E-Commerce Industry is Thanking You for your Shopping ‘Habit’

 

Shopping or retail therapy is a good therapy for everyone, it won’t harm you (except your bank account or your dad/ partner) or anyone who has to ‘help’ you to shop. Be it offline or online shopping, shopping is one of the activities that gives you the opportunity to treat yourself after working or focusing on your own business.

A study published in the journal Psychology and Marketing revealed that shopping can improve a sour mood while another study from the Journal of Consumer Psychology found that retail therapy not only makes people happier immediately, but it can also fight lingering sadness or stress.

While retail therapy is an effective option to improve your mood temporarily, it’s not always the best coping mechanism. After all, you don’t have an endless supply of money (unless you do), and your problems seem constantly happening. The key word is always moderation!

But, of course retail therapy is not necessarily a bad thing..since people shop not only when they’re stressed out or sad, but when they have that urge or capacity to shop. Offline shopping? Yes, many people still do but online shopping is so much more convenient. You can’t deny the level of effortlessness it can be when it comes to online shopping.

Okay, let us understand the e-commerce trend in Malaysia first. Surprisingly (or not) the e-commerce market value in Malaysia amounted to 30.2 billion Malaysian ringgit in 2020. This was approximately a 24.8 percent increase compared to 2019 where the e-commerce value was at 24.2 billion Malaysian ringgit. Despite Covid-19 hitting the whole world, many Malaysians still do a lot of online shopping.

Shopping at the malls vs online shopping?

Easy! Convenient is the keyword to online shopping. Save time, save parking, hassle-free is one of the main reasons people nowadays love online shopping. You can be literally anywhere to shop provided you have your internet connection. The only thing is you need a little bit of patience to wait for your order to arrive.

Not everyone has the capacity to shop with a big sum of money (it’s all up to your definition of ‘big sum of money’). People love online shopping because you can buy the smallest thing online, it’s so cheap but the feeling of receiving the order from the delivery person still gives you the spark every time. Imagine, you can actually buy as small and as thin as a handphone screen protector. They will still wrap it and send it to your doorsteps or the guard house at your condos of course. For some people that are earning less compared to others, they will have the opportunity to buy anything small with a good price online, and still have the ‘feel’ of shopping.

Have you ever seen any Youtube videos on unboxing? Wonder why there are many content creators doing that kind of content? It’s because we actually love seeing other people unboxing whatever they shopped online. It seems like a simple act, but indeed very relaxing and satisfying for many people.

But, online shopping does have its cons side, especially to people who are more conservative and prefer to have the touch and feel of it, worry about the sizing, color etc…and also for ‘Boujie’ or upscale people that expects a full on service to enhance their shopping experience.

 

 

You tell me which team are you, #teamshoppingmall or #teamonlineshopping?

 

Or they will be another group of shopping people that enjoys both (me, me, me!). I love to shop at the shopping mall as much as going online, depending on what kind of items I want to buy and also the brand itself. I don’t mind buying groceries, electronics, clothing (depending on the brand that I’m used to) and furniture online. But, some other things like shoes, make-up, skincare etc, I want to have a look at it in-store. Generally, I’m quite flexible with either of it.

Enough about me, let me share a few small hacks you can actually support our e-commerce industry..also at the same time ensuring you’re not on the road to becoming broke.

 

5 Simple Hacks to Ensure you won’t go Broke with Shopping

 

1. Track your monthly spending
2. ‘Force’ yourself to put aside money for online shopping (just a tiny percentage will do, if you’re an avid shopper)
3. Resell your stuff in Marketplace once you’re bored or don’t feel like using it anymore
4. Try to shop during Sale period to get a good bargain (and make sure you really need the item)
5. Lastly, don’t spend the money that you don’t have (don’t borrow money from others if you can’t afford that thing)

So, let’s keep these 5 hacks in mind to save you from helping the e-commerce industry to become an alarming addiction.

Need more ideas & insights to grow your business, read WhyQ blog now.