We need stuff. We need so much stuff on a daily basis, it’s insane. Sugar for your morning coffee; body wash for your post-gym work out and that’s only the first hour of your day – the consumer market is running wild and we’re dead on desperate for a fast, safe and easy way to get all our shopping done in one place.
Retail stores are fine, they’ve usually got all the goods you need and they’re generally well stocked. Well-stocked with swarms of people, shopping trolleys and manic children running up and down the cereal aisles. Panic attack central. It’s not only food shopping that can drive you up the wall, think of the long waiting time at your favourite furniture store, the hush of the pharmacy or even the hectic vibe at the pet shop!
So if you, like most of the 21st century folk, prefer to make the most of your time and save your patient for better use; online shopping is the obvious answer. So here they are, 5 pros of shopping online.
Save yourself some time
First on the list and a pretty strong contender in the perks category, time. Time is paramount in our hectic lifestyle, we dash in and out of meetings faster than we’d like to and chase our own tails to make sure we’re getting a good work-life balance. Well, that 90 minute trip to the supermarket can be reduced to a quick online login, a few clicks here and there and a valid credit card number.
The more you use the online shopping systems of your favourite supermarkets, the easier it becomes. Mark your favourites shopping items and add them to your trolley. It’s simple and fast! If you’re more of a fashion shopper, maybe you should avoid the dressing room queues and shop online. If you’re worried you might order the wrong size, most shops have a return policy that’s pretty useful.
Avoid the traffic
It’s not only people traffic that you will avoid with online shopping but also the regular car traffic that takes up quite a hefty chunk of our day as is. Why not head straight home from the office, get dinner on the table, put the kids to bed and get your shopping done from your couch with a tall glass of wine in your hand. All you need is an iPad, your shopping list and a fraction of the time it would have taken you that afternoon.
More often than not, you end up making your way back to your car from the shops, the mall or the fashion outlet; just in time for rush hour. Making your retail therapy that little bit less effective than you’d hoped. Skip that, choose your next cute outfit online and save yourself some hassle.
Total flexibility
Flexibility will be your middle name when you fully adopt the online shopping techniques of the modern 21st century shopper. Not only can you order from the comfort of your own home and do so totally worry free, but you can have your shopping delivered to your office, packed into your car and ready to go without lifting a finger.
Hey, let’s go one step further and say that you could even place the order while you’re at the office – during your break of course.
You can track your spending
Heading to any sort of shopping center, be it a food stall, an electronic store or even a toy store, marketing plays a major role in the consumer’s habits and more often than not, you end up buying more than you need, or can afford.
When shopping online, you hold back from clicking that Order Now button if your bills a little bit on the high side. You generally head back to your cart and remove some unnecessary items that you added for kicks. It’s a lot harder to control in person.
Skip the queues
After you’ve chosen all your stuff, picked up the vitals and a few extras, you head to the payout till, but you’re not quite sure where the queue starts – it’s way too long (and disorganised) to be this long stretch of people! Oh but it is. There are 25 conveyor belts; but of course only 12 are in operation. You, dear friend, simply have to wait.
Online shopping has zero-queue-waiting-time. A phenomenon that even the most patience and relaxed shopper wouldn’t mind benefiting from!
Now, let’s be honest, you probably knew all of these things, you’ve even thought of a few other perks while you read through the list, but all we wanted to do was remind you of how 2020 can be a time-saving, energy-saving, stress-reducing year. Put your priorities in order and save yourself the weekly visit to the supermarket this year!