Thumbs Up for Online Shopping !

Though I shop online , occasionally ; it is not my first choice for shopping.
I had this impression that surfing the internet to buy stuff was the norm for men , home-bound persons and workaholics.
Some people think online shopping is a sad thing to do.
I am not a big fan Online shopping ; like most women are not.
But, in the past two weeks,I have been enjoying the benefits of Online Shopping.
I appreciate the services offered by online stores when I couldn't find time to go shopping and I have had my shopping delivered to my house.

So, recently ,like millions of people do every day,I have sat back in the comfort of my home and shopped on-line.
After a few minutes of surfing on stores websites , deciding on what I wanted, and clicking on my choices of foods , juices, groceries and other household items; voilà! a shopping order is made and paid for ; to be delivered to me with despatch.
It was that easy! Then I had time to do other things .
A few hours later, my door-bell rang and the orders are delivered by the store.
Some of the delivery men have been kind enough even to bring the bulky shopping bags into my kitchen instead of leaving them on my porch for me to carry in.
Who says On-line shopping is not fun?
Do I intend to make it a habit to do my weekly shopping on-line?
No.
Why do more people not shop online , more often?
Online shopping has its pluses and minuses.
But it cannot give the buzz one gets from getting some live retail therapy, in store !
There is a lot of pleasure in being in the atmosphere of massive shopping malls and being surrounded by a vast array of goods to choose from.
Also ,there is the social interaction of meeting people; friends, old and new, in the shops during the peak shopping hours.
Inside the shops, you feel the joy of being alive ; being part of a milling mass of humanity!
Crowds , chatting, laughing and moving around in a shopping frenzy!
Touching , feeling and trying on the items on display; comparing their qualities and prices before chucking them in shopping trolleys.
However , some of these shopping malls in London are HUGE ; about 2 kilometres square!
Sometimes one would tire of the effort and time spent on moving around them ; shopping and carrying the shopping bags to the car parks and then driving home through heavy London traffic.

Shopping online is convenient but I would not buy shoes , clothings , perfumes and cameras on-line .
I prefer the satisfaction of seeing ,touching ,sniffing and checking them, in store , before buying them.
On-line stores could, sometimes, deliver items of a different brand name from the one you requested for; if they are out of stock .
Also, since all on-line transactions must be paid for, never by cash , but with store cards ,credit cards, debit or Master cards or all kinds of "precious plastics"; there are problems of identity theft and card fraud ,leading to theft of huge amounts from victims' bank accounts by criminals on the Internet.
These security risks of Online Shopping have to be managed by the shopper.
To safeguard online financial transactions, most banks and card issuers ,now give their customers the added risk -prevention tips and pin codes to protect their online transactions and frustrate all fraudulent efforts by online criminals.
Caution is the word ; like in any other financial transactions.
With adequate vigilance one could keep on enjoying the convenience of online shopping.
So , I have decided that whenever the need arises , the easy-option for me, as with other time-strapped busy-bees, would be the time-and-effort-saving option of Online Shopping .