big players like Amazon or Flipkart and few others. I have also had a bad experience with AskMeBazar even though I returned the product for once. They are really irresponsible people.
Pankaj Dhawan recently posted…Visitors or Money: What am I looking for?
Thanks for sharing your reviews here about online shopping .i did’t like online shopping from my experience .because one time i buy some thing by online they show me different thing but when i buy then they send me something different that i did ordered.and beside that was not working also .so just waste your money through online
The best advantage of online shopping is you have more save the valuable time, and sometimes you can get the best offer means save the money, but disadvantage is that you can not get physical look or touch to your products before you not get it, it may be not correct for you.
Nowadays online shopping websites offer quite a lot of amazing deals which is never to be by consumers. According to research, almost 40% of consumers prefer finding deals online before making purchase.
the use of online shopping has really disadvantages. but nonetheless the use of online shopping makes your choices unlimited. the vast use of products and discount is seen in other online shops.