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Shopping online can be a favorite pastime or a dreadful chore. Many people prefer to shop online, scouring websites for the best deals. They compare prices, coupons, and shipping charges from a wide variety of sites. They read online reviews of products and websites and feel confident about their purchases based upon the experiences of others.
Others prefer to head to the stores, wanting to be able to see the product and get advice from salespeople. They want instant gratification, to buy the product and take it home right away. They feel the only way to really know what they’re getting is to hold it in their hands.
Which type of shopping do you prefer? Are you and avid online shopper? Do you rarely head to stores? Do you love avoiding mall crowds by shopping from the comfort of your home?
What are your plans for holiday shopping? Will you be hitting the malls? Have you already started your holiday shopping? Will you avoid the stores and ship online? Let us know in the Comments section below!
* Image by Timo
Almost all of my shopping, except for food, is online, and much of the food I buy is online too–via delivery services or Amazon.
If I shop in person I end up buying too much that I don’t need, i.e. impulse buying.
Hi Kathy, Good point, more and more grocery stores are offering their customers the ability to shop online. I’m curious how you manage to avoid impulse buying online though! I don’t seem to be immune to that affliction, whether I shop online or in stores! 🙂
I like shopping online and banking online usually. I use 2 banks and I have had online problems with both thus week. One locked me out and i had to phone their call centre. The other one logged me into a share dealing account that I don’t use. I couldn’t buy the shares and the market closed before I figured out what was going on. Today the shares had gone up in price and so I missed a good deal! It could work out, who knows? I don’t buy food online and prefer not to buy clothes online usually. I like to see clothes because quality varies so much. I want a new winter sweater but I really dislike the designs I see. Every sweater I see is either too thin or designed appears to be designed for an Arctic expedition!
I took your advice and wrote about food today. I wrote about Halloween food! It might give people a few ideas. I might do traditional food from where I live too. 🙂
Hi Mike, I have tried doing my grocery shopping online. I did it way back when after my twins were born, 13 years ago. It was very handy then when getting out of the house was a challenge, but I realized that I like picking out my own produce. But if you’re housebound, online grocery shopping is a fantastic convenience!
I will be heading over to your blog soon to check out your Halloween recipes! 🙂
I’m a bit of an eBay junkie. I’ll see something IRL, and if I REALLY want to buy it, I’ll scope out better prices on eBay first. I will often buy something gently used (especially handbags…I’m a veritable addict!) to bring the price down considerably.
It’s tougher in Canada because we get dinged with ridiculous taxes and customs fees every time something crosses the border, but I do love the convenience of making purchases from the comfort of my home.
Hi Ruth, eBay can be addictive, can’t it? I have a friend who has bought and sold cars through eBay. I’ve bought quite a bit of furniture on eBay too.
Buying on eBay can be a leap of faith, but any good seller is bound and determined to keep their feedback rating high. I only had one bad experience with eBay, in England, when a seller from Wales tried to deliver a counterfeit iPad to me. eBay was fantastic and refunded my purchase price fully.
That’s annoying about all the customs fees you have to pay with eBay goods crossing the border into Canada, but I imagine the savings can make it worthwhile.
Thanks for your visit awesome tweet and comment, Ruth. Have a fun weekend!
Carolyn – Nice poll. I love to shop online for electronic gadgets and stuff, but head over to a shop when it comes to food and clothes. Most of this apprehensive behavior comes from back in India where online shopping wasnt as popular as in US, but it is picking up there as well now.
Hi Praveen, The results of the poll are very interesting so far. I’m surprised at how many people prefer online shopping to store shopping.
You’re right, internet shopping has come a long way with regard to trust. And part of that trust comes not only in believing the merchant will deliver what you buy, but also that the description of the item is accurate.
Some people can buy clothes online very well. I have a friend who buys a lot of her clothes online and has a very accurate idea of what looks good on her. I struggle with this, so I tend to go to the shops to try on clothes.
Have a super weekend, Praveen!
Online Stores give a competitive prices in comparison to Local stores but there is some things which usually people are afraid of Security of the Credentials.. and Quality of the Product..
Hi Rohit, Great points! Sometimes people are more comfortable buying from a local store to be able to know exactly what they are getting and for ease of returning the product.
A few months ago I wrote an article on secure online shopping which you can find here: Tech-Knowledgy: Secure Online Shopping And Unlocked iPhones
Thanks for your visit and wonderful comment, Rohit!
Hey Carolyn,
I purchase all my groceries and clothes in stores. I’m very budget conscious, I inherited that from my Mom I’m afraid. As for clothes, I’m built kind of weird so I have to try things on so online shopping wouldn’t work for me in that respect.
I do online shopping for books mostly. I will do some Christmas shopping for my niece and nephew after they send me their list. A lot of what they want I can easily purchase online. Our family doesn’t exchange gifts any longer. To us it was always about the kids even though our youngest is now 20. Spending time together is much more important to us.
Overall, I’m just not a big shopper period. I’ve never enjoyed shopping even if it’s something I really want. And upon your recommendation, I did buy my iPod Touch online but went to the store to pick it up. Saved me $50 doing it that way too! Loved that.
Enjoyed the poll and it was good to see that others still like to shop in stores too. I really hope that won’t ever change.
~Adrienne
Hi Adrienne, You’re right, it’s very important to support local stores even if you like to shop online. Many stores are going out of business (such as Borders) due to online competition. It’s important to support local merchants if you can, so I’m glad you shop locally.
When sending a gift far away, online shopping can be much easier though as you can have the items shipped directly instead of having to package it up yourself.
Thanks for participating in the poll, Adrienne!
