It’s that time of the year when people are looking to buy gifts for their loved ones. Are you going to buy some nice fitness gear for that exercise addict or gym bunny in your life? Do you really enjoy shopping in an actual physical store, though? Does anyone really? There are a lot of crowds in the late autumn through to early wintertime. Do you really fancy waiting in a queue? If you value your time and get too easily annoyed at other people, you may want to avoid shopping offline completely. Especially as most stores offer online ordering now.
Online shopping is not a completely perfect option, especially not if you do it the traditional way.
Downsides of Online Shopping
The standard form of shopping online is an incredibly convenient and faster way to get the products you want, particularly at the busiest times of the year. However, it is not without its flaws. For one thing, with many retailers, you need to pay a delivery charge. While this may not be a lot for little things, the cost does reduce the savings you were trying to make by shopping online.
Still on the subject of deliveries, for many people, it is definitely most convenient to have orders delivered directly to their door. What if you are not at home all the time and you need to book a specific delivery slot. Well, you probably already know that this adds to the overall cost even more.
Even if you can choose a day and pay a little extra for the privilege, for many retailers, you really can’t pick a specific time slot. Unless you are buying large furniture or white goods.
Is There An Alternative?
Fortunately, there is a great alternative to buying online, that doesn’t necessarily mean you need to wander around the store trying to find that fitness equipment you are after. What is the alternative? A UK click and collect service. This is like the best of both worlds – a kind of middle ground between shopping fully online and shopping at the store. You order your stuff online, say through the Tesco click and collect service and then book a time that’s suitable for you to go down to the store and pick it up.
Tesco is a great option if you are looking for gloves and other fitness accessories.
Why Go To The Trouble?
Although it seems a bit more involved than the home delivery option, click and collect eliminates many of the downsides to shopping online. There’s no delivery charge for anything you buy, you can be sure it will be looked after properly during transit and because you need to book a time to collect it, you don’t need to wait around or stay at home for a painfully long time window.
Along with the fitness gear, you might be looking to buy, you could also order a shop online and collect that at the same time, killing two birds with one stone, so to speak.