OUTLINE
Topic: Online shopping
INTRODUCTION
Attention Grabber: Have you ever been in trouble with online shopping?
Thesis Statement: Online shopping can not replace traditional shopping.
BODY
Point 1: Accessibility can be a problem.
Supporting Detail 1: Limited only to on line users.
Supporting Detail 2: Shopping online has no guarantee of quality of commodities.
Point 2: Hidden costs of online shopping.
Supporting Detail 1: Delivery charges, packing and handling fees and taxes such as VAT.
Supporting Detail 2: The representation of another hidden costs is time wasting.
Point 3: The privacy and security of online shopping.
Supporting Detail 1: Fraud and security concerns.
Supporting Detail 2: Privacy is the number one reason that non-online shoppers.why people don’t buy on-line.
CONCLUSION
Restatement of Thesis: Doing shopping in supermarket has more advantages than doing shopping online.
Clincher: Every coin has its two sides, the same is also true of online shopping.
With the development of society, another new shopping form springs up quietly but quickly in past few years. It is known as online shopping which differs from the traditional shopping. In recent years, more and more people who race the clock, especially the group on duty and students are busy in working and studying, resulting in having little time to go out to buy what they need. Online shopping, however, can meet their need. People can make order for buying what they need by a computer and wait for the delivery to arrive at home instead of going out to the grocery stores or traditional supermarket. People also need not queue up and draw their exhausted bodies to search for their commodities. The commodities online are also always on discount, which are more economical and practical to those financial managers. It sounds perfect, do you think online shopping can replace traditional shopping? I don’t think so. There is something people don’t know. Online shopping is still unsatisfactory, it has some disadvantages, like the quality of the goods, the hidden costs, and security. Online shopping can not replace traditional shopping.
First, Accessibility can be a problem. Online shopping is limited only to on line users. Not all customers have access to the web. E-tailer has no 100 % access to customers. Even out of web users few make on line money transactions. Because one needs money to buy a computer and to have internet connection, online shopping seems to be limited people of reasonable amount of income. Ease of use is a problem, as the web design is still complex, or at least somewhat chaotic. E-tail stores are not standardized in design in the way catalogs and retail stores have become. It is harder to learn computer at an older age, the elderly people tend shop at traditional retail stores. In addition, doing shopping in supermarkets is assured. When it comes to online purchase, the problem of quality is usually a major concern. Norman (2008) said that, there is no doubt that we have no access to touch or feel the commodity since the website only provides the picture for us (para 6). In contrast, we can easily judge the quality by observing the commodity’s height, weight or texture in supermarkets. Moreover, some sellers would not keep their promise of sending the product to us even we have paid for it. If the sellers do sent the product to us, we should also take the transportation issue into account. While in a super market such unhappy things will not happen. We can take good care of our goods. We don’t need to worry about that the goods will be broken on our way home.
Next, the hidden costs, I think we have to think about it. In the article “Disadvantages of Online Shopping” (2007), it states there that “There may be nasty surprises which may take place. Hidden cost like unexpected delivery charges or a product that isn't exactly what you had in mind” (para 4). The internet is known as the premier source of incredible bargains. Online auctions have taken the place of real world auctions when it comes to finding incredible discounts. This is especially true when it comes to the realm of hidden charges. Large discounts on the items you want to buy are only good if they aren't eaten up by additional charges that seem to come out of nowhere. One representation of hidden costs is postage. Sellers sometimes reduce their prices well below those of the competition, but then add back costs for shipping that are well in excess of their expenses. The first line of defence against exorbitant shipping charges is comparison shopping. Never purchase an item or service from an internet seller without visiting additional sellers for comparison. You will probably find that most prices fall within a relatively narrow range. You will often find that shipping charges have been inflated to cover the difference. When you get your good, the price you need to pay for is more than that you see on the web side. The representation of another hidden cost is time wasting. Time is money. Maybe many net citizens pay much attention to saving time, and they do not have to go to store, but it is not tally with the facts. That means if it costs some time for a person to shopping online. This period of time is not less than the time you spend in going to a store. As we know when we go to store, we need to spend a lot of time to consult the quality and price of the goods from seller. Many customers realize that they can spend a short time to determine the goods they want to buy; however, this thought is not correct in people's mind. People also have to compare capability of the goods to many others. If the speed of the internet is slow, they may fail to shop online, so shopping online is not the most secure way for people to get goods that they want. Another important fact is that people must be patient to wait for their goods. The express delivery also need a lot of time.
Last, the privacy and security of online shopping. When you are shopping, banking or accessing other sensitive or confidential information online, how can you be sure that no one can monitor or intercept this personal information? Moreover, how can you be sure that someone can’t get this information from your computer later? According to the article “Online auction & shopping scams” (n.d.), scammers can pretend to be selling a product—often very cheaply—just so they can steal your credit card or bank account details. Another common trick is for an online auction to be rigged by the scammers. If you are selling a product, the scammer can enter a low bid followed by a very high bid under another name. Just before the auction closes, the high bid will be withdrawn and the scammer’s low bid will win. If you are buying a product, the scammer can arrange for ‘dummy bidders’ to boost the price up. Other online shopping scams involve the sale of a product —such as a miracle cure or weight loss product—that does not live up to its claims (para 2). A major disadvantage in buying online would be issues concerning security. Because of hackers and scammers that are becoming more skilled, there are always risks of consumers' sensitive information, like personal and credit card details, could be stolen and used fraudulently. A lot of online stores have strived hard to put good security measures in place to assure their consumers that they would be trying to do their best in preventing that from happening. However, they still do give out a reminder that not all incidents can be prevented. Once consumers become used to shopping online, their concern often shifts from security to privacy. All online shops gather information about you every time you shop by making what’s called a cookie. Your personal information maybe sold to other businesses or marketers. Much more worrying are some sites’ tendencies to swap or sell your details to other shops. It’s a good idea to find out what a shop policy is before you buy. If you shop regularly online, it will in practice be impossible to stop your details and email address getting out and you will end up with uninvited emails. Unsolicited online advertising and mail has played a major role in fueling privacy concerns among online users who receive this so called “spam” after giving out their email address.
So, from what has been discussed above, we may reach the conclusion that doing shopping in supermarket has more advantages than doing shopping online. Every coin has its two sides, the same is also true of online shopping. However, I must admit shopping in internet is more convenient and cost-efficient sometimes. Many of my friends are shopping in internet. And they told me there were some principles should be followed when you shopping in internet. They said some goods can be bought in internet, some goods can not. If you know the principle, you won’t suffer any lost when you shopping in internet. Online shopping sometimes is real convenient. We can buy things at any time and it is not necessary to worry about the weather is good or not. Internet business is booming, but cyberspace isn’t quite the shoppers’ paradise yet. Although conditions have improved in recent years, avoiding buyer’s remorse still takes some savvy shopping. In fact, I think we can combine the traditional shopping with online shopping intelligently.
References
Disadvantages of Online Shopping.( 2007, May 24). Associatedcontent. Retrieved October 14, 2008, from
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/253961/disadvantages_of_online_shopping.html?cat=46
Norman,V.(2008,March 12). Advantages and Disadvantages of Shopping Online. Ezinearticles. Retrieved October 14, 2008, from
http://ezinearticles.com/? Advantages-and-Disadvantages-of-Shopping-Online&id=1041793
Online auction & shopping scams.(n.d.). SCAMwatch. Retrieved October 14, 2008, from
http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/6943 09
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