Dr. Sahil Gorka
The present day shopping industry has been flooded with the concept of ” online market ” ,
an easy approach towards getting a wider customer base and widespread promotion for the sellers and heavy discounts for the customers . There are numerous benefits of online shopping over ” Real life shopping “.
For starters, you can look for anything ranging from an Almirah to a Memory card , clothes to stationery. Almost anything that you can imagine , we have an online shop for that, all this you can browse while lying down in the comforts of your bed, and it shall be delivered to you in a couple of days at a price much lower than you imagined . The products are usually of better quality, the variety available at websites is much more than any market, price is much lower than retail shops, discounts are heavy, and in case you don’t like a product, the refunds are generally easy and prompt. It saves your effort, time and money needed to visit any mall or market.
Now as “Real life shopping” is an art of women, online shopping is similarly very tricky. How many times have you felt cheated when a friend of yours casually remarks on your dress, ” OH, this one ! it was selling for 1500 at Jabong, why did u buy it from the Mall for 2500 ? “. The pain is hard to describe. The very dress that u wore so confidently makes u feel dejected and cheated.
Now, since I have spent last 2 years shopping incessantly over numerous websites for products of various categories, I shall reveal some secrets and techniques for you to save yourself some money, time and thus make the most of online shopping.
All the following steps may not apply on every product or in combination, but once you become a smart shopper, you know your game very well !
NEED VS GREED :– Never buy a product because of the discount on it , you should always keep a list of the things you want to buy, then search them on online shopping websites (I’ll tell you which websites to look for which product ), put the desired product in your wishlist and wait for the right moment !
There are plenty of sale periods going on, like festivals, weekends, and occasions like Great Online Shopping Festival (GOSF). During these periods, there are coupon codes given which apply like a blanket on all products ( ex. 30% off on orders above 1999 ) , that is the time you should cash on.
COMPARE :- There are some great comparison websites for Indian people because we are always fond of evaluating two to three shops to know the least price, similarly websites like COMPARERAJA.COM , INDIANBOOKSTORE.NET , JUNGLEE.COM provide us an option where we can enter the name of desired product and look for its lowest price on internet amongst all the shopping websites. Keep in mind the shipping prices too. Certain websites show the product value as too low and shipping prices are hefty, to equalize or even surpass the product price.
COUPON :– Bargaining is the true shopping. Holds true here too. Go on, subscribe ur email id to a couple of coupon providing websites like COUPONDUNIA.COM , COUPONRAJA.COM , just to name a few, the internet is full of them. They would regularly provide you with exciting and inviting coupons right in your inbox. Get a coupon for the desired product and apply when shopping, it really soothens the soul .
CHOOSE WEBSITE CAREFULLY :– Certain websites are earmarked for certain products that they are good at. Websites like Jabong, Myntra are premier websites for clothing, footwear, accessories. Snapdeal, Flipkart, Amazon, Ebay are particularly good for electronics and appliances , Healthkart for medicinal, surgical or sports goods, Lenskart for eye wear. Amazon, Flipkart for books. Jabong, Snapdeal for home furnishing items.
Also, check for the authenticity of websites before buying a product. Generally some websites like MIRACAS.COM, SHOPCLUES.COM have terrible refund and return policies, and once you buy something from them, your money stays with them, they are reluctant to return the product and even if you manage to do so, you are supposed to forcefully shop from the refunded amount as there is no cash refund. So read the ” Return policy ” of websites carefully.
Try to differentiate between a website that owns the products, and the one that acts as a broker. The former ones have a suitable refund / return policies, while the latter ones are just like the shopkeepers in the market near your house. If u choose the latter, choose a seller with good ratings.
PRODUCT SELECTION :- Now while you have selected the website, go to the desired department list and select the product. Don’t hurry up, go down and see the reviews, read the genuine ones, and see for yourself whether the product is worth buying or not. Once you have finalised it, add it to your wishlist, and follow step 1.
If the time is ripe, check the coupon and see if the coupon applies on a value more than your product, add another one of your desired products to make the coupon applicable.
Or else, keep the product in your cart and close the website !!! Yes, close it and wait. In a day or two, they sometimes mail you a reminder in your email regarding completion of the order and in addition, they offer you another big coupon, just to facilitate your shopping . Make merry ! They really do this .
6. PAYMENT :– Now since you are all set to shop, apply the coupon, the price of product will be lowered, dont go for gift wraps , u can better wrap them at home . And never select cash on delivery, the cash on delivery (COD) charges are more and it takes more time to refund the money when paid using COD.
Use the option of wallet (when available) / Debit card/Credit card/ PayU money when making final payment.
The wallets like Mobikwik , Paytm offer you cashback (money back in your account) on almost every transaction, similarly payment gateways like PayU money offers 10% cashback on every transaction. So you end up paying even lesser than you finally settled for.
In case the wallet/PayU option is not there, dont be disheartened, nationalised banks offer reward points for every usage of your debit card, those points eventually turn into
cashback. So, its a win win situation for you.
You save so much without even having to spend an hour bargaining with the shopkeeper or worrying about the huge price tags.
By following these steps, i could manage to buy products worth Rs. 4500 at a price below 2500 , Products worth Rs. 5000 at a price of 3500 !!!
Now some basic things to keep in mind that could save you from being fooled at the hands of these online shopping giants.
* Offers like Flat 50% off on footwear, flat 70% off on NIKE , are all fake . If u carefully observe a certain product for over 2 weeks, it will go through a lot of sale periods and yet its price will remain almost same, despite the boasted sale percentages. The thing you must look for is , TOTAL discount coupons like ,” 30% off on orders above 1500 ” , those kind of offers do make a difference in the price. Always look for them and not for the sale percentages.
Also offers like ” Buy 3 for 999 ” , are rarely beneficial, as the actual total price of those products is generally equal to the one projected .
* Avoid using single email id for all the shopping. It may help you earn good reward points that you can later cash out , but the saving you can do with a new email id is much more.
Eg; Each time you log in from a new id on website, you get a “first time user discount”, that you can avail. Websites like Lenskart are particularly generous in giving away “first frame free” to new customers. Make sure you use a new phone number for every email id, as your phone numbers also get registered.
* In case you doubt the online price to be too high, always get a reality market price check. Stationery items like pens, printer paper, cosmetics, small electronics are sometimes costlier on online websites owing to their shipping prices, in such cases, its better to buy from the market.
And yes, once you have ordered the product, do keep a track of the shipping details. Be available at the destination on the day of delivery. The delivery guys usually call before arriving, be nice and thankful to them. Do not make them wait unnecessarily and make it a habit of saying ” THANK YOU ” and offer them water. It really means a lot to them as they are the ones working hard to bring your products to your doorstep .
In case you are not satisfied with the product or you wish to refund, just call/email/visit the website and choose return. The rest of the process follows. Either they arrange a reverse pickup of your order or you have to ship it yourself by courier or post. The shipping money is also refunded .
All in all, its a really exciting and rewarding experience than routine shopping, if you get a hold of it. Be a smart shopper, you will never be more happier than being one.
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