onlineshopping

ONLINE SHOPPING

You don’t really have to head to the bank branch to perform every transaction you intend performing just before you want to go and shop for the goods and accessories you need. You can do all this online without even thinking about stepping out of your door. cheap online shopping sites are always available 24 hours a day you can transfer money, pay bills, buy goods and materials you need either for your home, office or even for your body.

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Nowadays people feel uncomfortable and stress-out anytime they go out to buy goods especially when it is in a crowded market, so online shopping sites list is a lifesaving means of shopping for product.

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Online shopping refers to the process whereby consumers directly buy goods and services from a seller without an intermediary service over the internet. A consumer find a product which interest him by visiting the website of the retailer directly or by searching among vendors using a shopping search engine or by typing the name of different online shopping malls on the Google site. The Google display the same product’s availability and e-retailers. Online stores enable consumers to use the “search” features to find specific model, items online. If you want to buy a product and you are not sure about the product yet, you are not limited to asking friends and families because there are many products reviews on the internet which gives opinions of the existing users of the product.

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Online consumers must have access to the internet and a valid method of payment which include the usage of a credit card or a PayPal account in order to make a payment (however some systems enable consumers to create account and pay by alternative means which include cash in delivery, gift card, and many other means) Once you complete your transaction online, your goods is then delivered to you through shipping of your product to you.  

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Generally, higher levels of education and personal income correspond to more of our perception of online shopping. It also increases the exposure to technology and the probability of developing favorable attitude towards new shopping channels.

Online shopping sites or doorstep shopping site contain wide range of goods both high quality and low quality. This all depend on the site you are making your purchase.

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Before you order for a product, it is advisable to make a good  research on the product you want to buy very well this is because, unlike a regular retail store, you can’t actually touch and examine a product you buy online and for you to return it, will be extremely difficult since the item has been delivered to you. If you need more information about a particular product, just type on the Google page the specific product name you which to buy. One of the results will lead you to the manufacturer web page which will typically have more details and information on the product. You can also search by the manufacturer name to find the website or better still, just type on the Google page (product name) review. The YouTube is also a very good place to search for product reviews; the YouTube contain user-uploaded videos and you may be surprise at the amount and depth of specific product reviews there. Online shopping site like AMAZON.COM allow buyers to post reviews of products below the product description. However you must beware of the fact that some sites might filter negative reviews and show only the positive reviews. You can also try some popular online magazine and newspapers for reviews like www.choice.com.au or www.cnet.com.au.

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 The truth which people don’t really know about the internet is the fact that it is the top 10 online shopping sites,  WORLD LARGEST SHOPPING MALL from ALIBABA, AMAZON.COM, EBAY  FLIPKART and many more retailing corporations.  You can buy almost anything that you can think about online.

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 Shopping online has different advantages which people don’t really know about: they include

• You don’t have to queue or walk around shopping centers which include shopping malls and supermarket  to see what is available or what you think you can buy. It alleviates the need to wait in a long line or search from a particular item. All of these have been made easy for us to do on our desk at home.

• You can also shop for your desired goods at any time you wish by cash on delivery online shopping, it might be in the morning, afternoon or even in the night.

• It is also easy for you to compare price of goods between different website. This is one essential advantage of online shopping, there is high probability that the price of the goods you want to buy at a particular store might be different from the price at a different store, so instead of you going around the various stores to price the goods you want to buy, you can just do that at home without much stress.

• There is no national or international barrier when you are shopping online. You can even keep your identity even if some shopping sites decide to deprive your race from shopping on their site.

• In online shopping, the consumers will be in a demanding position and suppliers will not be in a commanding position.

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Shopping online is not without a potential disadvantages. In order for you to stay save when shopping and get the best items, there are some guidelines you need to follow;

• Trust your instinct if you think a company looks suspicious to you. Check the company’s credentials and you know you don’t want to do this, you can just try shopping with another website

• Try to compare price of item between different online shopping website so as to choose the suitable one for yourself base on the budget you have.

• Try to check on the privacy policy of the company you are buying from so as to be sure that the company will not pass your personal information on to other marketing companies.

• Don’t try to enter your credit card details into any website that doesn’t seem secure or save so as not to be duped.

• Print the receipt of any transaction you make online this will help you in case the companies you are buying from decide to dupe you.

When you purchase an item in the market or shopping mall, you pay for item you buy either in cash or by cheque. The same thing is applicable to online shopping just that it follows some other process. Paying of goods and item from an online market include the following methods.

• Credit card: credit cards are by far the most common and popular method of paying for items online. If you plan on doing any online shopping, you will need a credit card. The shop you are buying from will ask for the credit card name, number, expiry and the ccv (card code verification; that’s the three digit number on the back of the card you are using. They will also ask for the type you are using to make your purchase if (visa, MasterCard or American express) when you are using a master card, the money comes directly from your bank account when you are performing the transaction.

