Lifestyle 101: Reasons Why Shopping In-Store is better than Online Shopping

Today, online shopping has been a rather pervasive phenomenon that has constantly threatened retailers to become irrelevant if they do not conform to this ubiquitous norm.

And yet for all the praises online shopping gets, we still see shopping malls being erected here and there—a true testament that shopping at physical stores and retailers still remain relevant today. While indeed, there is a myriad of conveniences afforded by online shopping that are otherwise absent in in-store shopping, purchasing goods in retail and physical stores has not completely lost its glamour. After all, the convenience you compromise is also paid for in actual inspection of the products. In fact, there is nothing more satisfying that putting various shopping items in your cart and checking them out in the counter.

Yes, you can shop in your pajamas and undies all day long as you wish, but shopping is best enjoyed in the confines of a mall such as Trinoma and the like because the latter provides an avenue for so many more activities than just plainly shopping. In any case, if you have wondered why buying things in shopping malls still remains relevant today (despite the influx of online stores), here are someof the reasons why:

1. Shopping is a visceral experience

Only a true shopper at heart would scoff at the idea of preferring online shopping over physical in-store shopping. After all, where else would you showcase all your clothing purchases and hoards but at the mall itself? In any case, shopping has always been a visceral experience. It always was and it always will be. You cannot decide on what your eyes can see alone. You need to smell, feel and try on the things you wish before you can go ahead and cart them off to the checkout counter. Feeling, smelling apart from sight are all aspects in experiencing goods before buying—an integral aspect in shopping.

2. Socialization

Online shopping might allow you the convenience of shopping wherever you might be, but shopping in-store actually gives you an agenda to get out of the house. Moreover, shopping at the mall is an avenue for socialization. Nothing can be more fun than trying out various clothes and having your friends decide whether it looks great or not and in this regard, in-store shopping would always be more enjoyable than online shopping.

3. It is a form of exercise

In a sense, online shopping can foster and cultivate the idea of laziness. Why? Because you are mostly doing it in the confines of your bedroom and in the clothes you have slept in at night. In-store shopping, on the other hand, would perhaps advocate the idea of being on your feet and a healthy lifestyle. Shopping in-store would compel you to survey aisles and racks of clothing. In other words, it constrains you to be on your feet at all times which means you can effectively get a workout out of your shopping experience.

4. No shipping frustration

One of the drawbacks about online shopping is delayed gratification. Yes, you have just gotten a bargain deal that would have otherwise been more expensive at the mall but you also paid for shipping which in total, would approximately equal to what you would have spent had you bought it in the retail store. Moreover, you have to wait weeks (if you are lucky) to months just to get it. And let us not get started on lost parcels which can be incredibly frustrating to track and locate.

5. No product disappointment

Another fallback of online shopping is that you cannot inspect the product you are buying before buying it. In this regard, you have to rely on approximations of your size and reviews as you cannot hold the product or even try it out which effectively puts you at risk for product dissatisfaction and even disappointment.