Advantages and Disadvantages of online shopping

Nowadays, most people prefer online shopping. Some use the traditional way of shopping, and some are using the online method to shop. So, whether we prefer online shopping or not, we should have information about the benefits and limitations of online shopping. It is also a common topic for group discussions or essays.

In this article, we are going to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of online shopping.

This post will be very helpful to you and give you complete information about the benefits and limitations of online shopping. This article can also be beneficial for students to write an essay or make their presentation on the pros and cons of online shopping. So, without any delay, let's start the topic.

Before going to benefits and limitations, let's first see a brief description of online shopping.

What is online shopping?

The process of purchasing products online is said to be online shopping. It is part of e-commerce. It is increasing day by day. In online shopping, the buyer goes online to search for products on the seller's website and choose the product to purchase. It is also possible to pay Cash on delivery or buyer can pay online via the internet. The most popular online shopping websites are Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, etc. It is easy to order the products to doorsteps just by a few taps without moving anywhere.

In addition, due to Covid-19, 52% more users in the US shopped online. Whereas in the UK, there is a huge increment in online buyers as in march 2021 the number of consumers shopping online was 40% and the jumped to 75% in February 2021.

Now, start our main topic that is the advantages and limitations of online shopping.

Advantages of online shopping

During lockdown, people were obligated to stay indoors. During that time, consumers get the essential supplies at their doorsteps because of e-commerce websites.

So let's see the reasons that many people love online shopping and the popularity behind it. The benefits of online shopping are discussed as follows -

Convenience

It is the major benefit of online shopping. Customers can purchase from their homes, workplaces as per their comfort. It is easy to cancel the transactions in online shopping. Online shopping made shopping easy as there are no lines to wait so that we can do shopping in minutes. We have the 24x7 opportunity to shop online. Online shopping saves time and effort. In online shopping, we can get detailed information about a product and get good discounts and lower prices.

No Crowds

During festivals, weekends, or holidays it is common to see the crowd at shopping places; it will be a huge headache and hectic to purchase products in this type of environment. But in online shopping, we do not have to face crowds, and also, we do not have any need to do unusual battles for parking.

No Pressure

Sometimes, shopkeepers pressurize us or use their skills to convince us to purchase things that we don't require. As a result, we purchase those things that we actually do not require. But in online shopping, we don't have any pressure to purchase unnecessary things.

Saves time

In online shopping, customers don't require to stand in queues to pay the price of products that they have been purchased. Online shopping provides the facility to shop from their office or home, so it saves traveling time. It also facilitates us to look for the products by entering some keywords or by using the search engines.

Saves Money

Marketers or e-tailers offer discounts to the customers in order to attract them to shop online. Retailers can sell the products with attractive discounts through online because of the removal of maintenance, real-estate cost.

Reviews of product

Most consumers read online reviews of a product to take basic information written by customers who already used it. Online reviews help to get the inside information of the product in which we are interested. For instance, if we are going to purchase cloth, we can see the reviews of that product; we will find some customers also add photos of themselves wearing that product. Hence we can do smart shopping. Reviews enable smart purchasing decisions for future customers and make them empowered.

Multiple varieties

It is one of the best advantages of online shopping. In online shopping, the buyer has multiple options and multiple brands to choose and from at a single place. There is a large volume of stock is available online.

We can find an item or any brand online and can get the latest international trends without spending money on airfare. We can purchase the desired products from the retailers whether they are in other parts of the state, country, or even world.

We can send gifts easily

Services of online shopping enable us to send surprise gifts to our friends and relatives. The gift will be packed and shipped by online vendors to the address we have entered. They will even pack the gift. So, no need to make an excuse of long-distance for not sending a gift on occasions like birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, and others.

Easy price comparison

In online shopping, it is easy to compare and research products and their prices. On shopping for appliances, we can find reviews, product comparisons, and compare the prices with the options available on the market.

Online tracking

In online shopping, consumers are facilitated with online tracking as they can easily track the order and delivery status.

Along with the above benefits of online shopping, it has some limitations too. Now, let's see the limitations of online shopping.

Disadvantages of online shopping

Before you start making up your mind and start purchasing products online by reading the benefits mentioned above, let's first consider the limitations of online shopping.

Risk of fraud

There is a risk of frauds such as hacking, identity theft, credit card scams, phishing, and other scams during online shopping.

Amid the pandemic, fraud cases have also increased. There are multiple offshoot e-commerce websites have emerged. So, we must be careful while making online transactions because various fraud websites offer eye-catching discounts and deals.

Frauds can even be carried out via telephonic calls with the name of reputed companies to get the buyer's card or bank details.

Less community contact

Online shopping majorly decreases contact with the community. If we do shopping online continuously, we never have to leave home to shop outside. This can be good for a while, but sometimes we should go outside to do shopping, talk with real people, breathe fresh air, take participation and show involvement in the community, and do other activities outside. A computer can never complete a real connection with a human.

Delay in delivery

Sometimes buyers have to face an unexpected delay in the delivery of the booked item. Booking an order hardly takes five minutes, but its delivery sometimes takes a delay of 5-10 days. While, if we shop the things offline from the store, we can get our product instantly.

Lack of touch with items

In online shopping, it is not possible to touch things in order to get the exact idea of the product's quality. It can only be possible when the product is booked and delivered to us.

Moreover, if the products are not properly examined, especially in clothes, there will be a chance of discrimination in the quality and appearance of the product.

Lack of shopping experience

In online shopping, there will be no market visit which results in the lacking of an actual shopping experience that includes market visits, showrooms, and merchandise.

Faulty products

It is one of the major drawbacks of online shopping. In the process of online shopping, a product is collected from a packaging unit, and it further goes through various different locations during transit. There is a chance of broken or scratches on sensitive products during transit.

Also, we see cases in our day-to-day life that empty boxes and different products are delivered to customers. And after that, users may face difficulties because of varied return and refund policies.

No support for local retailers

If everyone starts shopping online, the business of local stores will come to a stop. As a result, all local stores will get closed. In some places, people have faced the negative impact of e-commerce as it has taken away jobs and spoiled the local economies.

Returns can be complicated

Some of the processes of return or refund are easier, but many sellers make it complicated for the buyer. There can be multiple forms such as labeling, shipping, packaging, tracking required to be filled properly, which is sometimes irritating for a person, and as a result, people avoid it.

Conclusion

That's all about the article. The advantages and disadvantages of online shopping are not limited to this article. There are many more benefits and limitations of online shopping.

Now we have to use online shopping properly. We should not purchase every product online, i.e., we must not be addicted to it. We should also give a chance to local retailers and should try to purchase daily used products with them.

Online shopping and even everything has its own limitations and benefits, so it is entirely up to the user how they use them. Therefore, one should always use the things by keeping the bad effects in mind.