Pros and cons of online shopping while in quarantine

Not everyone is sold on the idea of online shopping. Some people still want to buy goods the traditional way—seeing and touching the products before buying—and harping on data security and the safety of their financial data and accounts.

So, should you shop online or brave the malls like you did pre-pandemic? Here are some pros and cons to help you decide.

Pros of online shopping:

It keeps you safe if you want to avoid contact with people.

Shopping online means you don’t have to go outside and interact with people who may be infected with Covid and not know it. You lessen your risk while still achieving your goal all from the comfort of your own home.

It gives you more choices.

Online shopping gives us access to goods that would otherwise be in different areas. Everything is in one place: online. All you have to do is search. There’s so many more choices and we can actually compare prices of the same products.

It’s convenient.

Gone are the days where you have to look through every store or every aisle just to find what you need. Online, it just takes a few taps and clicks, and you’re done. No need to go out, spend hours in traffic, and line up to pay. Shopping has never been this fast or worry-free.

Cons of online shopping:

It can lead to impulse buying.

The convenience of it all means it’s so easy to buy things that we don’t need—that novelty item that’s cute but we don’t know what for; that pair of shoes to add to the hundreds more you don’t use; that accessory that you’ll regret buying later. If you don’t curb it early, impulse buys can hurt your finances and may lead to credit card debt.

There are still risks to your data and account security.

Buying online means exposing your credit card and bank details to potential hacking incidents. Those details, once shared with online platforms, will be stored in their systems and may be vulnerable to cyber attacks and scams.

There’s no guarantee of what you’ll receive.

We don’t actually see what we are buying, we only see pictures. So one downside of buying online is running the risk of receiving an item that’s substandard or even damaged. Know that viral term “expectation vs. reality”? That may have been spawned by people who thought they were purchasing one item but got a lemon instead.

Ultimately, it’s all up to you which shopping method you are more comfortable with. The important thing is to always think of your financial wellbeing when you’re tempted to overspend.

Remember that the money that goes to purchasing things you don’t need could instead go to securing your future, such as buying investment-linked insurance plans like FWD’s Manifest and Set for Life, both of which offer you protection while giving the opportunity to grow your money in investment funds. Schedule an appointment with a financial expert here to get you on your way to financial wellbeing.