Online Shopping- Buy until you die

We all would agree that technology has the tendency to offer umpteen benefits but mostly at a very high invisible cost and surely online shopping is one of them. It’s one of those drugs which works both ways i.e. it not only creates the adrenaline rush for evaluating and grabbing the best deal but at the same time it takes care of the adrenaline rush generated from other means. Online shopping is much more than getting the product online as compared to hitting the physical set up. It’s a typical form of indulgence where we are well aware as to where we are heading but still choose to ignore and simply love to get carried away. It instigates us to defy our periodic budget and find justification for artificial needs which never existed ever.

Does that mean that online shopping is simply a curse? Not exactly!!! It has different shades ranging from rational buying through dangerous addiction but unfortunately as we start with the rational buying, gradually the lines get blurred and we don’t even realize how and when we have already entered in the dangerous territory of addiction. When it comes to making use of this forum in the right way, it’s not less than a blessing. With the busy schedule, it’s mostly impractical to visit tons of stores for every single thing or one stadium like store for petty things. It can’t get more convenient to order routine things online and get it delivered as per our convenience whereby we can easily get rid of the hassles of crazy traffic as well as spending considerable time.

In a very short span of time this platform has gained popularity, mushroomed like anything and still growing by leaps and bounds. The real penetrating strategy being used to trap billions of customers is not to offer the convenience but to offer magical deals. From billion dollar days to days enticing us to shop till we drop, from season sales to end of reason sale; deals are just getting outrageous and can’t get better for consumers. On one hand, consumers are enjoying the war between online players as it allows them to buy the most coveted products at a throwaway price but at the same time consumers are also not able to gauge their real needs. These crazy deals simply make them blind and creates a lust for possession.

Online shopping has made lives easy but at a huge price. The drug like addiction to compare and check for the lucrative offers is an ostensible trap which keeps haunting every now and then. If we see the bigger picture, the impact is way more toxic. It lures us to possess more and more & look different for the smallest possible occasion or even for no occasion/to binge just because extra-large is coming at the price of small or to own gadgets just because everyone else has it. It has overtaken our common sense and we have stopped realizing the value for money as the products we used to buy at full price are now available for less than 60-70% of the price or the products which we used to dream and couldn’t afford has suddenly became affordable. So, basically, now we wish to own the regular products as they are cheap as well as the fancy ones as they are affordable.

This vicious circle of saving more on more for each category of available products eventually makes us spend way more than what we would have spent otherwise. Now, can we call this proposition rational? Does this count for actual saving? Whether the convenience offered by this forum is worth it? The real epidemic is the effect on the mind set like, “I am getting a branded apparel for just 500 bucks, what else I can ask for?”, “although it doesn’t fit well but not bad as it’s available at 80% discount”, “it’s so cheap that I should buy, if I don’t use it I can gift it to someone”, “I don’t have this color/style in my wardrobe, I can upgrade it with literally no cost”, “I am sure I can use it someday” and the worst one, “it might not be that great but not bad for the discounted price”.

If we simply understand the math behind this model, the trap planned for us is self-explanatory. We all know that there are no free lunches in this world so, obviously, online players are not concerned for the well-being of the entire nation, but they are burning money every second for a bigger reason. It’s high time to take a step back and realize the real objective of buying online and benefiting from discounts. If we choose to skip this introspection now, we would be in the middle of a slippery slope very soon where we would simply stock things for no reason and realize that the budget we used to have for 12 months of shopping is already exhausted in the first quarter, then first month and so on. Need not to say that if the rhythm continues, it would simply lead to ‘BUY UNTIL YOU DIE’. So, let’s use the technology and don’t let the technology use us/ let’s benefit from the offers and don’t let offers get inside our veins!!!