• PayPal: The PayPal is an online service that puts a layer of security between you and an online store. Using the PayPal, you just have to create a PayPal account at www.paypal.com. Creation of this account is free. You can either buy PayPal credit, or give PayPal your credit card number. Once you make a purchase at an online store and choose the PayPal payment option, the store you are buying from redirect you to the PayPal site where you log in and authorize your transaction. PayPal will deduct the money from your PayPal credits or directly from your bank credit card. These also save you from giving the online store your credit card details. PayPal pays the store and you pay PayPal. PayPal is the only one who knows your credit card details and can prevent over changing or fraud. PayPal is extremely popular on online stores like eBay or amazon.

• Bpay: This means of transaction through the bank. It is a service that provides direct funds transfer from the bank account you are using to another bank account. You can make bpay payments using your online banking service, if you have one. You can even use phone banking to make bpay payments. It is usually use for paying bills which include telephone, electricity. The store of biller you are buying from gives you a biller code and a bill reference number. You need those when you make the transaction online.

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Amazon.com is one of the most popular online shopping site in fact it is the internet largest retailer in the world as measured by revenue ad market capitalization, and it is the second largest after Alibaba group in terms of total sales. When it comes to the selling of goods and services, amazon product lines available in the selling of product which include several media (books, Dvds, music Cds, videotapes and software), apparel, baby products, consumers electronics, groceries, health and personal-care items, kitchen items, jewelry, watches, musical instrument and many other item that is needed. From the experience of some people, amazon is one online store everyone loves to shop from and this has gone beyond USA. Everyday all over the worlds, there is someone buying an item from amazon; this includes Africans especially Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa, majorly because 98% of the items they have are of good qualities and sold by verified amazon sellers.

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Goods are extremely advisable to be bought from amazon because of the originality of their product; presently it is difficult to differentiate between a fake product and the original ones, this is because of the sophistication of product cloning.

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The amazon selling site allows buyer to summit review of their product on the webpage. Once you buy a product from their shop, you are allowed to rate your product on a rating scale from one to five stars. Amazon also provides a badging option for reviewers which indicate the real name of the reviewer (this is based on the confirmation of a credit card account) or which indicate that the reviewer is a top reviewer by popularity. Customers may comment or vote on the reviews indicating whether they found a review helpful for them. To understand how to gain reviews on amazon, it is essential to know how the platform works. Amazon has got its own search engine. When customers are looking for product to buy, they put search with keywords of choice and as a result get a list of products describing those keywords. The process or set of rule the Amazon search uses is built to serve the consumers in the best possible ways. The goal is to give the shopper the right product that is fitting in the search terms and keywords they are using. For the seller, it is important to understand how the algorithm works so that they can rank better with their product listing.

 

The higher a product is ranked on the site, the more sales it will get. Sellers are competing over the highest rankings and pages because they are leading to the most sales. When a product or item gets more sales, it will lead to getting more reviews; the item will rank better and gain more sales.

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You might be wondering about how the items or goods you buy online will be delivered to you once your payment has been made and accepted. It is very easy and extremely safe. Some of the large enterprises and large scale website have established their own logistics and delivery systems. They operate warehouse centers and distribution points at locations where there is a large concentration of online shoppers. Products and items are dispatched and delivered to the doorstep according to the personal information on the order list. The three most important factors you need you need to consider when you want to order for the delivery of your items is the size, weight and destination. The items you ordered for can be delivered to you in many ways. We have: 

• Shipping method: The shipping method originally refers to transportation of item by sea, but in the present day, it has been extended to refer to transportation by land or even by air. The mode of transportation is an important consideration when planning the shipment process. Besides the amount, the urgency of the shipment, the value of the items being shipped as well as the size and weight of the goods need to be evaluated when determining the mode of transportation.  Shipping of items by land might be by truck, lorry or by train. The land transport is required to take the cargo from its place of origin i.e. from the store you made your order to the truck and then to its destination. Land transportation is generally more affordable than the air means of transportation. And it is expensive than the sea transportation especially in a developing country where inland infrastructure may not be efficient. Shipment of items by trucks directly from the shipper’s place to the destination is also known as door to door shipment and more formally as multimodal transport. Shipping of product is also done by air through a specialized cargo aircraft and in the luggage compartment of the passenger’s aircraft. Air shipping is the fastest mode for long distance shipping transport standard air shipping will get your product to you between eight to ten days while the most expensive express air can deliver in less than a week unlike the sea method of shipping which will take around four to six weeks to reach you. However it is to be noted that the air shipping is extremely expensive unlike the land means of transportation. In terms of reliability as well, the air shipping is the most consistent in terms of getting your items to you within an acceptable time. When a plane is held up due to whether, it can leave within a day or two. Some types of product are prohibited from being transported by air shipping. The list of banned of items is quite long and varies between countries and airline regulation. The airline provides a list of goods that are generally prohibited; we have gases which include lamp bulbs, we have flammables item which include perfume, we have magnetic substances which include speaker, we have corrosive items which include batteries. This will help you in choosing the best means of your delivery. The ship method is another way of collecting the items you buy online. Much shipping is actually done in ship. An individual nation’s fleet and the people that crew it are referred to as its merchant navy or merchant marine. Merchant shipping is the lifeblood of the world economy carrying 90% of the international trade; this is because of the space in it while size and weight may be an issue for the air, it is not for the sea. On rivers and canals, barges are often used to carry bulk cargo. One of the disadvantages of sea shipping is loss of containers which include items and goods ordered for. Ocean shipping is also a preferred mode of transportation for the movement of high volume and heavy cargo such as minerals, metals, ores, steels etc. which would be impossible to move by air shipping.

