Top 10 Advantages of Online Shopping:

During the lockdown, people were forced to stay indoors. At that time, customers get the necessary supplies at their doorsteps due to e-commerce websites. So let take a look at the reason why online shopping is preferred by many and the popularity behind it. The advantages of online shopping are discussed below-

1. Convenience: This is the main benefit of online shopping. Customers can make purchases from their homes, workplaces as per their convenience. It is easy to cancel a transaction in online shopping. Online shopping has made shopping easier as there are no lines to wait so we can shop within minutes. We have 24x7 facility to shop online. Online shopping saves time and effort. In online shopping, we can get detailed information about a product and get better discounts and lower prices.
2. No Crowd: Festivals, weekends or holidays tend to be crowded in shopping areas; It would be a huge headache and hassle to purchase products in this kind of environment. But with online shopping we dont have to face the crowds and we dont have to struggle for parking.
3. No Pressure: Sometimes, shopkeepers pressure us or use their skills to convince us to buy things we dont need. As a result, we buy things we dont really need. But online shopping leaves us with no pressure to buy unnecessary things.
4. Saves Time: In online shopping, customers dont require to stand in queues to pay the price of products that they have been purchased. Online shopping provides the facility to shop from their office or home, so it saves traveling time. It also facilitates us to look for the products by entering some keywords or by using the search engines.
5. Saves Money: Marketers or e-tailers offer discounts to the customers in order to attract them to shop online. Retailers can sell the products with attractive discounts through online because of the removal of maintenance, real-estate cost.
6. Product Reviews: Most consumers read online reviews of a product to pick up basic information written by customers who have already used it. Online reviews help us get inside information on products of interest. For example, if we are going to buy clothes, we can see reviews of that product; We will see some customers add photos of themselves wearing that product. So we can shop smart. Reviews enable and empower future customers to make smart purchasing decisions.
7. Online Tracking: In online shopping, consumers are facilitated with online tracking as they can easily track the order and delivery status. Along with the above benefits of online shopping, it has some limitations too. Now, lets see the limitations of online shopping.
8. You Can Send Gifts More Easily: Sending gifts to relatives and friends is easy, no matter where they are. All the packaging and shipping are done for you. Oftentimes, they will even gift wrap it for you! Now, there is no need to make distance an excuse for not sending a gift on occasions like birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, Valentines Day, Mothers Day, Fathers Day, and so forth.
9. Easy Price Comparisons: Comparing and researching products and their prices is so much easier online. If you are shopping for appliances, for example, you can find consumer reviews and product comparisons for all the options on the market, with links to the best prices. We can research firsthand experiences, ratings, and reviews for most products and retailers.
10. More Control: Many times, when we opt for conventional shopping, we end up spending more than planned and tend to buy items that are not what we want (but we can not find anything better in the store). Online, you dont have to let store inventory dictate what you buy, and you can get what you want and need.

Top 10 Disadvantages of Online Shopping:

Before you start making up your mind and start buying products online by reading the above mentioned benefits, lets first consider the limitations of online shopping.

1. Risk of Fraud: There are risks of fraud such as hacking, identity theft, credit card scams, phishing and other scams while shopping online. Amidst the pandemic, fraud cases have also increased. There are several offshoot e-commerce websites that have emerged. Hence, we must be careful while transacting online as various fraudulent websites offer eye-catching discounts and deals. Fraud can even be done by making telephone calls in the name of reputable companies to obtain the customers card or bank details.
2. Delay in Paying: Sometimes buyers face unexpected delays in the delivery of the booked items. Booking an order rarely takes five minutes, but its delivery is sometimes delayed by 5-10 days. However, if we buy things offline from the store, we can get our product instantly.
3. Lack of shopping experience: In online shopping, there will be no market visit which results in the lacking of an actual shopping experience that includes market visit, showroom, and merchandise.
4. Less community contact: Online shopping majorly decreases contact with the community. If we do shopping online continuously, we never have to leave home to shop outside. This can be good for a while, but sometimes we should go outside to do shopping, talk with real people, breathe fresh air, take participation and show involvement in the community, and do other activities outside. A computer can never complete a real connection with a human.
5. Delay in delivery: Sometimes buyers have to face an unexpected delay in the delivery of the booked item. Booking an order hardly takes five minutes, but its delivery sometimes takes a delay of 5-10 days. While, if we shop the things offline from the store, we can get our product instantly.
6. Lack of touch with items: In online shopping, it is not possible to touch things in order to get the exact idea of the products quality. It can only be possible when the product is booked and delivered to us. Moreover, if the products are not properly examined, especially in clothes, there will be a chance of discrimination in the quality and appearance of the product.
7. Conclusion: That all about the article. The advantages and disadvantages of online shopping are not limited to this article. Online shopping has many other advantages and limitations. Now we have to use online shopping properly. We should not buy every product online, that is, we should not be addicted to it. We should also give local retailers a chance and try to buy daily used products with them. Online shopping and even everything has its own limitations and benefits, so how they use them is entirely up to the user. So one should always use things keeping in mind the bad effects.
8. Returns can be complicated: Some of the processes of return or refund are easier, but many sellers make it complicated for the buyer. There can be multiple forms such as labeling, shipping, packaging, tracking required to be filled properly, which is sometimes irritating for a person, and as a result, people avoid it.
9. No support for local retailers: If everyone starts shopping online, the business of local stores will come to a stop. As a result, all local stores will get closed. In some places, people have faced the negative impact of e-commerce as it has taken away jobs and spoiled the local economies.
10. Faulty products: It is one of the major drawbacks of online shopping. In the process of online shopping, a product is collected from a packaging unit, and it further goes through various different locations during transit. There is a chance of broken or scratches on sensitive products during transit. Also, we see cases in our day-to-day life that empty boxes and different products are delivered to customers. And after that, users may face difficulties because of varied return and refund policies.