Positive and Negative Impacts of E-Commerce On Me As A Consumer

 

Installing Amazon and Flipkart in my mobile phone was my first step into the e-commerce world. Ever since I have been shopping online, be it a gift for a loved ones, apparels, stationery and scholastic products or even groceries. Shopping is like a therapy to me. Even if I do not necessarily have to buy anything, I would scroll through an e-commerce website just to check out the collections and offers. Being an online consumer, have had many negative as well as positive impacts.

Here are few pros and cons of being an online customer:

POSITIVE IMPACTS

• Quick and easy buying process – There’s no queue in online stores. Customers don’t have to wait for their turn to pay the bill. Just a couple of clicks on your device and your desired products will be ordered for you.

• Lesser price and offers – Customers can avail offers and discounts throughout the year. This is a plus point in shopping through e-commerce website. They can also compare prices of a product on different sites and make an affordable purchase.

• Huge global reach –  Customers have access to online store and can buy any product from anywhere in the world through the internet, without even moving away from their workplace or home. Bad weather, unavailability and travel distance can the reasons that may restrict shopping even if necessity arises. E-commerce provides convenience to buy products or services without causing any constraints to the consumers.

• Detailed information available – Every customer wants more details about the desired product. E-commerce websites allow them to search for product information, compare the prices and benefits and finally decide if that product is worth the money. Customers can get their queries clarified online, track their delivery status and even look for reviews before buying a product.  Reviews available on e-commerce websites are another benefit for customers, that in turn build trust over the products and services.

• 24x7 shopping experience – One of the best advantages for online customers is that they can easily visit any e-commerce website at any time of the day to order anything they want. This is probably the most helpful service that e-commerce provides to their customers in comparison to offline stores.

 

NEGATIVE IMPACTS

• Unsure about the quality – One of the biggest negative impacts of buying things online is that the customers have no assurance of the product’s quality being good. There are times when reviews can be deceiving too.

• Website functionality issues – E-commerce websites may face issues with servers which causes problems on the sales. Due to heavy traffic on the website during a massive festive sale, websites often go down and the customers have to wait for the website to work again.

• Refund on return – There may be times when the customer faces problem to get a complete refund of their money. Few websites do not even refund money. They either give store credit or refund the money into the website’s wallet.

• Lack to personal touch – Sometimes if a customer cannot touch, see and try the product, they do not feel convinced. No matter how well a product is explained in the detailed information section, lack of touch can cause problems.

• Financial fraud – E-commerce websites have all records related to the customers including bank details, which are meant to be kept confidential. If the websites do not implement appropriate cyber security, there is a risk of the customer being a victim of financial fraud.