The Internet has opened the door to new ways of shopping. Perhaps the greatest example of this are the many online auction sites. Online shopping brings numerous amount of goods right to your home or office and access to items that we would not normally come into contact with.
You make a choice from dozens and dozens of items that before were only available at trade fairs. It is as if someone dropped off extensive catalogues from thousands of stores at your doorstep. Shopping on the Internet offers convenience and time-saving benefits to shoppers, as compared to shopping in traditional brick-and-mortar stores.
This mode of shopping eliminates agonizing traffic jams, rude clerks, pickpockets to contend with, no bad weather to travel under, nor any transportation cost involved; the Internet allows shoppers to develop their own timetables for research and purchasing. Because of the internet's powerful search-ability. It is far easier to track down all the top vendors of certain product throughout the world than through conventional methods of phone directories, word of mouth, and advertisements. Because you have quick and easy access to so many sellers, you also have that much opportunity to compare prices.
Online shopping may save you time in delivery as well. Many airlines such as Kenya Airways, now provide electronic tickets. After you buy the ticket online, you are done. The ticket will be waiting for you at the airport check in. No more waiting at the travel agency.
The Internet operates 24 hours a week, seven days a week, and can be reached from anywhere in the connected world; shoppers can expect to browse and buy goods on the Internet anytime, unlike traditional store-fronts that have fixed opening hours. and if you get interrupted, continue your shopping later. Many sites will save your items for you in a virtual shopping cart. Shoppers can also purchase goods that are unavailable at their location, and are able to bypass restrictive import polices, as the Internet allows shoppers to make purchases from merchants in other locations around the world.
Shoppers are able to use the Internet as a powerful research tool in the purchasing process. For certain products such as books and videos reviews and recommendations are important factors in influencing purchase decision. with such products, shoppers are not only able to browse through a larger selection on the web in sites such Amazon.com, but are also able to conveniently obtain reviews and recommendations that are usually unavailable in off-line stores.
Shoppers are able to find lower prices using the Internet due to the wider reach of information, and sites such as Rupu and Mocality that offers high discounted prices for their goods. Shopping online for household items is actually cheaper and one can get his or her money back and also compare prices. One can buy these items through an online rebates portal or savevast.com. You can earn 2 to 10 percent cash back there, this includeas an extra 5 percent from merchants like Drugstore.com. Add that with a 2% back from cash-back-rewards credit card, which is paid off monthly with your cash-back-rewards debit card. On average you can save up to 15 to 20 % by shopping online, this also eliminates an extra store trip. Likwise, wave goodbye to Netflix (after they hiked their services by 60%, during recession) and hello Redbox. Your $60/month entertainment expenses quickly becomes an $8/month Redbox expense for 8+ movie per month.
In Kenya, one can buy almost everything except food and clothing from online auctions such as uzanunua, which offers nearly unbelievable deals. Also, shopping android application such as shoppers delight, assists shoppers to compare product prices across various supermarkets near you. With price information on the Internet, shoppers are less vulnerable to overpaying when buying from physical store-fronts that may manipulate prices to a shopper's disadvantage. Customers are able to buy direct from a manufacturer's or wholesaler's website using Internet. As more manufacturers and wholesalers cut off retail agents to sell direct to customers via the Internet, costs are lowered and hence they are able to offer lower prices. Such companies are Dell Computer, which are able to offer products at lower prices as compared to most physical retail store-fronts.
Online stores are moreover not burdened by the costs of running a physical store. Rent, electricity, payroll, fixtures; all contribute to the gross margin and overhead of just doing business in a shopping center. Retailers have discovered that they can meet he needs of their customers with less operational expenses, by having an online location and then pass that saving onto the customers by cutting the cost of their products. Courtesy of Google, getting your Kenyan business online has never been this easier.
What You Need to Be Aware when Shopping Online
Online Shopping isn't always as cut and dried as I have described. Although over the years the Internet has become a great source to seek better deals for good reasons, sometimes the deal that looks great falls short of what has been advertised.
Communication dissatisfaction can be difficult online versus face-to-face and often it takes enormous patience and persistence to achieve satisfaction. while the Internet can give you more information about a product than you would get in a store, sometimes that information just isn't enough. for example, I can read that a new perfume is a combination of gardenia, freesia and sandalwood with a delicate top note of vanilla, but nothing can substitute for actually smelling the fragrance.
while shopping on the Net, the first question that one often needs to ask about online shopping is this: "Is it really safe to use your credit/debit card online?" The answer is that is is often safer to use your credit card online than paying for dinner by giving your card to a waiter who disappears for a certain period of time.
However there a certain ways to confirm that you are protected when shopping online, to avoid you being a victim of credit card identity theft . Always make sure that you shop only on secure sites. before you provide a credit card number or personal information, make sure the site has being authenticated as a secure site. There is an easy way to tell. the address of the secure page will begin with "https" instead of "http". The extra "s" stands for secure.
At the lower left-hand corner or bottom-middle of your screen depending on your browser, you will also see an icon in the form of unbroken key or a closed paid-lock. both of these represent secure sites, which is a particularly reliable encryption process that scrambles credit card information once it is entered and before it is transferred.
When shopping online the return policy can be very important. Can you return the product if you don't like it? Is there a restocking fee? Will the company pay return postage if the product arrives damaged? If the web site has a brick and mortar store can you return the product there? Always print a copy of all your purchase orders and confirmation numbers. If the company sends an e-mail confirmation of your transaction, be sure to read the fine print.
