The Contrast Between Online and Traditional Shopping

“You get what you pay for”. This saying actually has great merit when shoping in an online or a traditional store that will give you a lovely dress. Last summer,I went for my husband’s funeral in Africa and I was fortunate enough to be able to attend my sisters’ wedding a few months later in the united states. I spent a lot of money on my husbands’ funeral, buying dresses traditionally from Dillards for his relatives and my relatives in Africa. I was on a budget for buying a dress for the wedding, so I choose the low cost online shop, Ali Express, to get a dress for myself for the wedding. While both shoping mode deffinitely serve their main purpose of selling dresses to different individuals, the two contrast greatly when it comes to the fabric, cost, and convenience.

Being confortable in a dress is an important aspect of my life, and shooping is one of them. This is where online an traditional vary the most. online shoppers have had to contend with delays in the delivery of ordered items. Sometimes, the products are not delivered at all. In some other cases, online shoppers have had to cope with goods that are out of their specifications such as wrong sizes, weight, color, design, and sometimes even broken items. Again, online retailers are perceived to be more dishonesty than traditional retailers. People who are doing shopping online report more disappointments than their conventional counterparts

The dress from online compared to the traditional was like when you’re forced to eat your worst food versus you eating the food you like. The fabric was too thin and made with itchy polyester, the stitches where poorly made, very rough sewing and it was coming off. The colour was not the same as the picture that was displayed on the website, I got a grey dress instead of a green dress. They were not true to size because the neck and the shoulder was very small. I am not sure even a seven years baby can fit in the dress. This dress was very local and a crab.

On traditional, all the products can be seen, felt, tasted making the customer make an informed decision about what he or she wants for a product. Unlike the online shoppers, traditional customers get the chance to use all their senses in selecting merchandise that merit their needs and preferences. A customer in need of a dress would have the opportunity to try the dress out to see if it fits compared to the other person who shops online. Those shopping online have to trust just a picture when shopping. Some of the online sellers zoom the picture of the item, so the item could be smaller. The buyers who preferred online shopping to traditional shopping incurred more risks. The quality of the dress I bought from dillard’s was exceptionally beautiful, the material was very soft and made with generic fabric. From the weight of the dress, you could tell it was a good dress because it wasn’t itchy the fabric was really thick. The slits of the dress was well laid. The dress was true to colour and size. This dress fits me so well, until everyone at the funeral was complimenting about my dress and I never wanted to take it off my body.

Another comparable aspect between the two shoping modes was the cost. When advertised, the cost of a dress with Ali Express is asmuch as a couple of dollars less than the cost of one with Dillard’s. Ali Express does not openly advertise the hidden cost we encounter, like shipping fee which is morethan the regular. Also, if you want to edit your order within the same monutes you purchase, you will need to pay an additional fee; one could guess, they are overpriced.

In contrast, Dillard’s does not charge extra fee to ship your dress,and also does not charge any fee to make a change in your dress.contrary to the popular believe of Ali Express being inexpensive route, the amount of money “saved” is easily made up for in extra fees.

Finally as the previous aspects is the convinience of the two shoping modes.by convinience I mean the punctuality of the two. Many people do prefer shopping online because of the convenience it offers to them. Not everyone likes spending time going from mall to mall looking for goods. Others are enticed by the low prices of online products and others just prefer buying things from different countries. Unlike traditional shopping experiences, most online shoppers report to having experiences that are more negative of Ali Express. Despite the increasing number of online shoppers, most internet users label Ali Express as an exasperating, confusing and overwhelming activity. Moreover, the high number of abandoned online transactions speak volume of the rate at which they could become unpopular. So I decided to save my money and take the risk but planned to order for the dress a month before the wedding just in case. This was wise because three weeks gone, and the dress has not yet been delivered to me. Three weeks eventually turn to a month. If the previous month would have been the month of the wedding, I would have missed wearing the dress, not to mention that the vendor was very rude and unapologetic for the delay.

It is understood that unforeseen circumstances can occur, they may be a delay in production or shipment, and this sometimes cause the cargo plane to delay with the shipment, but I have never had this issue with Dillard’s. when shopping for my late husband’s funeral, there were no issues.

After both experiences, I decided I would never again shop online. The chance of not having your dress on time to wear for your event is not worth the cheap price. I may have paid a small amount more to buy the dress I wanted on Dillard’s, but in comparison to the comfort level, fitting and friendliness of the cashier, it was well worth it. As I found out firsthand, “you get what you pay for.”