Online Shopping -v- Store Shopping

ONLINE SHOPPING -V- STORE SHOPPING

I have to admit that I’m addicted to both, but recently I started to think, which is better. Is it better to shop from the comfort of your own home/office as opposed to the physical act of getting up, taking money out of the A.T.M (or bringing the laser/credit card along!) and going into the shops. In this article, I’m going to discuss the pros and cons of internet shopping and store shopping.

Why Online Shopping?

I first came across the idea of buying things online about 3 years ago. I had heard of online shopping before but always thought, “what’s the point in shopping online and paying postage & packaging costs when you can just go out and buy something yourself?”. I had a friend’s 21st party coming up, and after going into town and going to my usual clothes shops, such as Miss Selfridge, A-Wear and Dorothy Perkins; I could not seem to find anything to appeal to me. I left my search for that day but thought, I have to get something before the weekend so decided to come back again on Thursday (late night shopping). Anyway, I perused the shops again and still couldn’t find anything that I liked. I was starting to panic now and if any men are reading this I know they’ll be thinking, “well why didn’t you just wear something that you had already?”, but us women know that we usually hate wearing the same outfit twice! I love clothes and shopping and wanted to get myself something new! Anyway to make this short, I was online on my Pigsback.com account and just happened to click on the “Shop and earn” link, which brought up a list of online stores from which you can buy and earn piggy points at the same time. I browsed through and came across a clothes site called “Asos.com”, so thought “hmmm..let’s have a look at this!” I came across a great green and silver cami top and a lovely pair of light denim jeans. When I checked how much the total order came to along with p&p, it only came to €57, so it wasn’t that expensive either.

I have never had any bad experiences as such from shopping online, apart from receiving an item that I didn’t order (that happened once) and receiving items of clothing or shoes that didn’t fit. However, one big drawback of shopping online is the delay in receiving your item, especially if you are relying on it for a special occasion or whatever the case may be, time delays can and will happen some times. Also, credit cards are needed for most online shopping sites too and if you’re like me, this can be dangerous. I’ve got caught up in the excitement and comfort of shopping online and only realise how much by the time my credit card statement arrives. So if you are in anyway, bad with credit card payments or already have a large enough sum to pay off, I would strongly recommend THAT YOU DO NOT USE YOUR CREDIT CARD!

My rating for shopping online is: 8/10

Why Store Shopping?

Well store shopping has its very own obvious advantages, namely we get to see exactly what we might be buying. We can feel the material, check the fitting and try on many different items. I personally hate trying on clothes while out shopping, so even when I do end up buying something and realise that it’s not the right fit etc. it’s just a matter of walking back to the shop and changing it for something else. Unlike with online shopping, you have to post the item back (and pay p&p) and also wait a couple of days for a refund or for a new item to be received.

Store shopping is also fun. You can’t really call your friends over to your place to shop online with each other, but when store shopping you can tag some of your friends along, get their opinions and all the while catching up on some chit chat. Maybe some people do this while shopping online, but even if they do, it’s not quite the same. You can’t go home that same day and look at the items you’ve bought, instead you have to wait to receive them to see if you really like them.

Personally, I think store shopping has a lot more advantages than online shopping. It gets us out and about, we get to see a wider range of items and can have any item that we purchase in our hands within a couple of minutes!Simple!

My rating for store shopping is: 10/10