The advent of technology indeed created so many opportunities for mankind. These opportunities range from easy communication to improved lifestyle, increased lifespan to less stress due to the development of machines that help make work easier and faster.

The internet is one of the wonders of science and there is no doubt about it. Many activities are carried out on the internet and they all have in one way or the other helped millions of people. One of the numerous activities carried out on the internet includes

Online shopping

is the act of purchasing and or ordering of products from companies or retailers who showcase their stocks online via a website, a forum or a weblog.  There are so many ways through which one can buy things online and some of them could be by visiting the retailer’s or company’s online store, through adverts from sellers online, etc.

There are so many online stores where one can buy new or fairly used products; some of them having the ability to deliver goods across national borders (Amazon, Aliexpress, Microsoft online store, etc.) while some only operate within the borders of their country. Example, in Nigeria there are several of them and they include; yudala, konga, jumia, jiji.ng, zeesaa, kaymu, etc.

These online stores operate on mostly two ways; either you pay for the goods or services on delivery or you pay for the goods or services before delivery while a few of them just help link a buyer to a seller. This gives rise to so many problems which prompted me to write this article.

In this article, we will be looking at some of the pros and cons of online shopping and a number of safety tips to guarantee a successful online shopping experience.

Advantages of online shopping

Saves time and cost: this is probably the most important advantage of online shopping. They have made people purchase at leisure, even while working, at home, anywhere at all without interfering with their day’s schedule. You will not also have to spend money fueling your car, paying for a train, air ticket fares, etc. Also, comparing the prices of products you purchase online to that you can purchase in your neighborhood, it can be seen that

are cheaper.

Just imagine if you want to buy a product that is not available anywhere in your country and then you have to travel to other countries in search of the product, you will not only waste time but also waste resources because you will have to spend money travelling.

Convenience: online shops are up and running 247 and so, you have the advantage of visiting them at your convenience. You can visit them any time you want, even at mid-night, buy what you want and get it delivered to your doorstep or nearest post office.

You can buy anything you want: there are some products you cannot enter their shops without having someone look at you as being bad, dangerous, or being suspected. With online shopping, you can visit any store and buy whatever you want to buy without having the feeling of being looked at as such.

Makes gifting easy: with these online stores, you can actually buy gifts for family members and friends and get them delivered without you physically doing so. All you just have to do is to input the person’s address and inform him or her that something will be delivered to them and that’s all.

Disadvantages of online shopping

Having discussed the pros of online shopping, we will also look at its cons.

Delay in the delivery of purchased goods: this is one of the major disadvantages of shopping online especially if you are buying from a retailer or company outside your country or region. The products you purchased will take time for it to be transported and delivered to you and this might cause so many problems and inconveniences especially if you urgently need the product.

Deception: this can be called the act of clothing a pig with a beautiful fabric. You might see the pictures of a product and its descriptions online and they look attractive, but when they are delivered, you’ll notice they are might either be of low quality or not be the same thing you ordered. I have being a victim of this; I bought a 1 Tb hard disc from an online store during one of their Black Friday discount sales, on delivery, I found out that the hard disc was not up to 750Gb and also had some faults.

Insecurity: although this challenge have been dealt with by some of the big names in the industry, may people especially hackers have used online shopping to hack into people’s bank accounts, steal valuable information from people and caused uncountable losses to firms; this they do through phishing.

Also, credit card issues have led to people being overcharged by the online shops and some frustrated as well.
learn more: computer crimes

No opportunity for a bargain: the prices of products found on online stores are fixed and therefore there is no room for bargain as you don’t see any sales representative.

There is always a hidden cost: although the products might be cheaper, the cost of shipping or delivery might make the product expensive.

TIPS TO ENSURE A HITCH-FREE ONLINE SHOPPING EXPERIENCE

Some of these disadvantages of online shopping can actually be prevented and so, below are some tips that are helpful;

1. Before you choose an online store to buy your product, it is advised that you carry out some researches on them so as to know if they are real. This can be done by reading some reviews on them

2. Also, you should never on any account give out some vital information to them especially your credit card details if you don’t get good reviews on them and they are not popular.

3. It is advisable that you look for stores that offer pay on delivery services so as to avoid buying inferior goods and secure your details.

4. It is also good to avoid buying expensive goods online.

Having gone through the article, I am sure you can now have a successful online shopping experience. I will like to hear from you. Share your past experiences, suggest other tips and help someone out there. Your comments are highly appreciated.