ONLINE SHOPPING
Computer has brought about amazing revolution in the life around in the present day
world. Its use, now it so seems, has become a necessity, and has created for itself
indispensability. Internet has transformed the life and information technology. It is a melting
pot of so many technologies which provides multi-media information facilities at low cost and
great speed. The approaching trend on the internet now is online shopping. It is a process in
which one can buy or sell items online via the internet. It has many advantages, but is not
always the best way to shop.
Online shopping can be an easy alternative to leaving the house and going to a specific
shop. It enables the elderly and the disables people to purchase the products and the services
that they need. It also cuts a lot of hassle and energy of going to the store but may also result
in an expensive buying due to shipping and handling charges. “Constant connectivity,
contextual relevance, and a multi-screen world are changing both online and offline
shopping” (Ramaswamy, 1). E bay and Amazon are the two most renowned and trusted
websites for shopping online.
Conventional shopping in the brick and mortar building entails leaving home to jostle
with the traffic, crowds, and long queues. It erases the stress of having to wait in huge lines
and dealing with the incompetent cashiers. Its ability to allow users to compare items at
different stores online is incredibly straightforward and effective. Those retailers making use
of tools from the net have a chance to stand out in today’s market. Smart retailers need to be
there when inspiration strikes consumers and they start searching for their purchases online.
But what we know online shopping also has the disadvantage that make us loss our money in
small or big quatity. They are few disadvantage online shopping that be discuss.
1. PRIVACY RISK
When someone obtaine your details regarding your personal and financial information,
that can harm your personality (respect) and on other hand it can become a cause for the loss
of the money. Online shopping is widely used for shopping but has ‘worries about sending
their financial details’ such as credit cards (Horrigan, J. 2008). Privacy risk frequently deters
shoppers from shopping online and spending significant amount online.
Privacy risk is defined as the probability of having personal information disclosed as a
result of online transactions. In the online shopping context, the level of perceived risk may be
magnified due to limited physical access to products and sales personnel, thereby
discouraging shoppers purchasing via the internet. Yet, there is a lack of consensus regarding
the identification of and relative impact of dimensions of perceived risk among studies
regarding online shopping.
Privacy risk have received growing attention as there are concerns regarding the
security of their personal and credit card information they have to provide in order to
complete online transactions. Shoppers with more online shopping experience perceive less
risk than those who with less experience.
However, privacy risk does not necessarily bring about immediate losses or
consequences to buyers. As long they follow what they should in online shopping. First,
before type credit card information, take time to research the web. Encryption is key to secure
internet purchases. It is a feature that automatically codes your personal data when it’s
entered. And lastly, check website’s policies before shopping.
2. ONLINE SCAM/SCHEME
Online shopping scams involve scammers pretending to be legitimate online sellers,
either with a fake website or a fake ad on a genuine retailer site. How this scam works?.
While many online sellers are legitimate, unfortunately scammers can use the anonymous
nature of the internet to rip off unsuspecting shoppers.
Fake retailer websites
Scammers use the latest technology to set up fake retailer websites that look like genuine
online retail stores. They may use sophisticated designs and layouts, possibly stolen logos,
and even a ‘.com.au’ domain name and stolen Australian Business Number (ABN).
The biggest tip-off that a retail website is a scam is the method of payment. Scammers will
often ask you to pay using a money order, pre-loaded money card, or wire transfer, but if you
send your money this way, it’s unlikely you will see it again or receive your purchased item.
Online auction sites
Most online auction sites (e.g. Ebay) have strict policies to ensure their customers are not
scammed. Scammers know this, so they will often try to get people to make a deal outside the
auction site. Scammers may claim that the winner of an auction you were bidding in has
pulled out, and offer the item for sale to you. Once they have your money, you will never hear
from them again and the auction site will not be able to help you.
Online classified websites
Online classified websites promote the sale of goods and services, but allow sellers and
potential buyers to negotiate on a price outside of the website.
Scammers may pose as genuine sellers and post fake ads for anything, such as rental
properties, pets, used cars, boats, bikes, caravans and horses. The scammers may advertise
items at a price much lower than comparable items advertised on the same site. These are
known as classified scams.
Scammers may also pose as buyers, send you a cheque for more than the required payment on
an item, and then ask you to refund the difference. These are known as overpayment scams.
3. DELIVERY PROBLEM
The issues of online shopping is delivery problem. First, receiving wrong products.
Many a times the product received are not of the same quality as promised customer have this
fear since many of them wrong products or those are unfit to their expectations. Example,
after getting the delivery of the product you may come to know that you have purchased
wrong product. The size which you selected is not as per your requirement or might have
chosen the wrong size. Also, the color of the product purchased may differ from the actual
product and you may not like it. Sometimes the quality of the product may also not be as per
the standard or as per the cost wise.
Second, damaging products in transit. This happen usually in long distances, product
gets damaged in the way and then customer fail to avail its benefits. They are totally at loss
then. If an item you ordered arrives damaged, it may not meet the ‘consumer guarantee’ of
acceptable quality. To meet this guarantee, it must be fit for the purpose for which it is
commonly supplied, safe, durable and free defects and acceptable in appearance and finish.
Depending on the extent of the damage, you may be entitled to a refund, repair or
replacement. Before you return the product to the seller, take a photo of the damage for your
own records.
Then, delay in delivery of products. This situation happen when companies located at
far of distance tends to more delivery time. This is another feature due to which customer are
not satisfied with online shopping. Some websites inform the delivery time immediately after
the purchase of the product, but not all. If the purchased clothes if you are expecting to wear
on a particular occasion and if the delivery is delay by days then there will be no use of doing
online shopping. So check delivery time while making online purchase.
Next, sometimes customer failed to receive the product. A requires retailers that
process orders by mail, telephone or the internet to deliver items within 30 days. If something
you have ordered hasn’t arrived, you should contact the seller to find out where it is. It’s the
seller’s legal responsibility to make sure the item is delivered to you. They should chase the
delivery company and let you know what happen to your item. If you have not received your
order within that time frame, you have the right to a full refund of the purchase price.
CONCLUSSION
Today everybody wants the freedom of choice when shopping especially in online
shopping , so the marketers have to present the variety of product to choose from. But we
must know that there are advantage behind all of this if we are not be carefull. For the
examples scammer which are we should avoid from them and first when using them. After
that, it’s also problems in delivering proses. It’s happen like delaying time problem, booking’s
stuffs arrived not same like in advertisement showed. Lastly for securities, this is very
important and scary part for user. Because in one time we will pirate without knowing. We
realizes that all money in our bank all gone.
REFERENCE
1. www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/NMMC/article/viewFile/11664/12009
2. moneyconnexion.com/online-shopping-problems.htm
3. utusan.com.my
4. http://citer-saya-citer-awak-citer-kita.blogspot.my/2016/01/beli-barang-online-
jangan-tertipu.html
5. Berita Harian newspaper
