Category Archives: Shopping

Keep Online Shopping Safe and Secure!

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Buying goods and services online may have made your life a lot simpler, however what you have to also understand is that there are a number of things you have to understand when you do so. When you shop online, there are a number of security threats attached, and if you are not careful, you could end up losing some money and even be victim of identity theft. This is not just the case with online stores and brick and mortar stores could make you face the same threats. So be careful whether inside or outside learn how to keep the hackers and thieves who are after your money at a distance.

1. For beginners who are not familiar with the process of buying products online, or for those who are not completely bought in by the idea of buying a product without actually touching it, you should visit a regular store in your neighborhood, feel the product and then buy the product online. Once you know what it feels like, make sure you get the same products online and be sure to read their descriptions carefully before you go ahead and place the order. Make sure to take a print of the receipt that the online store provides.

2. Another very important step in shopping online is ensuring that the purchases you make are off a secure web address. It is simple to check whether the website is secure or not and by doing so you could avoid a lot of grief.

To check if the websites is using an encrypted software look out for the SSL ( Secure Socket layer) padlock symbol. You will find this symbol on the address bar or on the bottom right hand corner of the web page. Also make sure that the site address starts with ‘https’ and not just ‘http’. Make this a habit and you can be sure that you will not be cheated when you are shopping online.

3. Checking for contact details on the website, should be a practice as well because you want to make sure that you can trust the website you are using. Check if they have paper catalogues, by that you will be able to judge if they have been in the business for long. Check if they let you return items and also check if they have a regular brick and mortar store.

4. You could also shop online with the help of gift cards. This will help you cope with the fear of identity theft and other security issues.

5. Another way of ensuring that the website you are using can be trusted is to use Google or other search engines to look for reviews about the website. If you find any bad reviews or come across some comments by an unhappy customer, you know it is prudent not to shop on that particular website. Word of mouth is the best publicity, so if you have friends who are happy with where they are shopping online, you could use these websites to broaden your shopping horizon.

6. You could also choose to get your hands on a pre-paid Visa card for online shopping. Thousands of people use pre-paid visa cards and restaurants and at gas stations without a single worry, so you could simply load up your card to a certain amount to stay more secure every time you shop online.

How Do Women Shop Online?

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Regardless of male or female, we just have to accept the fact that online stores have such huge alluring power. The first appropriate question to ask here is, what is behind this alluring power? Well according to consumer psychology experts, this is because online shopping doesn’t make us feel like we are spending money, in fact having nothing literally come out from our pockets, receiving something via mail a few days later is just like getting Christmas present. Don’t you agree? Researches by consumer associations seem to suggest that, first world country population in general are becoming more and more ‘financially savvy’, having to spend less of their hard earned dollars in conventional store, they turn to online stores. Should we then conclude that online shopping is therefore so tempting and successful?

Let’s just hit on one of many good strategies of online marketers, which is the use of online coupons. Online coupons have over the year help popularizes some of the online stores, and this fact has been supported by many surveys. Perhaps it is not too much to pay tribute to the convenience that information super highway presents, consumers, particularly women can avoid the hectic traffics, long lines at cashiers, tiring walk down the mall and risk of being the victim of snatch crime, hence it is very appealing to so many.
Penchant coupons offer as marketing strategy.

Not until recently, consumers’ behavior of coupons use is unclear, but a recent survey by BurstMedia done on approximately 4,500 women older than18 years has revealed much. BurstMedia interviewed then about their current use of the Internet and it’s relation to household purchases and whether or not they take up the coupons offer. Their findings seem to suggest, that the Internet has taken over the role of conventional shopping as the main way women fulfill shopping for household stuffs. Who can blame them? Just look at the luxury of being able to get home from a tiring day of work, fix a dinner, spend time with kids, then fill up the fridge and food closet by order the groceries online? And as for offer coupons are concerned, their usage has tripled tremendously since 2002 or currently up to 82% among online groceries shoppers.

Anyone would agree that it is ultimately easy and economic to do shopping online, according to budget, one can simply browse through a wide array of products online, select a type, quantity and size, the next thing is to simply wait the next day for the groceries to arrive at the doorstep, and for the delivery cost of $9.90 to reduce the stress of busy life, nobody will hesitate to pay. In fact, online shopping have restored the pure joy of shopping since one doesn’t have to be troubled by the hassles of sales assistant and cashiers. The package arrive at your door step without you driving to and fro to shopping mall, scanning car parks, towing kids around, no irritating sales assistants and best of all, you don’t need to compete with other to get the right size! The appeal?

