There are many good reasons to shop online. Not only does online shopping allow you the convenience of shopping for what you need, when you need it, in the comfort of your own home,
There are many good reasons to shopping online in UAE. Not only does online shopping allow you the convenience of shopping for what you need, when you need it, in the comfort of your own home, but you can also compare prices, find discounts or check reviews instantaneously. And what you buy can be delivered right to your doorstep.
However, it can be overwhelming! How do you know which websites are legitimate? What about saving down your card details? Is it really that safe? And is it worth creating an online shopping account to complete your purchase – or will it result in millions of spam emails clogging up your inbox?
To help you safely navigate the endless aisles of online shopping, we’ve put together a handy guide on how to start shopping online.
Step 1 – Finding the right website and product
Knowing where to start can be the hardest part. The easiest way is to simply type the shop or the product you are looking for into your search bar. You should then get the best-matched results which you can click through to.
Alternatively, many search engines also have a handy ‘shopping’ feature that directly link to online stores selling the product you want. Not only can you compare prices within the search, you can also sometimes see how they rate for customer service.
Top tip: Make sure the websites you choose to visit for online shopping are secure. If you shop with more reputable brands, it’s likely their site is more secure. We also recommend checking if there is a ‘padlock’ icon in search bar and if the website address starts with HTTPS (the ‘S’ indicates that it is ‘secure’!). Additionally, check that the name of the web page does not contain spelling errors or strange characters.
Step 2 – Adding a product to your basket
So, you’ve done the hard work and found the item you’re looking for. From here you can select your quantity, colour or size, then add to your basket. Sometimes, purchasing multiple items or investing in a subscription can reduce your shipping costs. It’s worth investigating if you will need these items regularly.
Top tip: If you have your eye on an item but aren’t ready to purchase, many sites offer ‘wish list’ or ‘list’ functions which allow you to save down items until later.
Step 3 – Completing your purchase at checkout
Once you have added the item to your basket, you can proceed to ‘checkout’. Depending on the site you may need to set up an account using your email address. This is useful for regular purchases, such as groceries, as you can store your card and address details for a faster checkout next time you buy online. At this point, the site will guide you through the payment steps.
Top tip: With some shops you can use one-click-payments which means you just need to set it up, prove you are the right cardholder, and then you can shop online easily without the need to insert your card details every time.
