Online Shopping has proven to save money for shoppers from all over the world. Over the years, online shopping has competed highly with offline shopping. According to reports and studies, online shopping has had the upper hand against offline shopping.
One area that online shopping has surpassed offline shopping is the price. Offline shops have high price tags on their products compared to online stores. So, why are online stores cheaper? Generally, why is it cheaper to shop online?
We will be discussing that in this article.
Why Are Online Stores Cheaper?
Normally, retailers of the Brick-and-Mortar stores don’t offer the same deals as online counterparts. The Brick-and-Mortar stores are offline retail shops.
- No rental fees
The first reason that online prices are cheap is that there is no rental fee. Well, technically, there are some ‘rental’ fees, but they are not the same as the physical shops. With the physical shops, you will be paying the normal rental fee to the premises that you occupy. The rental fees will depend on the location and size of the property. A store that is located near a metropolitan area will have high rental fees.
But with the online store, you will be paying a ‘rental’ fee in the form of the web hosting fee. The package that you choose will determine how much you will pay the web hosting company.
All in all, it is easier to run an online store than it is to run an offline store. That is why online stores are cheaper.
- No Bills
So, rental fees are among the common bills paid by a business. However, there are other bills that an online store will not have to pay. For instance, the store won’t have to worry about electricity or water bills. Even if it is a Brick-and-Click store (existing both online and offline), the online store will not have to pay for the existence of the online store.
- Less Payroll/Workers
A bigger on-site store like Wall-Mart has many branches, which means that they have to hire people to take care of the customers that visit those branches. At the end of the day, the workers will have to be paid duly. The more the workers, the more money the company will spend on payroll.
In an online store, a handful of people can serve customers without any problem. The only area that might need plenty of people is the customer support desk. Generally, you can find around 50 to 100 agents that are capable of serving a global customer scope.
Generally, online stores have less operational costs compared to offline stores. Offline stores are more expensive to operate. That is why products in an online store will be cheaper than those in an offline store.
- No need for a physical store
Have you ever heard of dropshipping? In simple terms, this is a form of trading online, where a person acts as a link between a buyer and the supplier. So what happens is that a buyer will place an order online for a specific product. After that, the ‘online store’ forwards the order to the supplier. Here, the supplier will need the buyer’s contact and shipping information. Once the online trader pays for the goods, the shipping is sent directly to the buyer.
The beauty of it all is that the online trader or store can do all this in the comfort of their home. All that happens is that the buyer places an order and the online store handles everything else. Here, the online store will not have to look for a warehouse to stock up the store. This is another reason why you will find prices cheaper in the online store.
Should You Shop Online?
So yes, online shopping might be cheap and all that. But should you consider shopping online or going to the nearest local store to shop for your items? Let’s discuss that, shall we?
Before you proceed to shop online, it is wise to learn a few things. First off, you should know where you will be shopping, how to shop, and what products you should go for. The best way to solve this is to find a reliable guide. A site like bestreviews.guide offers you the needed information when you want to shop online. You get to know about the top products from each category and also, you will be directed to a reputable store.
That being said, the answer to whether you should shop online or not depends on a few factors;
- If you have a busy schedule
Online shopping is best suited for those that have a busy schedule and don’t have enough time to go out to shop. Here, you can place an order while in the office, when on a business trip, at night before going to bed, or a few minutes before driving to work.
It helps to save you time and effort that you’d use to walk into a local shop to buy products.
- If you don’t need them urgently
Sometimes, shopping online might not be the best choice if you need the items yesterday. In this case, you might want to drive to the nearest local store and buy whatever you want. An online store might keep you waiting for up to three days and some even more than two weeks.
- If you are buying electronics or high-end products
Suppose you want to buy electronics or other premium products that are expensive at your local store, you might want to turn to the online store. Online stores are not only cheaper, but you will enjoy free services such as to deliver and installation. In most cases, electronic, power tools and other machines tend to come with free delivery and installation when you buy online.
All in all, online shopping is the new shopping trend, and everyone should embrace it. Even small items like groceries and food are being offered online with instant delivery. So yes, it won’t be too late to turn to online shopping. Just ensure you are wise enough when shopping online to stay safe and avoid overspending.
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