Your Favourite Items Are Just a Click Away!

Have you ever just sat at home feeling like you want to relax but shop for clothes at the same time?

Everyone has shopped on online shopping sites such as eBay and Groupon, but a new phenomenon is now being observed in the world of online retail: the blog shop.

Blog Shops 

Some budding young entrepreneurs have learnt from the big names and created their own businesses.

in the form of shops they operate through their blogs.  These “blog shops” might sell anything from clothes and perfume to books and gadgets. The owners of these shops often run them in their spare time to supplement their income, but others have got so big they now have to work full time on them. The blog shop can be seen as the equivalent of an independent clothes shop, where each has a distinct character, unlike the larger online shopping sites which can be compared to the faceless chain shops found in every shopping mall.

Another exciting feature often seen in blog shops is ‘online sprees’, where items are only available for a short time before closing.  Online sprees are often used to sell items sourced in bulk from overseas, which means that the prices are great and that you can be certain you won’t find yourself in the same blouse as another girl in your area!

Finding blog shops is easy, there are many directories of them available via a quick search, and once you find a blog shop you like you will often find recommendations for ones with a similar ethos made by the owners themselves.

Jessica, 19, swears by the convenience of ‘blog shop hopping’ as she is much too busy with schoolwork to go window-shopping. She spends between half an hour and one hour every day perusing through shop links to find items she likes; this can be compared to the long hours she would otherwise spend in shopping malls. She also likes the fact she can save money: “I spend way more money shopping outside because I’d get hungry and buy lots of food as well”, quips Jessica. “Online shopping is much less of a hassle!”

Shopping Process

Buying from these shops is simple, you just need to click on whatever you want to buy, add up the total amount and postage fees, transfer payment through one a number of different modes of payment, and then just wait for the item to arrive at your doorstep a few days later.

Some shop owners also offer to meet up if the customer does not want to pay postage fees. Usually, the area where they meet would be specified by the shop owner.

Trust

Any form of online shopping should always be done with the utmost care, but most shopping communities now provide testimonials or ratings for sellers to prove their credibility and consistency in delivering. Bigger online shopping sites, such as Groupon, may also indicate the quantity of a particular item sold to give further reassurance to nervous buyers.

Nicole is 21 and has her own blog shop selling accessories and DIY costume jewellery items which she runs in her spare time to make a little extra money. She points out that the issue of trust goes both ways and she has sometimes had problems with customers: “Sometimes they order and give their details…but afterwards go missing! It is especially hard if it is an online spree and we are ordering from overseas,” she says.

However, even Nicole’s mother is a convert to the convenience and savings that can be made using online shopping. “At first she was sceptical, but now she hogs the computer even more than me! She will only buy from trustworthy sites, though, such as eBay and my blog!” she laughs.

Business is Booming 

Online shopping is changing the way people shop. No physical shop, big or small, is now without its own website, and many now only exist online. The advantages of online shopping for both customers and businesses are clear. Customers get the convenience of being able to shop from their own home at any time of the day or night, access to a countless number of shops, and search engines that help to find the best prices for any given product. Businesses get access to a much larger market, not just in their own street as it used to be, but nationally and even globally too.

If you have not tried it before, why not give it a go?