Business / Companies
Time for Zimbabweans to embrace online shopping stores, especially local ones
11 Jun 2016 at 08:00hrs | Views
Screenshot: www.sethule.com
With consumer habits projected to change in the near future on the African continent and shoppers in other advanced economies already used to online stores for buying anything from books, pizza to cameras it is about time for Zimbabweans also adopt this habit. This is especially important when the online store is one created and hundred percent owned by a fellow Zimbabwean like Cheng Thamsanqa Ncube's www.sethule.com online shop. This online shop sells a variety of goods ranging from electronic gadgets, beauty & health products, computer games, men and women's clothing and much, much more.
Advantages of online shops are many and varied and include but are not limited to the following.
1. Saves Time.
If like most people you work from Monday to Friday, then you probably don't have enough time on a half day Saturday to visit all the physical stores you want to visit. Shopping online allows you to buy things without putting more pressure on your schedule. Just a couple of clicks on a user friendly website like www.sethule.com and you have bought what you need.
2. Convenience
Linked to the above point shopping online is a convenient way of doing your shopping. There is no need to get dressed, to get on a kombi to your favourite mall. You can easily visit a website on your smartphone, find the products you want and buy them without getting out of the house. Online stores are also convenient because they're 'open' 24/7, 365 days of the year hence you don't need to wait for the store doors to open for you to shop as you would at a mall.
3. Cheaper Prices
A majority of online stores offer lower prices than what you would find at a conventional physical store. There are reasons for this. The first is that many people use the Internet to find cheaper items. Online shops business owners like Cheng Thamsanqa Ncube understand this hence they will usually reduce their profit margins to get more customers.
Another reason is, you can easily browse through dozens of different websites to find the best price. The same can be done at a mall, but takes hours longer and more energy and you may end up not finding what you want exactly.
Another reason for cheaper prices is less overheads that online shops have. Many consumers don't realise that the prices they pay for products they buy at a mall include the expensive mall rentals, employee salaries and other basic business expenses like transportation of the goods to the shop. Online shops don't have as many overheads costs hence they can afford to charge their customers lower prices.
4. Variety of products
Most conventional physical stores have a limited variety of products. This is because they can only hold so many products owing to limitations of actual physical space they have. Shopping online on websites like www.sethule.com allows you to find many products that you wouldn't be able to find in just one physical store. On an online shop website you can buy products that usually don't logically go together like beauty products and electronic products.
5. No impulse buying
Physical stores are made to entice you into buying more things. Sales assistants, posters, sales messages, colours and clever product placement are some of the traps used to make you buy additional items. The most bought products like bread and meat are typically in the back because the shop owner wants you to view all of his or her other products. Many people will have picked up a few additional items they didn't plan on buying by the time they reach the thing they came in for. These guerilla marketing tactics are not used in online stores. This means when shopping online you won't feel the pressure to buy other things except for those you that want to buy.
6. Discreet Shopping
Any guy who has ever bought condoms knows how daunting and embarrassing the experience usually is even when you're buying condoms watched even by strangers. This is because conventional physical stores often make it difficult to buy certain items without bringing the attention of other shoppers onto yourself. For women, buying sexy lingerie without getting a few awkward stares is impossible.
Shopping online gives you privacy because you won't have people looking at you while doing your shopping on your computer or smartphone. Not only that, but the boxes used when your products are being delivered at your home are made to be plain so that no one will know what you bought. Not even the nosy, prying neighbours will not know what you bought.
So if you want to save time and money buying recognisable top quality brands like Samsung, Canon, Boss, Gucci, Guess, Lenovo, Sony, etc while at the same time supporting a business started by a fellow Zimbabwean from Bulawayo the city of Kings and Queens head to the www.sethule.com website for a pleasant experience. What is even better is that, unlike other online shops that require you to pay upfront for products that haven't been physically delivered Mr Ncube says with his online shop you pay when your products are delivered so there is no chance of you being duped.
Velempini Ndlovu is a freelance writer and photographer based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He can be contacted on 0824407756 or veapndlovu@gmail.com
Advantages of online shops are many and varied and include but are not limited to the following.
1. Saves Time.
If like most people you work from Monday to Friday, then you probably don't have enough time on a half day Saturday to visit all the physical stores you want to visit. Shopping online allows you to buy things without putting more pressure on your schedule. Just a couple of clicks on a user friendly website like www.sethule.com and you have bought what you need.
2. Convenience
Linked to the above point shopping online is a convenient way of doing your shopping. There is no need to get dressed, to get on a kombi to your favourite mall. You can easily visit a website on your smartphone, find the products you want and buy them without getting out of the house. Online stores are also convenient because they're 'open' 24/7, 365 days of the year hence you don't need to wait for the store doors to open for you to shop as you would at a mall.
3. Cheaper Prices
A majority of online stores offer lower prices than what you would find at a conventional physical store. There are reasons for this. The first is that many people use the Internet to find cheaper items. Online shops business owners like Cheng Thamsanqa Ncube understand this hence they will usually reduce their profit margins to get more customers.
Another reason is, you can easily browse through dozens of different websites to find the best price. The same can be done at a mall, but takes hours longer and more energy and you may end up not finding what you want exactly.
Another reason for cheaper prices is less overheads that online shops have. Many consumers don't realise that the prices they pay for products they buy at a mall include the expensive mall rentals, employee salaries and other basic business expenses like transportation of the goods to the shop. Online shops don't have as many overheads costs hence they can afford to charge their customers lower prices.
Most conventional physical stores have a limited variety of products. This is because they can only hold so many products owing to limitations of actual physical space they have. Shopping online on websites like www.sethule.com allows you to find many products that you wouldn't be able to find in just one physical store. On an online shop website you can buy products that usually don't logically go together like beauty products and electronic products.
5. No impulse buying
Physical stores are made to entice you into buying more things. Sales assistants, posters, sales messages, colours and clever product placement are some of the traps used to make you buy additional items. The most bought products like bread and meat are typically in the back because the shop owner wants you to view all of his or her other products. Many people will have picked up a few additional items they didn't plan on buying by the time they reach the thing they came in for. These guerilla marketing tactics are not used in online stores. This means when shopping online you won't feel the pressure to buy other things except for those you that want to buy.
6. Discreet Shopping
Any guy who has ever bought condoms knows how daunting and embarrassing the experience usually is even when you're buying condoms watched even by strangers. This is because conventional physical stores often make it difficult to buy certain items without bringing the attention of other shoppers onto yourself. For women, buying sexy lingerie without getting a few awkward stares is impossible.
Shopping online gives you privacy because you won't have people looking at you while doing your shopping on your computer or smartphone. Not only that, but the boxes used when your products are being delivered at your home are made to be plain so that no one will know what you bought. Not even the nosy, prying neighbours will not know what you bought.
So if you want to save time and money buying recognisable top quality brands like Samsung, Canon, Boss, Gucci, Guess, Lenovo, Sony, etc while at the same time supporting a business started by a fellow Zimbabwean from Bulawayo the city of Kings and Queens head to the www.sethule.com website for a pleasant experience. What is even better is that, unlike other online shops that require you to pay upfront for products that haven't been physically delivered Mr Ncube says with his online shop you pay when your products are delivered so there is no chance of you being duped.
Velempini Ndlovu is a freelance writer and photographer based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He can be contacted on 0824407756 or veapndlovu@gmail.com
Source - Velempini Ndlovu
