Is online shopping good or bad?
The biggest benefit of online shopping is ‘convenience’ as it can be done from anywhere, at anytime and even from our phones as all you need to do so is have a decent internet connection. You don’t face problems like the shop is too far or it might be closed. … Also, many a times online shopping is cheaper than offline
ADVANCES in information technology have brought about significant changes to electronic commerce. One emerging area of electronic commerce is online interactive services.
These services, including online shopping, online banking and online learning, are expected to have a major impact on the way individuals communicate and the way business entities interact.
Online services not only have a major impact on business-to-business transactions, but they will also fundamentally change the structure and operations of retail markets.
Online shopping has been a growing phenomenon in all four corners of the world, in particular among countries that have a highly developed infrastructure for marketing activities through the Internet.
Due to the students’ power in the marketplace, it is important for retailers and consumers to better understand their attitudes towards online shopping.
Online shopping can provide a win–win situation for both sellers and buyers in a number of ways.
First, it can provide an expanded marketplace with enhanced functionality that improves market experience for both sellers and buyers. Online stores are not restricted by the physical limitations of store space and can carry more varieties of products.
Second, advocates of online shopping cite a basic difference between enjoyable, recreational shopping and shopping that becomes either routine drudgery or suddenly unpleasant due to holiday traffic congestion, weather, and overcrowded schedules. The ability to shop from home allows many people (the elderly, disabled, young mothers) to still purchase the products and services they need.
Third, shopping online allows the shopper to quickly seek out deals for items or services provided by many vendors (though some local search engines do exist to help consumers locate products for sale in nearby stores). Search engines, online price comparison services and discovery shopping engines can be used to look up sellers of a particular product or service.
There are various problems associated with online shopping, however. These include goods being frequently out of stock, late delivery, overpayment for goods delivered and lack of confirmation/status report.
Ambiguity about the rightful application of laws (laws of the country of the seller and laws of the country of the buyer) when a dispute emerges is also another major concern.
The ability to touch and feel the merchandise and the festive atmosphere of shopping especially during the holiday seasons give brick-and-mortar stores an advantage over e-commerce businesses.
Privacy is another major concern of online purchasers. Consumers prefer to provide information when they can receive specific benefits, for example, the chance to win free goods through sweepstakes.
Insecurity and lack of trust in online transactions are also major problems in online purchasing.
An Internet survey showed that 83% of the respondents cited security of payment as a main concern in online shopping.
Before online shopping, there was only shopping in stores but as the world became more technology savvy, shopping online has become popular.
But stores and shops will still be there because people will still want to go shopping to enjoy the atmosphere and to see and buy things on the spot. To benefit truly from online shopping, one has to be an intelligent and experienced Internet user as well as a street wise e-commerce online shopper.
