Online shopping is quick and easy. You surf, you look about, and often with a few clicks of your mouse you can purchase what you have been
looking for. It doesn’t replace shopping in real life though. Here are some factors that make shopping in the real world a better idea:

You can’t try anything on online. No matter how cute it looks on the website, you have no idea how it is going to look once it is in your house and on your person.

Even if you look at lots of pictures of the thing, or see it in videos, you don’t get a really good idea of what it is going to look like in person. The texture of the thing, the weight of fabric and so on, are all things you have to experience in person.You have to wait for your item. Sure, when you buy online there’s often a free or inexpensive shipping option. It’s rarely a fast option though.

Unless you want to wait five business days or longer to get your purchase, you’re better off shopping in a store.Five business days is actually pretty long. If you order on a Wednesday, then you will be waiting often until the following Wednesday or so to get your item, because the order may not go in until the next day, and then Saturday and Sunday don’t count. Contrast this with paying for your order in a store and then walking out with it in hand and bringing it home with you.

This is the major advantage to shopping in person. It may be more of a hassle to go out shopping than it is to surf and click at home, but the
inconvenience is outweighed by bringing your purchase home that same day.

The pain of returns. When you buy online, you are taking a gamble. If you turn out to not like your new purchase and you want to send it back, it can be a real pain.

Often you have to get a return number to be able to send it back. You’ll have to call the company to get this number. Then you need to repackage the item for shipping. If the original package is damaged this is even harder – and if it was originally shipped in pieces and you assembled it, this can mean you will now have to take it back apart. Big, bulky items are also very tricky – and expensive – to package and ship.

Then you have to get your package to a post office or FedEx, or arrange for it to be picked up by a shipper. Either way, this is going to burn more of your time.