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Today’s technological advancements have made online shopping a popular practice. Nowadays, most consumers would rather buy goods online than in person from a store.
People can easily purchase the things of their choice while lounging at home thanks to online shopping. They don’t need to visit the market.
But as every coin has two faces, online buying has its own pros and disadvantages.
Benefits of Online Purchasing
Customers who have little time to visit the market or who are overly occupied with their demanding work and other obligations find great relief from the hassles of buying online.
After gathering information from respondents and reviewing relevant books, articles, and journals, it was discovered that online shopping offers the following advantages to its clients:
Saving Time
The main advantage of internet buying is that it saves clients’ time, which is greatly valuable when they have a busy schedule or other obligations.
A customer can choose and buy things without having to visit the market. Having an internet connection is all that is required for online purchasing.
If someone needs to buy a certain item or gift right away and doesn’t have time to visit the store because they are working late at their office, they can buy it right away online.
Therefore, the main advantage of online purchasing over traditional shopping is that it takes less time.
Delivery to Your Home
The delivery of purchased goods to one’s home is the next advantage of online shopping. A consumer no longer needs to leave their house. Thanks to online shopping, even those who are not physically active can buy things from the comfort of their own home.
When a guy is ill and unable to visit a market to shop but still feels strongly that he should buy the things he wants, he can shop online and make the purchase by simply looking at the products without having to leave the comforts of his home.
Simple Payment
The ability to make electronic payments is the next advantage of internet buying.
Even though e-payment options are currently offered for traditional retail purchases as well, online shopping is more advantageous because it eliminates the need for customers to leave their homes in order to receive home delivery of their purchases. The added convenience of e-payment also makes things easier.
Harmful Implications Of Online Buying
Phishing Websites
The biggest drawback of internet shopping is the proliferation of fraudulent websites, which people use to defraud clients of their money or in other ways.
These websites occasionally accept orders from customers and receive instant payment; nevertheless, the customer never receives the things they ordered. Online purchasing does, therefore, have drawbacks in addition to its many advantages.
Counterfeit Items
It is yet another significant drawback of internet buying.
A few participants discussed their experiences and revealed that they had gotten counterfeit goods after delivery. One respondent related his own experience of receiving soap in the envelope after paying for a costly smartphone online. He attempted to get his money back online, but it was unsuccessful, so he began to dread that he would cheat the next time he made an online purchase.
Similar to this, a few other respondents talked about how they had been duped into buying phony goods.
Concern about Security of Privacy
The issue of privacy security is the next challenge with internet buying.
Customers are required to provide personal details such as their name, address, email address, account number, IFSC code, and so on due to electronic payments. The fraudulent websites use these kinds of client personal information in extremely inappropriate ways. These fraudulent websites have the potential to cause their users financial or other harm.
A few participants reported experiencing fraud from phony e-commerce websites, leading to issues with their bank accounts and funds. They consequently had to open new bank accounts.
Restricted Selection
It is occasionally the case that internet retailers offer a wider selection of goods than brick-and-mortar stores. However, some respondents mentioned that websites may only offer a very small selection of products for users to choose from. However, they discovered a wide selection in a shopping center when they bought the identical thing there.
Apprehension about hackers
The largest drawback of internet shopping is this. These days, hackers are present all over the world and take advantage of people’s personal data. Customers are required to divulge personal information, such as their account number, email address, and mobile number, when they shop online. Therefore, there is a greater concern of hacking because hackers can create phony e-commerce websites in an attempt to obtain client personal information, which they then use for malicious purposes.
Thus, online purchasing and cyber security are related issues.
Final Verdict
Therefore, it is clear from the discussion above that there are two sides to internet purchasing.
The first face provides clients with many advantages, such as a wide selection, the ability to shop from home, ease of payment, and so on. However, online shopping also has drawbacks, such as the potential for personal information to be compromised and the possibility of fraudulent websites.
Customers who enjoy shopping online are therefore encouraged to exercise extreme caution due to the negative impacts of online shopping, which have already been covered. Watch out for fraudulent websites. Based on their own online shopping experiences, the respondents have also recommended that our government create further security regulations with the assistance of technical specialists in order to guarantee that customers’ online shopping is completely safe.
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