I will be the first to tell you that online shopping is great. You do not have to leave your house and your items will arrive at your door within days. What started out as shopping for presents online in order to avoid crowds around the busy holiday season has now turned into ordering clothes, electronics, and even household items such as cleaning supplies, groceries, and paper products. It is easy to fill your refrigerator, pantry, closet without going to the store, which is the problem, it is too easy. According to a recent study by Statista’s Digital Market Outlook, on average, Americans were expected to spend $1,804 on online shopping last year, which is more than any other country in the world. While online shopping may be one of our greatest advances, there are also cons that go along with.
Costs for Shipping
Sure Amazon Prime has free shipping that can have items arrive at your door within 2 business days, there is a $79 yearly fee that is associated with that, of which is expected to rise. If you are someone who does not order items online that could be a hefty price tag to not wait a couple extra days for an item to arrive. For other websites that do not offer free shipping, if you do most of your shopping online, that can quickly add up for much more of a cost than driving to the store.
Impulse Shopping
When you are at a retail store and are physically holding an item in your hands, thinking if you should make the purchase, it can make or break the deal, especially seeing the price tag or handing over the money to the cashier. For online shopping, the transaction is digital, so it can feel like an unlimited pool of money to spend, especially if using a credit card and are not seeing the balance until the next month. There have been plenty of times when my items have arrived in the mail and I ask myself why I ordered and I did not really need it. My wife does a lot of impulse shopping at Victoria’s Secret. I’ve noticed it’s helpful if I routinely go to her victoria secret credit card login and check her purchases. Simple reminders go a long way to curb impulse spending.
Hassle to Return Items
If you receive your item and it is not what was expected, now is the hassle to return. Although standing in the customer service line at a retail store is not the best experience, at least it is easier than having to figure out how and where to send back your item. Amazon is easy and provides a label, tracking, and quick refunds, but other online sites are not as simple.