I’m a veteran online shopper, in fact I rarely buy things in retail stores any more unless it’s an impulse purchase. I buy basics, shoes, underwear, clothing and make-up online. It’s so much easier than having to go shopping to a mall. I find bricks and mortar retail shopping quite difficult because I can’t type in my search term. I’m serious. Do you know how long it takes to locate an appropriate dress to wear to a wedding in a mall? Freaking ages! Buy the time I’ve found a car park and visited the 20 odd formal occasion stores at the mall, it’s taken up the better half of my day. If I jump online I can narrow my search to ‘maxi dress silk size 14‘ and be presented with a curated list of exactly what I want in seconds. To me, online shopping is just sensible.
Seriously… how freaking creepy is this stock photo of ‘online shopping’? It’s like online shopping in The Ring.
Not everyone loves online shopping though. I have a friend who can’t do it because she’s not organised enough. She’ll jump online to buy a present for a wedding three days before the big day and then she’ll get cranky because the package won’t arrive in time. Now this never happens to me because I’m cursed with a Type A personality (which means that I’ve already finished my Christmas shopping) but I know that I’m completely abnormal and most people simply don’t have the brain space to think this far ahead. I visited New York for the first time last year and I have to admit I quickly became addicted to the sense of urgency at which I could demand anything I wanted at any time of day. Mexican food at 1am? Done. Home delivery and pick up dry cleaning at midnight? Yes please. That’s why I love when Australian companies like Want It Now recognise that busy urban-based professionals need a same day delivery service for online stores. If you order from metropolitan Melbourne and Sydney areas they can deliver within three hours. Which is ridiculous because by the time you get stuck in traffic, find a car park and aimlessly wander around the mall, they can have it to your door before you’d even get home from a shopping mission. Insane. It’s also particularly awesome for impatient people like me who order things on the internet and expect them to arrive 20 minutes later.
Tell me… do you shop online? Are you really patient waiting for your purchases? Or do you bail up the postman everyday asking about your latest ASOS order?