The Rise of Online Shopping During The Pandemic: Benefits and Drawbacks

Introduction

Online shopping is the act of buying products and services over the internet in the comfort of your own home. It has been around for many years but has grown rapidly during the pandemic. People’s lives have changed drastically since the pandemic, almost every aspect of our life became a click away because of lockdown and closure of businesses. Businesses offered online shopping and people rushed to it to somehow continue their day to day lives normally. It seems to be an easy and practical option to purchase your necessities during lockdowns such as household items, electronics, sports equipment, office and school supplies as well as food, however it has its drawbacks. As everyone in the world responds in their own way to Covid-19, consumers rely on the digital world so businesses needed to adapt their strategies to meet everyone’s needs. Online shopping has revolutionized the business and technological worlds during times like these, online panic shopping has occurred to those in need to stock up on items, it has its benefits for businesses and consumers, as well as its drawbacks.

Online shopping panic

Many humans respond to crisis in different ways, during the pandemic people excessively stock up on certain products to try and think they have some control over something. Due to the pandemic, the panic has been shifted to the online stores. We have bought out many medical supplies and household items such as masks, hand sanitizer, bread and much more through online stores to reduce the risk of catching the virus. The psychologist, Paul Marsden believes that people panic shop to meet their psychological needs. There is autonomy which is the need to feel in control of all your actions, relatedness which is the need to feel that what you are doing is for the benefit of yourself and your own family, and there is competence which is the need to feel that you are making the right choice. Seeing others buying up all shelves allows people to feel the need to be involved in such a thing like increasing the shortage of certain products. The media is a big influence to panic shop, seeing photos and videos of empty shelves shows how much people watch out only for themselves so others start to panic shop to fight the need to have these certain necessary products that are being sold out in the matter of seconds. Peer influence can also be a big part of panic shopping as well since buying decisions are influenced by friends and family, this can occur by hearing what peers are doing to stock up which makes you worried. Online shopping brings mental comfort just by a click of a button, so it has its many benefits.

Benefits of Online shopping

During the pandemic, making a few business adjustments are needed to benefit the businesses and its customers. Online shopping is a very beneficial strategy that was introduced to our world by technology, it has never been more convenient to shop than how it is now, it keeps everyone safe. There are many advantages for businesses when it comes to online shopping. One of the main advantages for online shopping is that it keeps small businesses thriving during times like this, online shopping has helped them gain at least their normal income through this service. Customer data is an advantage to allow businesses to see who their customers are and connect with them to make more relationships. Having a wider customer base allows businesses to get more profit since they are not restricted to customers in their physical location anymore, they can sell their products and services they offer to online shoppers across the country or even the globe. When selling online, the business is open all day and night which allows customers in different locations to buy products when other customers are sleeping so the automation makes sure sales are still going through. It is easier to scale up for more inventory when there is no need to pay rent if everything needed can be in one place without paying for the floor space. Many businesses provide their services online such as gym memberships or booking systems as well as restaurants to keep everyone safe. Finally, getting reviews on products through online services and social media can make businesses grow. There are many advantages to customers as they shop online. As convenient as it is, there are no long lines to check out, reviews can encourage customers to buy the product, there is no pressure to buy products at a certain time, and notifications inform customers when there are sales. Consumers have a wide product variety when looking for a certain niche product, going through a more thorough online search will allow finding this product to be much easier than going around from place to place worrying about the time you could be wasting as well as the virus. As getting product reviews benefits the business, it also benefits the customer. With online shopping, products display customer ratings to show the top-rated products, this does not only train customers to be smarter shoppers but it also helps save money. As easy and useful as all of this is, which leads me to my next point of the drawbacks online shopping and Covid have.

Drawbacks of Online shopping

Online shopping is not as glamorous and relaxing as it sounds, it has its negative aspects that have peaked during the pandemic. Businesses face a lot of problems during times like this, it can be hard to communicate with customers as most websites have automated chat boxes so solving customers problems can be harder and more time consuming than face-to-face. Businesses could lose a lot of profit because of the lack of confidence potential customers have to purchase from new businesses that have become online, some customers do not feel safe as they reach the payment methods when purchasing and would rather take a risk than be uncomfortable in their own home just because of something as simple as shopping. Another main disadvantage is that many seasonal clothes are still in stock so it could be harder to sell, this could allow the business to have so much stock that they would be too overwhelmed and not be able to sell it. Finally, businesses during the pandemic could fail to reach some expectations of customers. This is especially hard as the pandemic restricted many businesses from their normal routines which has switched many customers’ thoughts about certain businesses. Customers do have some drawbacks when it comes to online shopping such as the simple things like not being able to examine a product before purchasing for example checking if it is the right size, waiting for an item to arrive due to the virus especially when purchasing gifts or important products could delay many things a customer has in their daily life, spending more money on shipping and taxes than the product itself if customers live in certain areas is also a major drawback. Return policy problems could arise as the virus grows bigger and some businesses do not want to risk getting the virus from returned products so customers could be left unsatisfied with the business as the size or quality could not be what they imagined it to be.

Conclusion

As it is shown, e-commerce is here to stay. Yes, it has its benefits and its drawbacks for customers and businesses, but online shopping benefits the public more than it sets it back, it not only created new markets for businesses but it also created innovation in a customer’s mind about life. Online shopping has created easy flowing lifestyles giving the reassurance that anything is easily accessed when needed. Even though online shopping has created new ways for thefts to occur, technology is always improving to ensure customer safety and financial stability at all times. At the end, online shopping has created a safer opportunity to obtain needs especially in times like these because in today’s world, clothes are not the only things sold online, there is a variety of products and services all offered behind a screen through a click of a button. Online shopping has proved that it is important because it gives the illusion that life is moving on normally even through the obstacle of Covid-19.