Online Shopping: There Is Need to Understand Its Pros and Cons
Online shopping is gradually gaining popularity in our country. It is not that there were no attractive deals during festivals before online shopping came into fore. There have been discounts during festive seasons since time immemorial, be it Diwali or end of the year. The fundamental difference today is that the market is just a click away. All we have to do is pick our smartphones and access the host of e-commerce websites like Amazon, Snapdeal, Flipkart, etc. The market was never this close!
Thanks to the internet, there is no need to step out and go to a market. We just have to pick up our mobile and click away. These e-commerce sites are always geared to exploit any occasion that comes their way. Be it social media or emails, you can expect advertisements of some kind or the other in all of them.
The Mobile Revolution and Shopping Behavior
The mobile phone revolution has had a significant influence on online shopping gaining momentum. The moment smartphone is in hands, tons of applications or apps of online stores make their way into your life. Using these apps is made so simple and easy that even a less educated person can use them to buy things. While companies like Amazon are telling people about the advantages of online shopping and also educating them about the basics of how to do online shopping; there are others like Flipkart that are explaining small-town business people on the benefits of taking their products to global consumers.
At first look, this appears to be optimal in terms of both money and time, but once we begin to scrutinize these habits, we will realize that it has gradually turned into a form of weakness or even illness.
The Illusion of Discounts
The advertisements (in brief, ads) for sale that are shown daily give the impression that products are being sold at massive discounts. The ads are so compelling that we are made to think that if we let go of this opportunity, we will not be able to get them at such low prices. But the truth behind this is totally different. We can get almost all the products at those reduced prices much later too. Also, the discount being shown on the products is not real. In most of the cases, whatever amount is shown after discount is indeed its actual price.
Psychological Roots of Online Shopping Addiction
The research and studies done on this topic show that the habit of online shopping is increasing because people today are experiencing loneliness and depression. Such people tend to do online shopping to fight their loneliness. Whether it is the discounts that lure people to online shopping or an effort to cheer themselves while fighting against loneliness, most of them end up buying things that they really don't need.
One other important reason for the growing popularity of online shopping is the comfort of online payment methods. Paying online can be done quite quickly by merely providing a few details. The money gets deducted from your bank account and directly gets deposited into the account of the e-commerce company. The ease of this process is one of the primary reasons for online shopping.
Whatever money you pay online towards buying goods and services through online stores, it just seems like a number. But if the same amount was taken out from your pocket, counted and paid, you realize the real value of that money and the amount being spent gets registered in the brain. It is a psychological fact that if we count money with our hands and pay it, we are better at comprehending the worth of that payment.
The EMI Trap
Another important reason that is making online shopping lucrative is the ability to pay in installments. When we don't have to worry about how much money we have in our bank account, then why will we sincerely care about how essential is the product we are buying? However, the realization will soon dawn on us when the EMIs start getting deducted and when the stuff that we purchased is lying unused at home. Further, in online shopping, we cannot physically inspect or try on the items being considered for purchase.
The Road Ahead: Conscious Consumerism
We might temporarily resolve not to buy anything until something is required, but rarely do people manage to stick to their resolve. E-commerce companies have made shopping too easy for everyone. What is to be developed is the necessary restraint to buy only things that are required.
The pace at which online shopping is crossing the boundaries of big cities and reaching smaller towns and getting accessible to middle class and lower middle class, it is imperative that in addition to the advantages, people should also be educated about what they should be cautious about. Only then will spending their hard-earned savings result in happiness and not regret.
"The best way to find out what we really need is to get rid of what we don't. Quests to faraway places or shopping sprees are no longer necessary." — Marie Kondo
"Nothing haunts us like the things we didn't buy." — Anonymous
"Consumers have not been told effectively enough that they have huge power and that purchasing and shopping involve a moral choice." — Anita Roddick