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In the last post we saw the state of Internet and Broadband penetration in Malaysia and Singapore. In this post let us look at the advantages of Online Shopping.

Advantages:
Convenience: The most important advantage of Internet shopping is the convenience factor. Consumers can shop from their Home, Office or virtually from anywhere. All it requires is a personal computer/laptop, an Internet connection and the ubiquitous credit card. With wireless Internet, consumers can also shop while traveling. Nowadays it is also possible to shop through the mobile phone.

24/7 Availability: Online stores are available 24/7. Many consumers find online shopping attractive as web-stores are accessible anywhere and anytime, day and night. Round-the-clock (24/7) availability provides shoppers the ability to take an informed decision at their own pace rather than being pressured to buy a particular product, due to lack of time.

Comfort: The comfort offered by online shopping cannot be matched by physical shopping experience. Offline shopping requires shoppers to travel, browse through the product racks; spend time standing at the bill counter etc. It is no wonder that many shoppers feel drained at the end of their shopping jaunt. There is also a possibility of bouncing onto irritable people, which can spoil the whole shopping experience. But on the other hand, online shopping enables shoppers to shop from the comfort of their bedroom without having to meet anyone physically. Internet shopping is also ideal for shoppers with kids as they can avoid taking them to physical stores.

Anonymity: Internet shopping is the ideal shopping platform for shoppers who value anonymity. Some shoppers may not be comfortable buying products like say lingerie from a physical store. They dread the very thought of being seen at a store like that. But with anonymity that comes with Internet shopping, shoppers no longer need to bother about being seen with such products.

Time Saver: In today’s world time needs to be managed efficiently. Retail store shopping involves lot of time spent on traveling. But online shopping saves travel time to retail stores. The time taken to travel can be spent efficiently by researching on products and merchants. After a thorough research, a few searches and clicks are more than enough for completing the shopping process. The saved time can be effectively spent on other important tasks.

Door Delivery: Products bought online are delivered at shopper’s doorstep. Many stores provide a tracking number generated by the delivery company to consumers, so that they can keep a tab on their delivery.

Save Fuel: For regular shopping, either public transport or private transport, including Car, Motorbike etc., is used. At these times of economy hardship, unnecessary expenditures can impact the financial health of a family. On the other hand, online shopping saves money as consumers need not travel but be able to shop from their home itself. This also helps save fuel, a precious resource these days.

Vast Choices: Online shopping provides shoppers with wide variety of products. Brick and mortar stores are limited by the physical size of their store. So it may not be possible to display all the products. But on the other hand, online stores can display wide variety of products as their store is not limited by physical space.

Speed Shopping: Shoppers need to allot separate timings for their regular shopping trips. The effort could last from couple of hours to almost a day. But in online shopping the whole shopping process right from choosing a product to payment, can be completed in matter of minutes. All the shopper needs to know is where to find the product(s) that he/she wants.
Beyond Boundaries: Online shoppers are not bound by geography as they have access to stores beyond their region. So for example, our local shoppers can shop with stores based out of China and America. This dramatically increases the choice of products at our fingertips.

Long Tail Products: Internet makes hard-to-find products easily available. These are called the Long Tail (term coined by Chris Anderson) products. There are many niche stores that specialize in these kinds of products. These stores sell unique/hard-to-find items in small volumes to many customers. This is another important advantage of online shopping.
Competitive Pricing: As you are aware online stores do not have any physical storefronts. So the cost incurred is comparatively lesser than that of the retail stores. This combined with other factors including lower cost-of-operations (e.g. cost of hosting etc) enables many online stores to pass on the benefits to consumers.

Safe Shopping: “Online shopping and Safety. That is a definite oxymoron!” Heard you say that. But please step back and think how safe it is to hand over your credit card to the waiter at the restaurant, or to the person behind the desk at the department store. Now these guys can misuse the information on your card as they have ample time to note down both the card and the CVV number. But on the other hand you provide your credit card information only to the payment server which collects and passes the information in an encrypted and secure manner.

Abundance of Information: Internet is a virtual treasure trove of information and makes information gathering very easy. One of the main advantages of online shopping is that shoppers can easily find deals and compare prices from different online merchants. In 2003, 72% of US online shoppers said they would rather surf online than go to retail stores to attain information about a product. By using general search engines like Google.com and shopping search engines like Shopparadiso.com, consumers can completely research about merchants and products including their prices, features and reviews from experts and fellow shoppers. The whole exercise results in better purchase decision.

Absence of Pressure: Many a times shoppers are forced to buy a product, that is totally unnecessary, due to pressure applied by a merchant/vendor/sales person. But in online shopping a merchant/sales person do not play any direct role. This enables online shoppers to take their own time, without being pressured, to arrive at their purchase decisions.

Ease of Gifting: Online shopping makes gifting very easy even to friends and relatives who reside in different parts of the country/world. All a shopper needs to do is choose a trustworthy website, gift(s), gift wrap and provide the address to which the gift needs to be delivered. The rest including the delivery will be handled by the online store.

Many online stores also offer good deals, easy-payment options and reward-programs. In short, the convenience offered by Internet shopping cannot be matched by any other mode of shopping. But there are also some caveats involved. In the next post, we shall look at the concerns that shoppers have about shopping online.