W44e1: "Seeing is believing", I'll Settle For Physical Shopping
Top of the day guy, I trust we are doing well. I love this contest topic and this is my own opinion about it.
Online Shopping Vs Physical Shopping
These are two methods of shopping that are still very much in vogue today. Which one do you prefer? And why?
I have heard a lot about how people buy things from online shops. Kudos to the technology that we can sit in our homes and with our gadgets purchase whatever goods and services we want. Anywhere, anytime.
I have experienced virtual shopping but I am not cool with it, here are the outstanding benefits I have earned from virtual shopping
convenience
Virtual shopping makes it easier to find the particular item you need, unlike the normal market where you will have to walk around and round in search of an item.
So I can testify that there is so much convenience with virtual shopping.
Online shopping offers convenience at its peak. Stressful and effortless shopping. Also in virtual shopping, you get to pick from a range of products. Different and assorted that you can pick from.
Saves time
Virtual shopping saves time a lot.
Imagine you get to wake up, shower, and get dressed, just to get an item. You spend so much time, probably a whole day in the market searching for a particular item. At the end of the day, you get home dirty and exhausted. whereas with online shopping just a few clicks you are good to go.
Crowd control/ less exposure
Another outstanding benefit of online shopping is that there is less crowd and more control. You can tell how a market square, you come in contact with different people from all backgrounds. You might as well come in contact with a madman. The exposure to germs and bacteria is on the high side. But with virtual shopping, you can't testify of crowd and exposure.
Source
Out of all these benefits I still can't vouch for virtual shopping. Common! Seeing is always believing. I'll share a few of my experiences and give reasons why I am not comfortable with virtual shopping.
Low-quality of products
The very first experience I had was in 2019. I ordered a fine bag which I found in the store online. I loved the color and the entire made of bag which was particularly what I needed. I scanned through it and went ahead purchasing it.
I was so excited and could wait to receive my delivery. I prepared the outfit I would use to rock with my bag. Omoh I was ready to kill it. But the day I received my delivery my happiness turned to tears, regrets and frustration.
My bag was way smaller than what I saw online, the quality was so light and thin whereas what I saw was something thick and big.
The same happened with a friend of mine. He ordered a T-shirt, but unfortunately for him, it wasn't made of thick cotton and the fabric used was light and could easily rip off. He boiled in anger that he had wasted his money and till today, he hasn't worn it out.
These instances made me lose vibes for anything online. I didn't get a quality product but I paid so much money to get it. Hence I don't trust getting quality products online.
Secondly,
Fraud
You can tell of the alarming rate of dubious activities ongoing in the online space.
There are a lot of fraudulent activities thriving every day on the net. People are being scammed of their hard-earned money, can't traders everywhere, and if you are not careful enough you might as well become their prey.
I have a friend who sells items like hair, bags, clothes, materials, shoes, etc She travels to Onitsha to get those items. There's this set of pajamas she saw online and she purchased it but it was never delivered.
A couple of weeks ago, I saw someone wailing on social media telling people how she was scammed by an online trader. According to her, she purchased goods from someone online and she never got their goods and the person is not picking up the call either.
Transportation problems
Another problem with virtual shopping is transportation and delayed delivery.
Most times you get to purchase a good and it takes a very long time before you get them. Sometimes you might not even get them. A lot of things must have happened which hindered the delivery of your item. Problems like accidents, bad roads might damage it, robbery attacks on the road, and a lot more. Your item ends up getting to you rough or damaged, delivered late, etc.
These are personal reasons I can't get involved in online shopping anymore.