Also promptly check your monthly bank and credit card statements. Reconcile these statements with the records of your transactions to make sure that any billing errors or unauthorized purchases are reported within the required time.
You make a choice from dozens and dozens of items that before were only available at trade fairs. It is as if someone dropped off extensive catalogues from thousands of stores at your doorstep. Shopping on the Internet offers convenience and time-saving benefits to shoppers, as compared to shopping in traditional brick-and-mortar stores.
This mode of shopping eliminates agonizing traffic jams, rude clerks, pickpockets to contend with, no bad weather to travel under, nor any transportation cost involved; the Internet allows shoppers to develop their own timetables for research and purchasing. Because of the internet's powerful search-ability. It is far easier to track down all the top vendors of certain product throughout the world than through conventional methods of phone directories, word of mouth, and advertisements. Because you have quick and easy access to so many sellers, you also have that much opportunity to compare prices.
Online shopping may save you time in delivery as well. Many airlines such as Kenya Airways, now provide electronic tickets. After you buy the ticket online, you are done. The ticket will be waiting for you at the airport check in. No more waiting at the travel agency.
The Internet operates 24 hours a week, seven days a week, and can be reached from anywhere in the connected world; shoppers can expect to browse and buy goods on the Internet anytime, unlike traditional store-fronts that have fixed opening hours. and if you get interrupted, continue your shopping later. Many sites will save your items for you in a virtual shopping cart. Shoppers can also purchase goods that are unavailable at their location, and are able to bypass restrictive import polices, as the Internet allows shoppers to make purchases from merchants in other locations around the world.
Shoppers are able to use the Internet as a powerful research tool in the purchasing process. For certain products such as books and videos reviews and recommendations are important factors in influencing purchase decision. with such products, shoppers are not only able to browse through a larger selection on the web in sites such Amazon.com, but are also able to conveniently obtain reviews and recommendations that are usually unavailable in off-line stores.
Shoppers are able to find lower prices using the Internet due to the wider reach of information, and sites such as Rupu and Mocality that offers high discounted prices for their goods. Shopping online for household items is actually cheaper and one can get his or her money back and also compare prices. One can buy these items through an online rebates portal or savevast.com. You can earn 2 to 10 percent cash back there, this includeas an extra 5 percent from merchants like Drugstore.com. Add that with a 2% back from cash-back-rewards credit card, which is paid off monthly with your cash-back-rewards debit card. On average you can save up to 15 to 20 % by shopping online, this also eliminates an extra store trip. Likwise, wave goodbye to Netflix (after they hiked their services by 60%, during recession) and hello Redbox. Your $60/month entertainment expenses quickly becomes an $8/month Redbox expense for 8+ movie per month.
In Kenya, one can buy almost everything except food and clothing from online auctions such as uzanunua, which offers nearly unbelievable deals. Also, shopping android application such as shoppers delight, assists shoppers to compare product prices across various supermarkets near you. With price information on the Internet, shoppers are less vulnerable to overpaying when buying from physical store-fronts that may manipulate prices to a shopper's disadvantage. Customers are able to buy direct from a manufacturer's or wholesaler's website using Internet. As more manufacturers and wholesalers cut off retail agents to sell direct to customers via the Internet, costs are lowered and hence they are able to offer lower prices. Such companies are Dell Computer, which are able to offer products at lower prices as compared to most physical retail store-fronts.
Online stores are moreover not burdened by the costs of running a physical store. Rent, electricity, payroll, fixtures; all contribute to the gross margin and overhead of just doing business in a shopping center. Retailers have discovered that they can meet he needs of their customers with less operational expenses, by having an online location and then pass that saving onto the customers by cutting the cost of their products. Courtesy of Google, getting your Kenyan business online has never been this easier.
What You Need to Be Aware when Shopping Online
Online Shopping isn't always as cut and dried as I have described. Although over the years the Internet has become a great source to seek better deals for good reasons, sometimes the deal that looks great falls short of what has been advertised.
Communication dissatisfaction can be difficult online versus face-to-face and often it takes enormous patience and persistence to achieve satisfaction. while the Internet can give you more information about a product than you would get in a store, sometimes that information just isn't enough. for example, I can read that a new perfume is a combination of gardenia, freesia and sandalwood with a delicate top note of vanilla, but nothing can substitute for actually smelling the fragrance.
while shopping on the Net, the first question that one often needs to ask about online shopping is this: "Is it really safe to use your credit/debit card online?" The answer is that is is often safer to use your credit card online than paying for dinner by giving your card to a waiter who disappears for a certain period of time.
However there a certain ways to confirm that you are protected when shopping online, to avoid you being a victim of credit card identity theft . Always make sure that you shop only on secure sites. before you provide a credit card number or personal information, make sure the site has being authenticated as a secure site. There is an easy way to tell. the address of the secure page will begin with "https" instead of "http". The extra "s" stands for secure.
At the lower left-hand corner or bottom-middle of your screen depending on your browser, you will also see an icon in the form of unbroken key or a closed paid-lock. both of these represent secure sites, which is a particularly reliable encryption process that scrambles credit card information once it is entered and before it is transferred.
When shopping online the return policy can be very important. Can you return the product if you don't like it? Is there a restocking fee? Will the company pay return postage if the product arrives damaged? If the web site has a brick and mortar store can you return the product there? Always print a copy of all your purchase orders and confirmation numbers. If the company sends an e-mail confirmation of your transaction, be sure to read the fine print.
Also promptly check your monthly bank and credit card statements. Reconcile these statements with the records of your transactions to make sure that any billing errors or unauthorized purchases are reported within the required time.
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