It would be interesting for someone who lived before the onset of the internet era, to be granted a chance to live in 2024. I can’t imagine how fascinated they’d be to learn that, at the click of a mouse, dinner or groceries could be delivered to their doorstep. The world has surely come a long way from the age of barter trading to get food on the family table.
To me, convenience is the greatest advantage of online shopping. Whether we are buying food, clothes, gadgets, books, craft supplies, supplements, or anything else, nothing beats the ease of simply browsing the world wide web to find items we once had to visit shops to purchase. The internet allows us access to more variety in one sitting, and it allows us to cross borders, making it possible for us to place orders from any part of the world without leaving our homes. that accepts our bank cards. I personally also greatly appreciate customer reviews, as they give guidance on whether certain stores are trustworthy or not.
Regardless of the convenience of online shopping, one of the biggest disadvantages is not being able to physically check orders before paying for them; this can lead to receiving the wrong order or the wrong colour or size than what ordered. We are also prey to scammers who are more than willing to take advantage of sincere internet shoppers. Online orders come with the added costs of packaging and shipping. We are robbed of instant gratification, even if orders are shipped express, which is an added cost. There is also the frustration of paying for shipping if returning orders to suppliers.
I think that the advantages of online shopping outweigh its disadvantages. Whilst I appreciate customer reviews, sometimes customers have one bad experience then take it out on good online suppliers or some are competitors out to discredit their competition which can lead us to missing out on awesome purchases. In my experience, I have placed a total of four orders from Ali Express and received the correct orders for three out of four of them. The fourth order was the wrong size and colour. I have received orders from Take-A-Lot on different occasions and have received each one happily, except for one order. All in all, I have received orders from several different suppliers and have received what I ordered without any issues or concerns. Some of which were not in my part of the world, perhaps access to the international market makes me biased, but to the barter trader of old I’d say that online shopping is amazing, and I am so grateful to live in the internet era with such an opportunity as online shopping.