How much do you shop online? Most of us are now getting used to the ease of clicking “add-to cart” and then getting on with our day. I’m in two minds about it: part of me loves to browse stores, however, only little boutique style stores, not huge mega malls – it’s also depressing to see how many mom & pop stores are the first to go.
I live really near to an adorable “village” in Los Angeles, where the neighborhood has taken great pains to protect their retail commerce of this old-fashioned boulevard by limiting the amount of chain stores, and encouraging the community to support the tiny bookstore and toy shop. The main boulevard is thriving because families want to enjoy a shopping “experience” where they can browse, have a coffee and bump into people you know. Books may be a little more expensive than on Amazon, but you get to chat to the owner who really knows her books and her customers – you also get the satisfaction of knowing you are supporting a small business and that hopefully your kids will get to browse an actual bookstore in years to come.
I shop online more than I used to for two very important reasons: first and foremost is the time-saving aspect. Being a busy working mom, it’s so convenient to be able to do my shopping in 15 minutes before my daughter even wakes up. A good example is that I took my dog for a teeth cleaning session today at the local pet store – the teeth cleaning lady said that my Maltese (with horribly rotten teeth due to a horrible past life,) needed to take a pet supplement (co-enzyme Q10). The pet store didn’t have any so I wound up driving to two other stores to no avail. When I got home, I opened my computer and realized that I could have saved almost an hour of my precious time if I’d thought to do this in the first place.
The second important reason is that it’s surprisingly more eco-friendly to shop online than drive to the mall. Even with all the packaging and returns, studies have concluded that if you opt for ground-shipping, shopping from the comfort of your computer will leave a much lighter footprint.
The other huge advantage is obviously the money-saving aspect. Many online retailers now waive sales tax and shipping to entice you in and if you spend a little time searching for promotional and coupon-codes, and just regular coupons, the savings can really add up. You can also visit sites like Price Watch to compare prices without having to drive around.
The great news is that there are now so many wonderful eco-friendly online stores, where you can purchase items that you would typically have to trawl the city to find. I love Abe’s Market, Etsy, Organic Divas, Word of Good , Mighty Nest – to name just a few. You can also follow me on Open Sky where I curate a collection of hand-picked products (yummy skin care etc) and if you follow me you get immediate notice of flash sales where you can get up to 50% off.
My one caveat however, which is for someone like me who can lose a good hour browsing online shoe stores, is that I have to time myself because online shopping can be downright addictive. When in need of a little retail therapy, the thought of having to get all dolled up to go to the store could easily put me off in the past, but to be able to sit with a nice cup of tea and visit one of my fave stores at the click of a key, hmmmmm – very dangerous!
