subject: Online Stores Versus Regular Stores [print this page] People have argued on whether online shopping is better than physical shopping. You may have heard one or two of the following arguments; online shopping can save you more money, buying inside the store has a more personal touch as sales persons are always standing by to assist you, online shopping saves you time and effort and is more customer-friendly for busy people and that it is more difficult to return items online than with the store. A lot of these points are true. Below are a few comparisons that may help you decide on which is the better shopping mode.
PRODUCT PRICE
People are usually motivated to shop online because of their generally lower prices. Most, or rather all online stores offer lower prices compared to boutiques or department stores since they won't incur overhead costs like rent, utility and storage. Online stores also usually offer some pretty good discounts that you can take advantage of.
Retail stores have also tried to counter this by offering their own coupons as well. Returned items are usually sold at lower prices at retail stores, and customers like you can swoop in and take advantage of these lower prices.
SECURITY
One reason why people are hesitant to go online is on the security of their personal and financial information. There have been a lot of fraud and scams happening online more particularly on identity theft. That is why if you shop online, you need to be careful as to whom you are doing business with; check on the online stores legitimacy and reputation to see if they won't take advantage of you or not.
When you physically shop, you are less at risk of having your identity stolen. That's because you are actually present when the sale is made, so you know that there isn't any monkey business going on.
AVAILABILITY OF PRODUCTS
A lot of shoppers get disappointed to know that the local store has yet to receive new stocks on the latest or newly released items by some manufacturers. Local stores usually take in less stock especially for new goods as they are unsure of its demand in the market. This would cause a bottleneck for customers. The advantage for purchasing your product in the local store is that you can personally see it tested before you can buy it. Gives you more piece of mind, doesn't it?
The possibility of finding the item you want to purchase online is very considerable as compared to finding it at the local store. Online shoppers, have the chance to browse through all the different online stores until they find the item that they want. Another advantage of online shops is their ability to get hold and offer products that has just been released by the manufacturer a few minutes ago. Having an online store does not mean they have to drag inventory to their shop so they can offer it to their customers.
The downside is the customer's inability to test the quality of the product. To make sure that you make the best buy possible, make sure you read up on product details. You can also check out user reviews and product reviews of certain items to see if it's a good buy or not.
by: Jim Brown
welcome to Insurances.net (https://www.insurances.net)
