Online shopping is convenient but nothing beats bricks and mortar stores

Online shopping is very easy to do but nothing beats bricks and mortar store. This is how you can easily get caught out when ordering up online.

ONLINE shopping can be a curse if you end up with an item that isn’t quite right.

It’s made me realise that nothing beats bricks and mortar stores when it comes to buying shoes and clothes.

I went on the hunt for a new pair of heels this month, and after scouring the internet I found a patent black pair that would do me just fine.

But the difference in price between buying them online versus in the shop was nearly $60, so I was left with two choices.

1) Wander into the city, spend $160 and get the heels from a bricks and mortar store or:

2) Get the exact same pair online and direct from the label itself for $102, postage included.

I decided to save some money and go with option 2.

But this is where it all came unstuck.

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Buying shoes can be tricky, different brands have different sizing so I decided to chance it.

I’m between a size 8 and an 8.5 so I went with the bigger size and thought I’d be fine.

Within a few minutes I’d ordered the shoes and they were dispatched from Sydney within hours.

A couple of days later they arrived at my Melbourne workplace and I was a happy little camper until I tried them on.

Online shopping doesn’t always end up being easier and cheaper to do.

I was swimming in them. They were way too big.

I knew it, I should have gone the 8.

So reading through the terms and conditions of the purchase I had no choice but to return the shoes for either a full refund or exchange.

And I had to cough up the cost of shipping to send them back, which is fair enough.

I trotted off to the post office that day and after spending $18 I posted the items back from Melbourne to Sydney via registered postage and requested the smaller size.

In the end the time spent swapping the shoes, paying for the additional postage to return the item and waiting for the replacement to arrive, I reckon it would have been far less painful to buy them from a bricks and mortar store in the first place.

But to save about 37 per cent of the total price I decided to go the cheaper option and ended up getting caught out.

In saying that, I’m still going to be about $40 better off by going through the arduous process.

But it comes down to this simple fact — when buying clothes and shoes nothing beats trying them on instore and walking out with the right item on the spot.

There’s no denying Australians are addicted to online shopping and it’s coming at the cost of bricks and mortar retailers, but this brought home to me why we need to support these stores.

They still offer the customer service that ordering online cannot do and, in the end, if it means paying a bit more I think it’s worth it.

@sophieelsworth