Over 190 million people in the United States use online shopping sites, and that number is expected to grow The online shopping is expected to grow faster in India than in any other country of the world. In 2017, the number of online shoppers was estimated over 75 million which may reach over 220 million in 2025.
Online shopping is hassle-free, convenient, and allows consumers to compare prices, find exclusive discount coupons, and check reviews anywhere that is not possible in offline stores. Although, the immense popularity of online shopping has opened numerous gates to deceits and frauds, so the buyers must be aware and vigilant to avoid any kind of online shopping scams.
Some online shopping trends such as online grocery shopping are expected to become more commonplace in near future and beyond are an increased focus on mobile compatibility in rural areas, more collaboration between brands’ online shopping stores and retail locations, improved encryption technology, increased ability to shop via social media sites, faster shipping speeds, and more opportunities for consumers to get free shipping in big cities as well as in rural areas.
With the advent of Covid-19, online grocery shopping trend has accelerated as people especially in unban locations find this mode safer and easier to shop at just navigating with their smartphones. However, some popular e-commerce companies still propounding to make online shopping stores more feasible with services like drone delivery and same day delivery which will make it more interesting and convenient to the customers.
Concerns and measures with Online Shopping
Undoubtedly, online shopping is easier, hassle-free and more convenient but safety and security has become a matter of great concern to online shoppers whether they use their smartphone or PC. They express their concern regarding the points given below:
- Personal Identity theft
- Releasing private location information
- Shipping costs
- Price inconsistencies
- Disparity in price strategy
- Online data storage and usage, such as cookies
- Difficult return process
- Returns not being accepted
- Data breaches
To solve the above mentioned concerns, you should follow safety measures by choosing a legit and well reputable online grocery shopping site such as Basketor that explicit return and shipping policies to make purchase and the third party payment systems which can conceal your card number from retailers.
Customer Care Service
Well reputed online shopping sites have become more focused on customer care services. You can clarify all your queries like delivery duration, delivery tracking, return policies and best price of the goods you want to purchase. You can also ask for exclusive deal and other coupons or promos if they offer.
Free Shipping
Who wants to spend on shipping charges? With the growing competition on e-commerce, well established online shopping companies have started free shipping of goods. Most of the customers are more interested in the e-stores which deliver goods without any charges.
Online Shopping Security Tips
Security is the most important of all the online shopping concerns. Everything becomes useless when you fall victim of a scam. We are providing some important tips to ensure that your information is safe and the online shopping site is reputable one:
- Look for “https” in the URL and a padlock or broken-key icon, which signals your information is secure.
- The legit websites such as Basketor online grocery shopping site clearly state their return policy and shipping costs.
- Beware of sites with pop-up ads.
- The company should mention an actual address and a phone number.
- Prices should be reasonable, and not too low to be true.
- The site should allow you to opt out of email promotions.
- Don’t use a site that asks for personal information like your mother’s maiden name etc.
- Use the credit card with fraud protection.
- Ensure that it’s the real, legitimate online shopping site you were looking for and not duplicate site. For example, government websites always end in .gov, not .net. Always beware of sites with similar designs, and always confirm the URL before entering in sensitive information.
- Buy luxury goods from actual retailers (not resellers) to ensure you are receiving genuine items.
- While purchasing costly products always use a reputable and extensively reviewed escrow service.
You can allow a merchant to store your credit card information if his online shopping website is encrypted and displays a padlock or broken key icon. However, generally stores do not store your information without your approval, so if it makes you uncomfortable, don’t allow it. Many people allow reliable online shopping websites like Amazon to store their card information because they shop there regularly and transaction is initiated with the saved information at making purchase.
Benefits of Online Shopping
However there are some risks with online shopping and most of the buyers have concerns over the safety of their information, there are vital monetary benefits as well as convenience to do online shopping:
- Saves time and fuel by not having to drive to the store.
- One can buy products outside of normal business hours.
- Prices comparison becomes easy among multiple websites.
- Read user reviews of people who also purchased the product.
- You can avail online coupon and sale benefits.
- Receive online customer service support without the wait times associated with the phone.
- Easy return of an item if using a reputable online grocery shopping website such as Basketor.
- No checkout lines to deal with.
- Shop sale and clearance items without flipping through large, physical sale racks in the store.
Coupons and Online Shopping: How to Get the Best Deal
Online shopping is easy, convenient and hassle-free together with best deals. But buyers need some awareness to avail it intelligently. Following a few ways given below can ensure you to get best deals:
Coupons
Online shopping websites provide coupons to attract customers and ensure sales. But sometimes they are very frustrating as such coupons vary in terms of usage for particular products of certain brands, limit of time, specific customers etc. So you should use these coupons intelligently to save more perks on purchases and find out about other promotions and deals. At Basketor online grocery shopping store, we offer coupons every first week of the month without any specific limit. So, subscribe to our newsletter and keep visiting Basketor to grab best deals and coupons.
Price Comparisons
Other than coupons, there are also many online money-saving tools where you can lower the cost of your goods and get some of the best deals on the online shopping purchase.
You can use Google Shopping for price comparison. You just type in the name of a product you want to buy and Google will search for the product across all stores on the Internet. It will then sort the products on the basis of price together with shipping cost, in this way it helps you to find the best overall deal to make purchase.
Buying Used Goods
There are many reputable online shopping websites to buy used items online, including popular options like Amazon Warehouse. It is important to look closely at the pictures of the goods if its condition is fine. If you have any questions about the quality of an item on such sites, you can often scroll down to the bottom of the listing to see whether other potential buyers have the same queries and received an answer. If your question is unanswered yet, you should contact the seller directly. However buying used goods always needs very careful observation of rate, photos and answers of the seller who may befool sometimes.
How to Return Online Purchases
Return on the online shopping has been made easy by most of the popular websites such as Basketor online grocery shopping site to ease customer with return options. However, the buyer should read the return policy on the item he purchases because online returns and exchanges vary depending on the store. Some companies charge him for return shipping, while others don’t. Whereas some other just like in a regular store, many sites do not allow returns on clearance or closeout items.
It’s usually a simple process. If you want to return something you bought online shopping site within a certain amount of days as mentioned in the retailer’s return policies. Then, after following their guidelines, they’ll usually send you a shipping label. You can print it out, attach it over the original shipping label, and drop off the package at Safexpress or the courier service preferred by the merchant. These returns usually come with tracking, and the company will send you a tracking number in email so you can ensure when your package has been returned safely.
Tips for Seniors Online Shoppers
Seniors citizens are more vulnerable susceptible to online scams because fraudulent retailers assume that they are not as techno-savvy as the young generations. We are providing some significant tips that will help them safe online shopping:
- Always create strong password, using a combination of numbers and letters.
- Beware of clicking on any pop-up ads, especially ones that alert you that your computer may have a virus. Such alerts are harmful to computer as well as your documents.
- Always use private network and avoid access your online bank accounts from public locations, like restaurant, coffee shops or public libraries etc.
- Always ensure that a website has the secure lock symbol or broken-key icon before you use your credit card.
- Never share your bank information, OTP or any sensitive information on phone call if someone unknown makes.
- Be careful of emails saying you are automatically approved for credit cards or loans until you have specifically applied to those companies for the same.
- Avoid forwarding or opening lengthy chain emails, as these can contain viruses to con you.
After all, we shared sufficient information regarding online shopping guide and tips to make it enjoyable, risk-free, and hassle-free; you can make it a fun while taking the benefits of low price, price comparison, exclusive deals and many more from various sites such as Basketor online grocery shopping store.