The same research as mentioned above indicated that 70% of 18-34 year olds women use the Internet to search for information on ‘how to manage household’, and a new emerging term “Googling” is just an everyday thing, even to make purchase or to find information about something. And if you think that only young people use the use Google, think again, the percentage of usage among 35-54 year olds has soared up to 71%, all statistics are courtesy of BurstMedia. Internet shopping has become to mean of almost every households to meet their needs ranging from grocery shopping to purchasing travel package for family holiday. 74.1% women, or 3 out of 4 use the internet to do research about the best place to travel to, detailed information about the place and hence make airline tickets purchase and hotel reservations. And as an internet marketer yourself, do you see where coupons fit in this picture?

According to BurstMedia again, One third of women, take up coupon offers, and prior to any purchase, 62.3% of women do research and read more about the products or services they are interested in.

The appeal now is the dire need of anonymity, to have the freedom of hanging around on a website for as long as needed without being hassled or troubled by the so called ‘team member’. For a website that sell something with require customer to read extensively, the absence of a pair of seemingly “watching eyes” is more appealing; and yes it is understandable that as an online marketer you want to convert traffic into dollars, but as in any business, you must not go to the extent of engaging in any sort of social discourse with visitors, let’s say you own a real fashion shop, you won’t want to ‘assist’ a visitor trying your clothes out in the fitting room don’t you? And let’s say you are shopping in a mall, you won’t want the cashier to throw you a bunch of offer to buy extra this or extra that don’t you?

At the point to reaching the cashier all you want to do is to pay and check out and enjoy what you have bought, so as the case when you are selling something online, when your customer has decided what to buy and pay for it, all they want is to pay and receive the confirmation.

Well, regardless of how online shopping has got to this point, this is a phenomenon, can will be driven further by coupons offers online. Coupon offers has been steadily luring average men and women all over the world to sit in at the comfort of their home, in front of the screen and shop their heart out.

Shopping Varies From Person to Person

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For most people, shopping is a hobby. For some, it is even a must. When we’re up, we shop. When we’re down, we shop even more. Well, it varies depending on the person, the idea and thought. It is in general, shopping refers to an activity of selection or purchase from a place. Whether we are sad and want to change our mood or we are happy and want to enjoy further, shopping is an activity for everyone. It is also an addiction for some shoppers who have an uncontrollable urge to shop. Such people find it difficult to stop. Even for our daily needs and basic provisions, it is a part of daily life.

For some, it is a leisure activity while for others it can be called an economic one. Some like to go for it as they consider it a way of expressing their personality and good sense. The favorite hobby for 90% of the women throughout the world is shopping. They not only always want to buy clothes, perfumes and jewels but they also want to buy stuff to interesting decorate their homes and more. They want to prove their husbands how good they are at decorating their houses by shopping for new pieces of furniture. Men, on the other hand, do not like to spend money on useless things. But as there are people of different types, some men do spend a lot on items they feel will be appreciated for their creativity and good taste. Almost all men also enjoy shopping for cars, tools and gadgets. Only the tastes differ and the amount of time they spend in a shop.

The ones who enjoy this activity are called avid shoppers or buyers who are always willing to buy what they want, however, high its price may be. There are also different kinds of shoppers like window shoppers, clearance shoppers, slow shoppers, quick shoppers and never satisfied shoppers. Window shoppers are always found walking around in malls or shops. They want to purchase stuff but there is something that holds them back. The weekly store sales or daily coupons that come in the newspaper attract another type of shopper called bargain hunters. Bargain hunters also enjoy shopping, but instead of buying things at their market price, they go to any extent to get a product at a cheaper price.

People also use shopping as an escape from mundane life or a way to relax after a hectic day. It’s like when we shop, somehow we find new focus and our mood gets uplifted. This is what is called retail therapy! So what is it about shopping that gets us jump on our feet? Why we spend hours roaming up and down in a mall and ignore our physical comfort? That’s the allure of fashion. You just need a little care and alertness to make it a wonderful experience. Happy shopping!