Tips for Shopping Online
Update: October 2020Online Buying is fun for many. The reason being that we have a) Many Options ranging from types to brands b) Can Shop from Home c) Get Good Price d) Enjoy the Benefits of Offers and Sales. With the popularity of Online Shopping increasing day by day it is now heading to become a major mode of shopping for the masses In this article, we have pointed out some points which should be considered when buying online so that you do the right decision and buy at the best price as possible.
Suppose you want to buy a bag, you would generally go to the shopkeeper and ask for a bag by saying, “Give me a bag with the below”- a) Price Below 1000 Rs. b) Space for a 15” Laptop. c) It should be of Waterproof Material. d) Colour should be Blue. You say the above since you want to save time by not looking at the one which is not suited to you. This is exactly what filters are. Filters are to minimize the unwanted options from your shopping area.
Everyone likes when choices are in an order. The order can be in the increasing and decreasing order of price, in the newest arrivals etc. Sort arranges the offering in a particular manner so that you can better your choice of the product. The sort options generally offered are a) Popularity– The product with the highest customer ratings are shown first and the order goes on with the product with the lowest rating is shown last. b) Price Low to High – As the name suggests, the cheapest product is shown first and the order goes with prices of the products increasing with the costliest product shown last. c) Prices High to Low – The costliest product is shown first and the cheapest one is shown last. d) Newest First – Latest products are shown first.
Ratings give quick feedback from the customer who has already bought the product in a scale of 1 to 5. Reviews are more detailed feedback from the customers where they explain how their experience was and what they liked and did not like. When analysing ratings, you have to look for three parameters a) Avg Rating b) Individual Rating c) No of Ratings. Always aim for a product with High Avg Rating with High No of Ratings. When seeing individual ratings, don’t get alarmed with low ratings by a few number of people as there will always be low ratings for some products. It is safe to say that if a product has an average rating of 4 and above for 100 and above ratings, then the product is good to go. Other way around if a product has a rating of 2 and below for 100 no’s then the product should not be brought When seeing reviews, go through the photos and see if they look as per what is shown by the website. Most of the reviews will have pros and cons mentioned. See if the pros are matching to the features that you want the most and see if the cons will not deter your experience of the product before going ahead.
This is a competitive world and online shopping is no exception. Websites can have price variations between each other due to various reasons like different seller, pricing policy etc. Hence there are possibilities that the same product can be offered for a very less price at another shopping site. Hence, we suggest that once you finalize on the product that you want to buy, do a quick comparison of price on other websites.
Online Shopping Websites like Flipkart.com and Amazon.in are basically online marketplaces which means that they do not sell the product directly but only act as an interface between you and the seller. The products you get are sold by different sellers . The website will be responsible for all the logistics, payments, issues with the product, returns etc. Buying from a good seller will ensure that you get a) Genuine Product b) Get the Product in the least time as possible c) Pay no or less delivery fee for the Products d) Get Return Options with a good return window for the products. While selecting, the sellers should be selected based on the below priority order – Top Seller > Assured Seller > Other Seller a) Top Seller – Top Sellers are the one’s who have a good reputation, they also generate the highest revenue on the website. They have earned reputation by consistently selling good products, delivering on time and thereby earning good ratings from the customers. These sellers don’t have a distinction tag of top sellers on the website but have been identified by BB and they are as below- Amazon.in – CloudTail Pvt Ltd, Appario Retail Pvt Ltd Flipkart.com – Retail Net b) Assured Seller– Assured Sellers are Sellers on whom the website has more control based on the product they are supplying and the delivery time. The website tag or label the sellers on their website for identification by the customers. Assured Sellers on Flipkart are tagged Flipkart Assured and Amazon.in calls theirs as Fulfilled by Amazon. The products from these sellers will be in line to the websites Customer Benefit Offering that is a) You will get Genuine Products b) Easy Returns, Less Delivery Time, No Delivery Charge. c) Other Seller – These sellers who need not comply to the Websites Standard Customer Benefit Offering like delivery time, returns, delivery charge. Also the authenticity of the product cannot be guaranteed as there is no check done by the Online Marketplace.
Online Websites have sales all throughout the year where they give discounts on products, privilege credit card offers like 10% to 15% discount and No-Cost EMI. They have a biggest sale every year known as the Big Billion Days (generally Sep End or Start of October) for Flipkart and Great Indian Festival for Amazon. Hence if you plan on purchasing a number of products especially near to the sale dates for the biggest sales mentioned above, we suggest that you wait for the sale to come and purchase it so that you get benefits of better pricing and credit card discount.