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Hello everyone in the hive blockchain. I hope you're all doing well and enjoying the weather wherever you are. Welcome to my blog.
Shopping has become a part of life. Something that we cannot do without. It has become something we need to do at one point in our lives. You'll always have to buy new things; foodstuff, provisions, makeup, jewelry, and all.
I read @quduus1's post and surprisingly we have something in common. When we hear the word “shopping” we think of females. I know this might sound weird or funny. But trust me it is not. Growing up, I always believed shopping was meant for ladies. I started watching movies when I was very young (I actually can't remember the age when I watched my first horror movie). In most, of the movies, I watch when I was a kid, the word Shopping was used by females. Mostly females. And that is where it all started.
When I hear the word “shopping”, I think of a female, or a bunch of grown-up beautiful ladies with credit cards in their hands, going into a big, expensive and nice store. I imagine them picking the best gowns, shoes, and chains. When I was pretty young, I actually thought the word “shopping” meant going to stores and buying clothes. But as time went on, I discovered the “term” shopping is far more vast than I imagined.
There are two ways to shop; online and offline. Gone are those days when one has to travel across States/or across countries to buy goods. Now, thanks to technology we can do it from the comfort of our homes.
HAS ONLINE SHOPPING TAKEN OVER THE WORLD?
Yes! Thanks to technology, there are different websites where we can shop for goods. Examples of some websites are Jumia, Konga, Jiji, Amazon, Forever 21, Wish, and so on. There are hundreds of online shopping websites out there, but the question is have they taken over the world? The truth is, the tradition of offline shopping can never be eradicated. Even though online shopping is easier and saves time, offline shopping also has its perks.
Unlike my sisters, I don't really like shopping. Shopping for some people is more than going out to buy things or clicking some items on shopping websites, some people do it to relieve stress. For some people, it makes them happy. Shopping is a necessity. There will be a time when you outgrow your clothes and you'll have to shop online or go to an offline store to purchase new clothes. No matter how hard I try to avoid shopping, it is only a matter of time before I go out and shop for things.
ONLINE SHOPPING VS PHYSICAL SHOPPING, WHICH DO I PREFER?
Thanks to the advancement in technology, I have come to see the usefulness of both online shopping and physical shopping but the fact is that it all narrows down to individual tastes. One man’s food is another man’s poison. You might say online shopping is the best, and another person will say otherwise with reasonable points to back it up. Personally, offline/physical shopping is the best. Fortunately for me, I've had the opportunity to shop both online and offline. And I’d say offline shopping is the best when it comes to achieving human satisfaction. There is no doubt that physical shopping takes much more time than online shopping, not only that it also has some unwanted stress attached to it which makes most people run to online shopping even when they know what is at risk.
After studying human behavior, I have come to realize that some factors affect our choice when it comes to physical shopping and online shopping. For busy men and women, I think online shopping is the best they can do because you can't expect someone who spends at least 12 hours daily from Monday to Friday at work and during weekends you expect him or her to go to the store to shop, who does that??? In that situation, shopping online is suggested because of the situation but there is always a risk of not getting what we call customer satisfaction which is what we all are after as a customer.
With all this analysis I have listed above, it is quite obvious that I fully support and agree that physical shopping is the best method of shopping especially when ultimate satisfaction is what you want at the end of the day.
BARGAIN AND INTERACT WELL WITH FELLOW SELLERS
I have done few physical shopping and from my experience with physical shopping, I realized while shopping I could bargain and interact with a fellow buyer within the store and at the end of the day I got to see and touch what I want to buy because I look forward to deriving satisfaction from whatever I am paying for and It is a very obvious fact that shopping online will give me neither bargaining opportunity nor the ability to interact with a fellow buyer, I only get to read reviews from other users and most of the times I see complaints and good reviews regarding online services.
No case of “WHAT I ORDERED VS WHAT I GOT
I have seen lots of memes and read so many stories of people who regretted shopping online the moment their goods landed in their hands. Even my friend has fallen victim to “what I ordered Vs what I got”
I will not argue the fact that online shopping has beautiful and important benefits and the most acknowledged benefits are the time factor and stress-free life, but the probability of getting what you ordered exactly the way it is is 50/50.
Unlike physical shopping when you spend about 5 hours in the store, you will find whatever you want and you will have the chance to test them out and feel the material before paying for it, that is one great advantage it has over online shopping.
Prices
I don’t know about other countries, but here in my country, the shipping fee is choking. Imagine buying goods from an online store and the shipping fee is almost half of what you bought. I know physical shopping also involves transportation, but it is still very low compared to online shopping.
Thanks for reading.