Flirtations with online shopping
IT was baffling. Every now and then, the doorbell would ring. There would be a delivery boy at the door, either to deliver something or pick up a return. From daily-use items to fancy products, perishables like milk and vegetables to durables like upholstery to even odd pieces of furniture, almost everything was being ordered online and delivered at the doorstep. I couldn’t even buy tomatoes or potatoes without scrutinising each piece; I wondered how anyone could make big purchases without actually seeing, touching and having a feel of the product. That was the time when online shopping was an alien concept for me, difficult to digest.
I had my first brush with online shopping two years ago during a visit to my son and daughter-in-law in Gurugram. Watching from the sidelines, I was intrigued by the exchange of OTPs and products at the door. Online shopping was the way of life of my children, who had neither the time nor the inclination to go to the market. No stocktaking, no planning — they would order on their mobile phone or laptop anything and everything as and when they wanted. At the eleventh hour, the cook would announce that there was no vegetable in the fridge or no sugar left in the pantry; immediately, an order would be placed on a quick commerce app. Within minutes, the stuff was delivered.
From an onlooker trying to figure out online shopping, I am today ordering on e-platforms, though negligibly in comparison to youngsters. With a number of shopping apps downloaded on my phone, I am virtually carrying a few shopping malls in my pocket. I hop from one virtual mall to another without any hassle. Just at the click of a button, I can order and get anything without stepping out of my house.
However, the comfort of online shopping is no substitute for the joy of visiting a brick-and-mortar store in the market. I enjoy going to malls and buying from shops after checking various products.
However, I am getting hooked on e-commerce sites. After retirement, my requirements may be limited, but I have enough time to browse commercial portals. It’s an interesting pastime, but is proving to be an expensive hobby. I start surfing shopping apps and end up buying things that I do not really need. There are offers, deals and discounts to entice me, new products and fancy items to allure me.
My generation is still experimenting and flirting with online shopping, but the youngsters are obsessed with e-commerce, leading to its exponential growth. Needless to say, the online shopping mania is impacting millions of small retailers. It is a fact that ‘mom-and-pop’ stores have almost become extinct in the developed world. The e-commerce boom in India is bound to cause huge disruptions to the retail sector.
