E-Commerce

My first time placing an online order was on 29th June via Zalora, one of the most popular fashion online stores. There were so many attractive pieces of clothes but erm, I resisted and bought only two. Haha. In Zalora, delivery is free if you purchase MYR 75 or above. Besides, you have the choice not to make online payment. They provide you the option to pay only the moment you received the products. Awesome right? And the delivery was fast, ranging from 24 hours to 72 hours (for Peninsular) only. Seeing that it was my first time purchasing dresses online, I didn't dare to order too much, it was around MYR 90 for the sake of free delivery. lol. Ever since I created an account, guess what? I have been receiving emails from Zalora everyday pertaining their latest promotion, their new dresses, or stocks calling for last call. I find it difficult to resist myself from clicking the links, know? And currently, I have five items on my wishlist. Haha.

Left: It is a fair pink dress. Sorry for the bad colour quality.
Right: It looks very formal with a blazer on. :)

Next, I ordered a book on 5th August via Amazon. I wanted a book so badly but it couldn't be found in both Popular Bookstore and MPH Bookstore. So in order to get it, I was advised to make an order directly to purchase from Amazon. The book itself costs only MYR 52.38, but guess how much is the delivery fee? The delivery fee is even more expensive than the value of the book, the author's effort! The shipping and handling fee was MYR 68.64. So in total, I paid MYR 121.02 for that particular book. Erm, you know what I kinda feel like saying? Unless you desperately needed a book so badly, or you can't proceed in your studies or venture into realizing your dreams/destiny (maybe too exaggerate already), think twice to buy books online especially when (i) the books can't be found in home country; (b) the delivery fee is even more expensive than the book itself! Though it was estimated that the book would arrive on 29th August, it managed to arrived on 22nd August right in front of the doorstep. :)

Top: The title of the book I bought.
Bottom left: An A3 envelope with a layer of air-cushioned film.
Bottom right: My purchasing receipt.

The next thing I bought was from Groupon. I'm not sure if you've heard of it, but it runs like an e-commerce portal too. There are many promotions which would end in a particular period of time. The idea of Groupon is that, when you buy in bulk, you would get it at a lower price. So, it gathers all the orders from the customers, when it reached the targeted quantity, Groupon would get the products from the sellers on behalf of the customers. If you are a business student, you must have heard of Michael Porter's Five Forces Model, which mentioned about the "bargaining power of buyers". Groupon kinda runs on this basis. The more order it got for a particular product, the more bargaining power it has to "negotiate" for the "best" price. 

The customized necklace I posted earlier was one of the example. The usual price was around MYR 158, but I bought it for MYR 100 (it could be cheaper if I didn't put any add-on). The same thing, this steamer for dry-wash clothes was bought for MYR 58 (including delivery fee). It took around 2 weeks to arrive. Erm, so far I'm not sure if the product is functioning, because it requires too much voltage and my dad said our sockets can't stand the pressure. So, maybe I would try it at my hostel and see if the hostel sockets could support it. I really wish to try because I do have some garments which must be dry-washed only.

Do you see the little red circle there?
Its the defect I found on the brush. Sigh!

Though E-Commerce is getting more popular each day as people started to accept the trend and trust the vendors, I myself still having the difficulties. First of all, let's talk about dresses. If you buy a particular dress online for, say MYR 58, and with the same price, you may find it in physical stores as well. Why don't you buy from the store, whereby, you could try it in the fitting room, see how you REALLY look like in a particular piece of garments, and if its quality is good and you feel good in it? You may even examine the entire garments carefully to make sure it has no defect, before paying for it. As contrast to online purchasing, all you see is the picture, you can't try or touch, you need to IMAGINE how you would look like in it. So, I think e-com is meant for those super duper busy workaholics. Next, as for Groupon, ya, we are buying at a cheaper price, so, perhaps we have no right to argue on the quality part? :(

All in all, I find purchasing books online still acceptable despite of the fact that, the delivery fee is more expensive than the book itself. lol. Ya, perhaps I was too desperate eh? As for purchasing other products, I think I'm a person who prefer to see and touch on my own in order to make a purchase. It feels safer and more secure, not to mention, you access the product first hand, you examine the quality yourself. No one could cheat on you. Right? If you still ended up buying a defective goods in a brick and mortar store, blame your poor judgement then. Ha

'Till next post, cheers :)