Greetings!
It will interest you to know that, despite the fast-rising and rocking trend of online shopping, I have only bought a few things online, and I am not shy about it. I wasn’t practically brought up with the lifestyle; in fact, most of us weren’t. We grew to adapt to it.
Why haven’t I made many purchases online? Well, there are not so many factors leading to that. Just read on.✌️
Mind you, the online purchases I am referring to are from sales or production companies, not from a petty neighbor who posts their sales online and forces me to check their posts and buy.
My online shopping go-to has been a very popular platform, JUMIA. As it stands now, it is the one and only platform I have bought from, even despite their poor reviews from people, which can sometimes be discouraging. But that’s fine; every company must have its share of bad reviews.
My first purchase was a goody bag containing many food items, such as sachet tomatoes, groundnut oil, noodles, biscuits, and many others. That was actually a win from a contest I joined, organized by MTN (a telecommunication company in Africa). Before then, I had an account with Jumia but hadn’t used it. So, when it was announced that I had won and was given the voucher to claim on Jumia, I had to revive my account instantly to claim it.
I won’t lie—I was skeptical when I was applying for and claiming the items. Due to the bad reviews I had heard about online shopping, I had added Jumia to my mental list of deceitful platforms. So, I made the application without much hope of getting my item, especially since it was a gift and not purchased with my own money. After the application process, I was given a range of dates to expect my items. I just okayed it and zeroed my mind.
Guess what? When the date arrived, I got a call from someone claiming to be from Jumia, telling me to come to a particular junction to collect my items. Wow! I was surprised! I rushed there quickly and had my goody bag handed to me. I was beyond surprised that day.
That first try alone made me love Jumia!
“Since I got exactly what I was expecting, and it was swift, why not become their regular customer?” This was my thought, and I surrendered to it.
My first major purchase—what I bought with my own money—was a power bank, Itel 20,000mAh. And yes, it was delivered to me without any issues.
But then an issue occurred.
Some years ago, my city was removed as a pickup station on their list, which really discouraged me. The phone I am currently using, I had wanted to buy from them, but the thought of making arrangements for someone to help me pick it up in the nearest pickup city discouraged me. Yes, I once contacted Merit.Ahama, informing her that if my plans went through, she would have to help me pick it up. But I thought of the stress I might impose on her and decided to kill off the plan.
So, this is why I haven’t been interested in making purchases online. I have been scared of using other companies.
Well, recently, I learned from my brother that our city was added back to their list at the beginning of this month. So I'm going to continue and I hope I don't get to experience one of those poor reviews by users.
Thanks for reading.
This is my entry to Digi-prompts of the week
Photos are mine
