Everybody is different and everyone has their own opinion on the subject, but one thing certainly isn’t a matter of opinion: Online Shopping is on the rise!
More people of all ages are choosing to shop online and as a result, more shops are opening an online outlet for their store. As more and more people learn to trust online shopping, this only looks set to increase going forward.
There are many good reasons for this rise in popularity too.
Here are my top 10 reasons:
1. A Huge Variety of Products
There’s no comparison to the speed at which you get access to so many products online vs the experience of traditional shopping. On MVM alone, there are over 650 shops, each one selling hundreds or thousands of products and you can access them from anywhere in the world. You could shop from your laptop at the office desk while taking a break, or from your mobile phone while sitting on the loo. Your options are truly limitless!
In the time it takes you to visit 2-3 physical shops, you could have browsed through way more shops if you were doing it online.
2. No Pressure from Sales People / Take Your Time to Review your Purchases
There’s a certain pressure that goes with traditional shopping. You might feel the eyes of sales people following you around the shop, waiting to make eye contact with you. Once you do, there’s inevitably that:
“Hi, may I help you with something?”
“No, no you may not, I’m just browsing thank you”
And even if you can’t make up your mind, there’s always a finite amount of time before you become that wierdo who has been in the shop for way too long without buying anything.
That’s never a problem when shopping online. No one knows you’re there and you could take your time to look at any products for as long as you like, free of any judgement.
But what’s more important, you can purchase exactly what you need without the pressure of time constraints. Take your time to read product reviews and product details and be confident in your purchases.
Be the master of your own shopping destiny!
3. Save Money
Shopping online could save you money in a number of ways
- By comparing the same item from different shops – Find out who’s selling what you want and who’s offering the best price for it. This might not make such a difference if you’re shopping for one or two small items, but if you’re shopping for some more expensive products like electronics, household goods or even your weekly fruit and vegetable shopping, you could save some good money by shopping around online.
- By comparing different products at ease – Physical shopping takes time, so you may be tempted to purchase what you need from the first shop you visit, simply to save time from shopping around. However, if you’re shopping online, this is much easier and you could easily search through a handful of shops selling what you need to find the best value product possible.
- Buying while things are on offer – It’s true that physical shops also have sales, but you might not always have time to go shopping. Life is busy enough and going shopping isn’t always an option. Shopping online however is much quicker and easier and that means there’s no reason you cannot benefit from great offers when sales come around.
- Fuel – It might not be too significant, but not needing to drive to the shops means that you do save some money on fuel.
- Free shipping – Ok, maybe it’s not a saving, but it’s certainly not an expense. Most local shops do offer free shipping either for any checkout or for any purchases over a specific amount.
4. Discrete Shopping
This one may be a little bit of a niche.
There are some among us who are not private at all; open books without a reserved bone in their body. There are other people however who like to keep their private things… well… private.
Buying sexy lingerie, condoms or sex toys could potentially be something which one might want to be more discrete about. For this, we have online shopping. There are loads of local online shops listed on MVM selling these items and more, which are delivered discretely to your door in unmarked packaging.
5. No Traffic, Parking, Crowds or Queues
Maybe I’m just a little impatient myself, but to me; this alone is enough of a reason to shop online. But let’s think about this a little more in depth.
Most of us work from 9am till 5pm. Maybe starting a little bit earlier, maybe ending a little bit later.
That’s rush hour in the morning, then we’re working and then there’s rush hour after work.
Physical shops don’t remain open 24×7 meaning that most people can only hit the shops during the same time windows. After work till before shops close and Saturdays.
That means Traffic, parking issues, crowds and queues.
NO THANK YOU!
Online shopping please 😊
6. Search Function
Have you ever been in a shop and got frustrated because you couldn’t find what you need? Did you ever think to yourself; Uuuurgh.. I wish I could just search for what I need and be directed right to it!
Well… I have, because it would just be so much more convenient!
You could be on almost any online store and type what you’re looking for in the search function. If it doesn’t return any results, you just move on to the next store. It’s quick and it’s easy.
Even better still, MVM also has a search function that allows you to search through its listed websites at once. This is an incredible tool to find what you need as quickly as possible.
It’s also great at finding the same items from different sellers to help you compare prices and possibly save some cash – see reason 3 😉
7. Get Things Faster
Really! Think about it!
Physically shopping takes planning. You might need to wait till the weekend in order to find the time to go to buy something. Shopping online allows you to quickly buy something and have it delivered to your home or office – in most cases by the next day.
The shopping itself is also faster since you have all the shops at your fingertips and features to make your life easier like search functions and well categorised items.
8. Buy in Bulk
I wouldn’t advocate sticking to online shopping for everything, I myself also hit the shops from time to time for groceries or any kind of shopping.
That being said, there are some situations where buying in bulk could save a fair few Euro’s, but at the same time; when you do your weekly or monthly shopping you wouldn’t want to fill your trolley with the same thing either.
Anyone who has a couple of dogs at home knows how quickly their food gets gobbled up and it’s just so easy to order those heavy bags online and have them delivered right to your door.
There’s also some niche products which you might not always find at your local supermarket (eg. Organic nappies for your little one). You could just order a good stock to have you covered for the next couple of months and never worry about running out.
One of the situations where I shop online in some bulk, is to buy alcohol and other beverages online. There are some great wholesale shops selling online with great choices and unbeatable prices. I certainly save lots of money stocking up and having things ready at home rather than buying from my nearest store when I’m invited over to friends or family and am in a rush.
9. Discovering New Brands and Shops
If we played a game where I ask you to mention 20, 30, or 40 local online shops, I bet you’ll really struggle to think of them. Given a little time, you might even manage.
On MVM there are over 650 local online shops to choose from. Yes, many of these are very well-known outlets, but others are small businesses who have a passionate interest in a niche market and have taken it upon themselves to source the very best products in that market. Click through our categories and get inspired by all the shops you’ve never heard of. You’re in for a very pleasant surprise!
10. Saves Hassle of Heavy Shopping
Whether we’re talking about grocery shopping, electronics shopping, furniture shopping and everything in between, you could lug things around with you until your arms give out, you could come and go to place things in your car while you go back to continue shopping.. But wouldn’t it be easier to just have everything delivered to your door without any hassles at all?
On a personal note, I have started to purchase all my fruit and vegetables online. I always did this shopping myself – being very picky in the produce that I choose. Back in the beginning of the Covid- 19 pandemic I decided “heck…I’ll try buy online”. And I’ve never looked back. Everything they deliver is always fresh and undamaged and they often throw in something for free as a thank you. On the very rare occasion that something wasn’t up to standard, the price of that item was reduced from my next bill. What’s more, I don’t need to find the time to go shopping for Fruit and Vegetables and carry around any heavy grocery bags.
Why do you love online shopping?
Tell us in the comments section or get in touch via the Contact page or socials.