Friday 6 December 2013

Christmas is Coming - High Street Vs Online


A customer last weekend at work said something interested to me, about how in the next 5 years she thinks there will be no need for the high street at all, and absolutely all shopping will be done online.

So I started to think about the positives and negatives of shopping on the high street against shopping online and here's a few approaches which I came up with.

Positives

High Street -
Firstly, I honestly love browsing round the shops and being able to go out with your friends, being able to chat and look at new things, pick a few bits up, try them on and strut around a bit and decide what looks good. If you going on a night out you want something that's special, and being able to look at it and decide there and then if you love or hate it is a huge positive for me. As well as being able to just choose a selection of sizes to try so you don't have to come back another day. You really do not get the same buzz shopping online as you do in store. Being able to shop right up until Christmas Eve you can't do this online, the last minute shopping excitement adds to the festive spirit. You can browse around with your lists of people you need to buy for and get that satisfaction of ticking it off everyone as the list gets smaller, you feel less stressed and a lot happier.

Online -
You can easily browse through thousands of pages quickly and conveniently and pick out exactly what your looking. A huge bonus to shopping online is the refine button - I love it! You can refine all the pages by colour, price, your size, literally everything so your pretty much left with exactly what your looking for. I also like how they split all the pages up so you can just go on dresses and then filter it to petite or whatever your looking for. I love the fact of how quick it is to pay, if you shop on the website a lot you can create an account which remembers all of you details, including you address and card details so you don't have to mess around. Its so quick and convenient but it means shopping online is so easily done - its dangerous to the bank account. Some shops offer free delivery or free collection from store which is really convenient, especially if you know what you want its stress free. Its great not having to deal with the crazy crowds in shopping centres or the high street is great, that is definitely one of the biggest positives to online shopping. A major plus is shopping in the sales, there are even more crazy people and they are more determined to get what they want, so the craziness steps up another level. It kind of takes the fun out of the sales, and you come away feeling completely drained from the whole experience. Whereas, shopping the sales online is stress free you can browse, select what you want, pop it in your basket, pay, and bam it arrives at your house a few days later.

Negatives

High Street -
Compared to online, shopping in store you have to browse round the entire store to get a proper look at everything on offer. Unless you know what you want having the entire high street to choose from can be a pain and can take the entire day. I think I can get stressed more easily shopping on the high street than online, just because of the fact that you go out with a real ambition to find something you love, and when you don't find something its heart breaking. I don't get the same feeling of dissatisfaction if I don't find something I want online, I just think I'll look in the store tomorrow. Now, Christmas is coming and having to queue up in shops can be so stressful, it simples puts me off wanting the product if there's more than 5 people if my queue! I always seem to be in a rush and I am thinking about where I need to next, and then you get the person in front with no price tag on the item, or is arguing that there product is on sale and the assistant is saying how that particular display isn't on the offer. It can all get very heated and angry. Also, the hustle and bustle of the high street yes I love the amount of enthusiasm for Christmas but my god the banging and bumping into everyone, clothes ending up on the floor its madness.

Online -
Now this is a strange one but shopping online can be negative due to the fact of how easy it is to actually do! At a click of a button you've spent all your wages in one 30 minute session where you've browsed all your favourite shops and bought have of what it has on offer. Now to my major reasoning for not shopping online - paying delivery. Yep sorry I've mentioned it again but it really makes my blood boil £3.99 to have something delivered is so expensive. It annoys me how if you order a pair of earrings its the same price as ordering ten jumpers! I hate the fact that you have to sometimes wait in for your delivery and they give you a time slot which is usually anytime of the day and then it comes that one second you nip out of the house. Then you have to arrange for redelivery or the most annoying thing which is when they just take it to the post office so then you have to trek there and the post office is barely ever open its just such a pain. Another issue is I've ordered things online thinking they look really lovely in the picture, and when its arrived it looks nothing like what you thought you had ordered. You cant really get a feel of the texture of the clothes or the fit like the stretchiness. Shopping the sales online can be stressful though when something's in your basket and your are still browsing and it becomes out of stock before you pay that's so annoying. The last thing is the fact that online shopping is anti-social, shopping alone with no opinions can be boring and stressful especially when its something extra special that your looking for.

After all that debating, my decision is still easy for me the high street wins! I love going shopping with my friends its just so exciting and you can plan to go and spend the whole day together. Online shopping just doesn't give me this satisfaction.

Lucy
xoxo






















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