Ok, so as someone that likes to online shop during the best of times, doing it during the pandemic was a different experience. First of all, the shipping delays were so far fetched it was nuts. Blaming it on ‘international’ shipping when I ordered from Sephora and it took ten weeks, not anyone’s fault but there’s, in my opinion. Second of all, people are spending their money when they are broke and bored, please don’t make them wait.
I think a lot of brands and companies took advantage during the pandemic and the fact that people could’t leave their house so they were kind of forced into online shopping. Amazon definitely made a fortune. I think a way online companies took advantage of COVID-19 and of people online shopping was that they could put a premium price on shipping and handling fees. People wanted their products fast. In the middle of the pandemic, there was an article written in CBC Magazine (2020) that said “Online sales totalled 3.4 billion during the month, an increase of 120 per cent from last year’s level. In total, online selling made up almost 10 per cent of everything sold during the month, an all time high.” (para 8). This is evidence that people were bored and scared, so they found online shopping and found how easy it is to get things delivered to your finger tips no matter the circumstance.
In conclusion, I think online shopping during the pandemic was important for most of the population. It kept us sane, it made people feel like they were still in contact with the real world and it helped local businesses. However, we need social interaction. The world can’t survive on everyone in masks and showering in Purell. I do think that some major online companies (Amazon for example) thrived during the pandemic because people had to buy online, they really had no choice.
My point of my blog is that online shopping is great and necessary, and fifteen years ago a global pandemic would’ve been a very different thing. BUT, we need to remember that the huge websites want us to spend our money and they are using the fact that people staying home and not working as much are making us online shop more!
Don’t buy things you don’t need!!!! If you can’t stop thinking about an item for 3 months, sure, but don’t impulse buy. You and your bank account will appreciate the favour!
References:
Evans, P. (2020, June). Retail sales plunged, but online shopping soared as COVID-19 settled in April.
CBC
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/retail-sales-april-1.5618839
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