A group of girls are engrossed in their phone. They are browsing their phone with great excitement. They are hooked up on “online shopping” and browsing the company's products and services, viewing photos of the products, along with information about the product specifications, features and prices.
Various online shopping websites such as Alibaba, Amazon.com, eBay, Myntra and B-bay-buying and selling are increasingly becoming popular among the buyers.
Online shopping has a wider range of choices as buyers can compare different brands and products. They can buy things through screen at home instead of going to a shop. A student, Sonam Pema said, “More and more people are unwilling to go out since they have an alternative which is more easeful.” She added that online shopping is convenient, timesaving and have multiple choices and higher satisfaction for the customers.
“Online shopping is a quicker and cheaper way to shop since we can buy products at home without having to go to stores or shopping malls,” said Dorji Penjor. He added that Amazon and eBay are two popular sites that provide a huge number of different products, and they can visit those sites and purchases easily. “Usually, the things are much cheaper than ones in shop in Thimphu,” he said.
On the other hand, online shopping has negative impacts in several ways in society. Shopping addiction is caused by uncontrollable regular habits. Especially, when one can buy stuffs from a device as simple as your phone.
Due to increasing numbers of online shoppers, shopkeepers in Thimphu are facing difficulty selling their goods.
“The first drawback is that we cannot try products before making a purchase but people are enjoying online shopping,” said Pema Dema, a sales girl. She added that products sold online are often less reliable, and the product that people gets delivered to their house might have a poorer quality than expected.
“Its threat to us,” said Aum Sonam. She was selling shoes near the vegetable market. “My business was running successfully and I used to get more money than its actual price, when there was no business called “online shopping,” she said. She added that she is not able to sale a pair of shoes sometimes. “I am trying to open a new website (online shopping) for my business,” she said.
A simple survey of a 20 shopkeepers showed that almost all the shops experienced impact in their business due to online shopping. Among them, at least 50 percent admitted feeling angry and even hatred towards this kind of facilities (online shopping).
A shopkeeper, Ap Dorji, who sell cloths in town said, “People are addicted in shopping because they want to satisfy their eyes and look for clothes in good prize.” He added that he is not able to sell his goods and run his business properly. “Online shopping is easier and cheaper, so that people tend to buy too much, which would lead to waste of money,” he said.
There are other who realized that the online shopping is products that displayed online are often attractive and the product that people get to their house have a less quality. Karma Wangchuk, 23, said that he stopped buying things online because the qualities of things are not good. “I brought LG television from online shopping but now it is not working,” he said.
A corporate employee pointed out that there is loss of revenue to the government from online shopping. “I don't know if they pay tax at all. It is revenue leakage,” he said adding that the government should start looking into it.
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