RHS students reflect on the pros and cons of online shopping

Students online shopping at lunch. Photo by Bianca Mow.

Students online shopping at lunch. Photo by Bianca Mow.

Bianca Mow, Staff Writer

Recently the trend of online shopping has grown. Now you can buy anything you want online: clothes, food, accessories, movies, books, etc. Online shopping makes a lot of things easier, but sometimes it  makes some things harder than they need to be.

Because today’s teens are growing up in the age of online shopping, it is not unusual, but sometimes it isn’t as convenient as traditional shopping. When asked, most students said they don’t prefer online shopping over traditional shopping.

 “The clothes may not fit, shipping sometimes costs more than clothes, and you can’t get the clothes immediately,” freshman Emma Piaskowski said. 

Although there are benefits to online shopping, some things may not always be as easy as clicking a button.

“I prefer traditional shopping,” freshman Teddie Turner said. “I can try things on and I can see how things look on me.”

Piaskowski agrees and adds that, “There is always a possibility of being scammed when shopping online.”

Statistics show that the idea of buying virtually anything online is starting to grow on others. When people are at a loss for time, feeling lazy, or just don’t want to go shopping, online shopping is a great alternative.

According to Forrester Research, “About 190 million U.S. consumers, more than half the population, will shop online this year.”

Some students will be included in the 190 million people who will shop online this year. Though many prefer traditional shopping in a store, others feel like the pros to online shopping outway the cons.

“Online shopping is convenient, there is more variety, and sometimes prices are better,” freshman Anu Yetukuri said.

Statistics also show that phones are what sparked the growth of online shopping. Phones make online shopping available anytime, anywhere.

“Twenty-two percent of consumers spend more as a result of using digital; just over half of these shoppers report spending at least 25 percent more than they had intended,” according to CMO by Adobe.

Overall, in the past couple of years people have joined the bandwagon and started shopping online.

“It’s easy and convenient but it can sometimes go wrong, but it’s super addictive and I can spend hours doing it” Yetukuri said.