Negotiating the crowds? Having to choose between that 3rd cocktail and an early morning shopping trip on a Friday night? Having to visit multiple shops to get an entirely new outfit together? All of these things are no longer a problem thanks to online shopping. God Bless technology!
I remember back in middle school when my friends suggested traipsing the high street on Friday afternoons after school, us with pocket money at hand, investing in the mini Miss Selfridge nail polishes (rigorously glittered or pastel, and lets not even talk about the fact that most of us still bit our nails), or on makeup, which we’d jealously hide from our parents (we weren’t allowed makeup) to then cake it on the way to school, and of course be sent to the headmistress who would scold us, and proceed to having us wash our faces supervised by the gym teacher. Perhaps it was these first shopping experiences (and the chaos which ensued) that scarred me, but I’ve never been one for the weekend afternoon shopping trips with the girls. Mind you, I love having new things, and like any self-respecting girl, every time something comes up, I am riddled by the panic of a closet full of clothes and nothing to wear, but the process of acquiring these things has always been something of a chore. And then, online shopping came to be, Amazon became my virtual Mecca, and all is good with the world.
As something of an online shopping junkie, let me elucidate on why I love it so much.
You can shop in your pyjamas…
…or track suit, or underwear, or even your birthday suit. Don’t take me for a nudist or a slob, but what is more satisfying with its modern-day incongruity than shopping for a cocktail dress or even a pair of trainers while seated on your couch, makeup-free, and in your favorite slouchy track pants? NOTHING.
You can shop while eating
While taking a break from an intense morning of shopping with a lazy and maybe boozy lunch with your girlfriends is a right of passage, a luxury, and a must, imagine what it’s like to shop while you’re actually eating? If you shop online, you can click on your mouse with one hand and hold a pizza slice in the other—multitasking at its best.
You can shop from anywhere
Online shopping is a unique by-product of globalization. You can shop for anything you need from anywhere in the world (just remember import tax). There’s no waiting around for someone to bring you something from abroad. There is no frustration with finding out that that particular brand of makeup is not stocked outside South Korea. The possibilities are endless!
Heaven for the undecided shopper
Whether it’s a matter of budget, a matter of time, a matter of being frustratingly and constantly undecided, thanks to the online shopping basket, you can almost buy anything you want. You can go back and browse your basket and think about it as many times as you like (until the item is sold out). You can edit it and play around with it, and only when you’re good and ready, you can commit and click buy. If only everything in life was so simple.
Excuse me, madam, I’d like to see all the trousers in my size in black by every designer you stock priced between this… and this…
I bet you wish you could go into a boutique and ask for this service to the ever-patient sales assistants, but you’d probably be laughed at. Thanks to the filters, price ranges, and more, you can do this while shopping online. Genius!
Solo shopping
Though the opinion and company of a trusted friend on a shopping trip is welcome, it’s all the other shoppers you have to deal with while out in the real world that causes stress. The queues to try things on, the queues to pay, the traffic, the war for a parking space, the masses bumping into you on the high street with their shopping bags… Thanks to online shopping, you can do away with all of this, and if you need advice, your friend is only one screenshot and Whatsapp message away.
The curious case of the dressing room mirror (and lighting)
So you made it to the shops, you have found that perfect dress you needed for your 3rd date with that guy you like, and now it’s time to try it on. Maybe you were lucky and didn’t even have to wait in a queue for your turn in the changing room… but you still have to negotiate with: a stuffy changing room, small, where do you put your things? On the floor? What if there’s no place to sit and you are struggling to take those skinny jeans off (I know I shouldn’t have had that Frappuccino)? Where should I put my sunglasses, so I don’t forget them, don’t step on them? Finally, hot and bothered, you’ve slipped into the dress, and lo and behold, the mirror is distorting you, the lighting makes your skin yellow and your hair green, and all of a sudden, you’re no longer that sure you want the dress… sweaty, shamed and frustrated you leave, and your sunglasses are on the floor, in the changing room, under the discarded dress.
Boredom shopping – without having to commit
So we’ve agreed that shopping in your underwear is great, and also shopping from a sun lounger on the beach, or from your desk at work, but how about boredom shopping? Here I mean shopping more in the browsing sense (remember the non-committal shopping basket?) So you’re at work during your lunch break, and Buzzfeed doesn’t have any new cat articles, or maybe you’re on a train, and you’ve finished flicking through Vogue? Then why not browse your favorite online store and see what’s new?
It saves embarrassment
You have wanted to try that miracle serum that lifts your boobs; you need industrial-strength anti-cellulite cream… Now you can have it all, no questions asked.
You can buy anything without moving
A famous quote from Sex and the City states, “shopping is my cardio.” But now that we have online shopping, you have so much more free time that you can’t escape the gym. So basically, online shopping makes you healthier.
