The main rules of online shopping

Online shopping is a real art, which is not always easy to comprehend. Our expert tips and tricks will help them master and confidently shop online.
More and more people are spending their free time (and money) shopping online. Interestingly, less often purchases on the Internet are made by Russian women, not men (30% and 35%, respectively). The leader in online shopping is clothing and shoes (31%), electronics and household appliances (29%), but food is modestly in third place (22%). 

Today on the Internet you can buy anything you want - from the ingredients to Japanese rolls and ending with the puppy of the Yorkshire Terrier. Online shopping allows you to save a lot of time and energy, eliminating the need to travel around the city in search of the perfect dress or gift for your husband, and, in addition, it is guaranteed to cheer you up. 

We tell you how to do everything right and not spoil your shopping pleasure.

Be careful

Engaged in online shopping, it’s not easy to control yourself: there is always the temptation to buy and spend more than planned. Try not to rush to place your order and carefully choose what you really need.

Compare products, if possible, add them to the “Wish list” (almost all sites today offer such options) to weigh the pros and cons. 

Studies show that for many buyers, the purchasing decision process takes place on the cart page. Be careful - not all online stores at this stage provide detailed information about the products, their characteristics, photos and links to their full description.

Look for a short way

Registering on the site is perhaps the most boring in online shopping. For most users, this process is associated with the need to fill in many fields, remembering or restoring a username and password. Therefore, many prefer not to register on the store’s website in principle, because they are not sure that they will use its services in the future, and do not really want to receive spam in their personal mail.

If you do not want to share your contacts and keep numerous passwords in mind, look for an order option without registering. Most online stores offer this feature, but not on all sites this option is visible and highlighted on the page. Buyers often do not find the option “ buy without registration ” , as it may be at the end of the page and appear in gray.

In addition, some services offer the option of logging in through accounts on social networks. It will also save you time and eliminate the need to enter personal data into the form each time.

Confidently pay by credit card.

Payment security is a major concern for online shoppers. Do not worry: payment systems are ahead of fraudsters, constantly improving technology to detect and prevent illegal actions. 

In the foreseeable future, online shopping with the help of “plastic” should become even easier and safer. 

Get more

Many bona fide online stores offer visitors to subscribe to the newsletter (unscrupulous - automatically sign or hide this option in the agreement on the processing of personal data). 

By subscribing to the newsletter, you will be the first to know about the appearance of new collections, special offers, sales, receive invitations to events, discount coupons and gifts. In addition, do not miss out on stocks with a limited validity period or quantity of goods.

Check out the terminology

Despite the fact that sites most often use common language to indicate the required fields, some specific terminology can confuse even the most sophisticated shopaholics.

For example, the abbreviation PAN (Primary Account Number) means entering a bank card number, and the abbreviations CVV / CVC (Card Verification Value / Card Verification Code) indicate its security code, usually indicated on the back cards.

The stage of entering bank card information to pay for a purchase quite often causes users to distrust: customers are not always sure that they are doing everything right. Therefore, it is worth using visual hints on the payment pages - they will help to avoid mistakes.

"Check 7 times ..."

Before confirming the purchase and clicking on the “Pay” button, carefully check your order so that you don’t accidentally purchase sandals two sizes larger or theater tickets for a date that is not suitable for you. In addition, make sure that the specified delivery address of the order is correct (unless, of course, you have selected the option of pickup).

Find out all that is hidden

The largest number of refusals from placing an order in online stores is associated with hidden delivery conditions and additional margins. Unfortunately, very often at the stage of choosing a method of receiving an order by a user, sites do not provide information that delivery is paid. That is why, before choosing a courier service, make sure that it will not cost you an order of magnitude more expensive than the ordered goods. 

Often stores offer several payment methods, some of which may include an additional commission or discount. When choosing a payment option, carefully read its terms so as not to overpay or, conversely, save. As a rule, a commission is provided for payments through payment terminals. 
  1. A checklist of informed shopping: what questions should you ask yourself before going to the store
  2. FOMO effect: how we are forced to buy what we do not need
  3. 5 books for real shopaholics
  4. Eco-friendly fashion: 6 simple lifehacks of informed consumption