Shopping Online

by Varsha Gaur teacher

I have always been skeptical about buying things online and perhaps it will remain as such. But nowadays when I don’t get enough time for myself after 12 hours of work, all I do in the name of convenience & saving time is ordering things online. The experience so far has been varied. Never buy products made of glass or any other fragile material online-this I learned after two of the products I ordered came in pieces. Although the replacement & refund was made the whole process has been very time-consuming. Another type of product I have refrained from buying online is men’s grooming products such as perfumes and deos for men. You never know if the product is a real

But what actually happened that led me to look for perfumes & deodorants online was when I bought a combo pack of some sports deodorant from a local store. The fragrance of the perfume supposed to make me smell refreshed was filled with a flowery scent so strong that it hit directly into your brain. More so, each bottle lasted only 10 days or so. And I wonder nowadays why did I keep using the awful fragrance of that deodorant? Why didn’t I just go back to the store & ask for a return? I would rather not think about it now. Since then I have decided I will be buying perfumes and deodorants online only.

This time I was looking for perfumes and deos for men online to gift them to a close friend of mine. I don’t take much time on thinking about a gift, and nowadays that the whole process has been digitized it takes me mere seconds to be done with the whole thing. Nowadays I feel that we can very well predict what the modern way of life will be with the ways to buy commodities get more & more digitized. Regardless, my search with this gift was very specific & targeted as I only googled for perfumes & deos for men online.

What ranked at the top was a popular perfume brand Denver with its variety of scents for men. Its merchandise included special edition Batman & Superman, touted as best perfume for men. The choice from here onwards was simple, I knew I didn’t want to buy the superhero edition although they seemed like a very cool gift for my friend. What I chose was the classic scent of Denver Hamilton. I chose to buy a perfume bottle of the fragrance than a deodorant as it obviously looks more premium. So I order a bottle online, and ended my struggle after 15 minutes of shuffling amongst various perfumes and deos for men.

How I see the process of buying products online in a way that it seems like a secure process only because we chose to believe so. The easy of the process turns the eye away from knowing how the whole process actually functions. We are so much unaware of these processes & especially their faults that we mindlessly continue to donate our faith and money to them. Although I gifted the same bottle of presumably best perfume deo in India. I cannot say that it was an original or not. I believe one needs to look more closely into digital marketing & understand the strategies that keep us in this loop of unwarranted faith.