An increasing number of people are buying what they need online. What are the advantages and disadvantages for both individuals and companies to shopping online.

Online shopping has become the most popular and modern way of purchasing in recent years. Its main benefits including saving time from going to the store, a vast variety of

items

available and the cheaper price has made shopping todays much more convenient.

Nevertheless

, it does has some undeniable risks, which involved incompatible actual

products

, payment errors and issues involving shipment. In

this

essay, I will elaborate on each good point and

also

the shortcomings of online shopping.

First

of all, most people choose to buy what they want online due to its convenience. Online shopping usually includes delivery services. As

such

, customers do not need to leave their houses to get what they want. Many big supermarkets nowadays,

for example

, TESCO and GIANT provide online shopping websites with delivery services, making grocery shopping more convenient for individuals. On top of that, big online shopping websites namely Shopee, Lazada and Tao Bao are able to provide the public with almost everything we want to find, including certain uncommon

items

,

for instance

, DIY materials, decorating tools and et al.

Moreover

, companies may find online purchasing useful at cost reduction because many materials sold online are cheaper than those that are sold at actual shops. The main reason is online businesses save costs from paying rentals and hiring men-power

such

as sales assistants, cashiers, cleaners and etc. Despite the advantages, there are a number of shortcomings in online shopping, mainly due to the fact that consumers only pick what they want to buy by looking at pictures on the internet, and not seeing the actual goods before buying. In

this

case, problems

such

as over-discrepancy between expected and actual

products

, low-quality

products

and defective

items

can always happen.

In addition

, these problems will only be found out at the point where the item is received. In fact,

this

will cause more disappointment if the customers need what they bought urgently. Not only that,

although

delivery services save time, unexpected logistics issues can occur during the process.

For instance

, parcels could be arrested at international customs, defects could occur to fragile

items

during transportation and other more unexpected events could happen. In these situations,

this

service could become a problem

instead

of a helping tool. In conclusion, online shopping did provide us with a more convenient lifestyle by making many things more accessible.

However

, the risk of online shopping is sometimes unexpected and unable to avoid. Both buyers and sellers should take respective responsibilities in choosing online

products

more carefully and be more ethical when making online business.