On a virtual trip

new wave

E-shopping has gained a lot of popularity among people due to the availability of choices. With the rise in the number of online stores, people end up shopping online for clothes, gadgets, books and groceries.

Shopping has become a convenience that is just a click away, in the comfort of a person’s home. Online shopping has become the latest trend which has favoured both young and old despite its pros and cons. Metrolife spoke to the youth of the City and this is what they had to say about e-commerce: 

Tech age 

Sonaksh Singh, a BBM student from PES University, says, “People have become lazy due to the online shopping. We don’t search for the things we want these days. Technology and the internet have made us very lazy and we don’t really step out of our houses to buy anything. I search for the things online only if I don’t get them elsewhere. Otherwise, I prefer going to the stores.”

Convenience matters

Siddharth Vishwanth, an economics student from St Joseph’s College of Arts and Science, says, “E-shopping is a boon as you don't have to go to places to find a desired product. With just a click, you get all the required things and even the prices can be compared easily so that’s a huge benefit. With terrible traffic and parking problems in the city, e-shopping has made it all convenient. You don’t need to deal with the hazards of traffic or the long queues in the stores.”

Return policy

Alfred Thomas, an engineering student from Gopalan College of Engineering and Management, says, “Online shopping has become popular due to the hype that the social networking sites have created. But the biggest disadvantage of e-shopping is returning the product. Return policies are not very friendly and they cause a lot of inconvenience when you have to return a product. It takes at least three to four days to return or exchange products.”

Fight for survival

Allen Prem, an engineering student from Gopalan College of Engineering and Management, says, “Online shopping has affected the stores drastically. Ever since online shopping started to boom, it has threatened the existence of retail stores. There have been cases where a lot of stores have closed down. The stores should make themselves available online to survive in the market and to make business.”

Variety counts

Kriti Choppra, a political science student from St Joseph’s College of Arts and Science, says, “E-shopping provides a variety of choices which are unavailable in a store. But with online shopping, you don’t get what you expect and cannot get the real feel of the product you buy. In stores, everything is up for display and it helps you make a better choice. I mostly shop for books online as there are a lot of varieties of books which are available and searching for books online is much easier.”