Carolyn, aloha. With the exception of food and household necessities, virtually all of my shopping is online. With shopping online you have convenience, large selection, price and delivered to your door. What more could you want?
As per usual, most of my holiday shopping will be done online.
From the results in the poll, looks like a lot of people feel the same way.
Best wishes for a glorious weekend. Aloha. Janet
Hi Janet, you are certainly not alone! The results of the poll indicate that you are in the majority by preferring to shop online. It must be especially convenient to shop online when living in Hawaii. Do most of the online sites charge extra for shipping to Hawaii?
Thanks for your visit, comment and sharing on Facebook, Janet! 🙂
Amazon is very much revolutionizing the shopping. Esp with Prime, I have heard, quite a few of my friends, have turned to Amazon for products ranging from Gerber to groceries. I am not one of them (I use it only for electronics, books, etc.), but I think this is where the next big disruption in ecommerce is going to happen.
Imagine, the so-called warehouse stores (Costco, Sams) business model is so 20th century. Collect a membership fee of $50, sell truckload of unnecessary extra items at a not-so-warehousy price, and consumers buy a lot, and throw a lot. Very inefficient model.
What if Amazon, once it has a sizeable Prime membership throws itself into the game. And I think they should …. because the amt of wastage that happens here, can be better utilized elsewhere, can save us the garbage/landfills, and generally better for the world we live in.
Hi iRewardChart, Interesting point. Amazon certainly has changed the online shopping landscape. One aspect of Amazon that has fascinated me is their Prime membership. I love Prime, but I fear that others will ruin the deal for the rest of us. I will hear people talk about how they order small items for two day delivery just because they can. As Amazon’s margins suffer from those who abuse the program, they will probably have to raise their prices or eliminate the Instant Video feature.
Perhaps the cost of shipping would prevent Amazon from competing with the warehouse store. Those cases of tomato sauce would cost a fortune to ship on a two day basis, so I imagine Amazon would lose money on the deal.
I agree with you, those warehouse stores can really add to the waste. I joined Costco in the UK when we lived there because they had American items (including magazines!), but I haven’t joined since I’ve been back in the US.
It will be interesting to see where Amazon goes next! Thanks for your visit, comment and awesome tweet!
Hi Carolyn,
Most of my shopping is done online as well at the local stores- especially the food and household items. However for travels, a few selected electronic, books, gifts and other things it remains online. So, for me it is a combination of both.
I would always prefer going into the detail of the item before purchasing anything to make doubly sure about it, unless it is a well known product.
Thanks for taking out the poll as we can make out what most people prefer this ways 🙂
Hi Harleena, good idea. Even when you buy from a store, it helps to find out information online, including reviews. Travel purchases are almost always online, unless you have a travel agent.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the poll. I agree, it’s very interesting to see the results. A lot of Wonder of Tech readers really enjoy internet shopping!
I like a mixture of both actually. I love the holidays and the smell of the trees and seeing the frenzy people put themselves through to get that ultimate deal. Most times, I think stores make some people look like “dummies” because months earlier that same TV was on sale for the same price and all of a sudden now it’s that price again. Except this time, it’s marketed as if it’s never been that cheap. Seriously? I started early and I am almost done.
What I love about shopping online is the deals you can find. During the holiday season, stores pull out all the stops online to offer everything from coupon codes to free shipping. Funny part is that they offer that throughout the year, but turn up the heat during the holidays. Last year all of my shopping if not most, was done online. I run a coupon business that I don’t tell anyone I actually run, (secret squirrel) so I get emails from brands early on about coupons and discounts.
Word of advice: take your time, they run deals and deep discounted specials weekly. They seem to offer more online and free shipping is offered only as incentive for those wanting to avoid the crowds in the store.
Never pay retail and use Google to see if that store has coupons before paying for anything. You will find it I promise you! If not, shoot me an email! Happy Shopping this year to everyone!
Hi Sonia, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! Great point, the experience of shopping in stores can be an event. At the holidays, many stores are decorated beautifully. They might have cinnamon or evergreen scents to enhance your enjoyment of being there.
I used to live in New York City and the department store windows during the holidays were nothing short of theatrical. People would stand in line outside the stores to see the amazing windows. Nothing like that when you shop online!
I reviewed a great coupon website a few weeks ago called, Rather Be Shopping, that is as close to a custom coupon site as you can get. Here is the link if you want to check it out: Your Personal Site for Savings!.
Congratulations for being close to done with your shopping! My girls have October birthdays, so I’m almost done with that. Then I can turn my attention to the holidays!
Thanks for your visit, comment and awesome tweet!
Hi Carolyn,
I love to shop online, and I buy close to 100% of my books online, and the same with music and movies. But usually when it comes to the holidays, I’m late, and need to be some of the local shops as well 🙂
Hi Jens, Yes, a lot of people buy their books, music and movies online. A lot of stores in the US have gone out of business because people prefer to buy these items online. But if you’re on the way to a holiday celebration and haven’t bought a gift yet, online shopping probably isn’t your best bet! 😉
I hope you enjoy your holiday shopping this year, Jens!
Very little online; my wife is old school and would prefer not to have credit card info out there.
Also, from a local economic standpoint I would like to see the tax dollars stay in the community to do good.
But that’s just me……….:)
Hi Bill, You’re absolutely right, it’s very important to support local merchants. A lot of them have suffered because so many people are shopping online now. Shopping locally is definitely an investment in the community.
I visited a Borders bookstore a few weeks ago right before it closed for good. It was very sad to see the end of the chain. Imagine how many independent bookstores have gone out of business.
I hope you and your wife enjoy your holiday shopping, Bill! 🙂