• In store pick up: This is another method of getting your item delivered to you. It is extremely fast. All you have to do is to select a local store around your area using locator software and picks up the delivered product at the selected location. Instead of contending with shipping charges or impatiently awaiting the delivery of your goods and occasionally dealing with UPS mishaps or delivery snafus, you can fetch or get your purchases on the same day when you order for your product at your local outpost or whichever store you have ordered from. It’s just like placing a hold in effect. Seven online stores currently have BOPIS (buy online pick up store) capabilities; we have the Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy’s, Jc Penney, Sears, Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, and Kohl’s. But only Nordstrom ranked among the top performers for order success.

• Drop shipping: this is a supply chain management method in which the retailer does not keep goods in stock but instead transfer the consumer order and shipment details to either  the manufacturer, another retailer or a wholesaler, who then ship the goods directly to the customer. Drop shipping can occur when a small retailer receives a single large order for a product. Rather than place the shipment through the retail store, the retailer might arrange for the goods to be shipped directly to the customer. This drop shipping is also very common with big ticket items like steel buildings, where the retailer will take a deposit and have the steel shipped directly to the buyer’s building site from the supplier’s manufacturing facility. One major effect of drop shipping is that consumers who receive a drop-shipped package will realize that they overpaid for the item on. This is mostly applicable to eBay. The best thing they do is to return the goods to the manufacturer then reorder the identical item directly from the manufacturer. The cost of processing the return and the loss of the unsellable returned goods can result in a significant loss to the manufacturer. This is one main reason why the drop shipping method is not really used by online stores. The main significant advantage of drop shipping is the positive cash flow cycle which occurs because the seller is paid when the purchase is made. The seller usually pays the wholesaler using a credit card or credit items. Therefore there is a period of time in which the seller has the customer’s money, but has not yet paid the wholesaler.
   

Another method use in delivery of items and goods is the shop to my door method. This is mostly used by people living in African countries who which to buy from amazon. Physical products are not shipped to Nigeria from USA that is why people use the shoptomydoor services. Amazon can ship your product to countries like Nigeria by using a USA address from shoptomydoor shipping service which can accommodate any quality of items or size of packages. Another main advantage of using shoptomydoor method is that amazon will not deliver some high value items like laptops, house appliances, etc. but with shoptomydoor, you can buy those items and have them delivered stress-free. This method is been used because it guarantees a 100% insurance using consolidated hallmark insurance in case of damage or loss and also it has 24hours refund policy if anything happens to your shipment. This policy ensures that you get in full, the amount you declared as the value of your item and cost of shipping. It also reduces shipping cost using consolidation and it saves you 70% of shipping cost compared to FEDEX. Using this shipping, method is extremely easy; you just have to register with shop to my door to get your free warehouse address in USA, UK or CHINA. Use the address and your delivery address when you buy from top online stores in these different states. Once you buy from these stores, your item will be delivered to the address you provided and shoptomydoor will update your warehouse and send you SMS and email notification that you have received your item. Be sure your unit number is included in the address you give the stores. Like all other delivery method, shipping cost is also calculated by looking at the weight and dimensions of your package.

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When a product is been order for from an online store, you expect your product to be delivered to you within the stipulated time. But some goods are not delivered when order for. You might be wondering why this is the case. Some of the main reasons for undeliverable packages might be because:

• Item is too big for a P.O box: Some items are too big to be shipped to a street address, so those items are returned back to the online store for them to find another means of delivery it.

• Incorrect address/missing information: The goods or package you ordered for may be typically returned to the online store by the carrier or the unintended recipient if the address is incorrect, has typos, is missing information such as an apartment number or Zip code or is outdated such as a previous residence.

• Address format: If a post office box address was entered in a format the online store system does not recognize, the package may be shipped through a carrier that cannot delivered to a post office box. To ensure that such packages are routed through the proper carriers, it is advisable to enter the P.O BOX followed by the number. And also if you have private mailbox holder (use a local commercial mail receiving agency), do not use “BOX” for your mailbox number, instead use # or PMB. This will ensured that the address you are living is not mistaken to be a P.O BOX, and that orders can ship to you via means other than the U.S postal service.

• Damage during transit: If a package is damage on its way to consumers, the shipper may return it back to the online store without attempting delivery. The main purpose is to change the goods or package. Also some items can be sorted to the wrong carrier or labels can be damaged such that the carrier or shipper is unable to determine the correct delivery address.

• Refused by recipient or shipper: This is the mistake that is mostly made by the online store. When they want to send an item through a recipient, they must have informed the shipper beforehand. If a recipient is not expecting a package, they may refuse it especially if they believe the item or package is sent to them by error.

• Unsecured location: An item or package may be returned to the store if there is no safe place to leave the goods at the point of delivery, where goods is safe from weather or not visible to passerby who might steal it.