Has being "online" changed your buying habits?

fuzzybuddy

fuzzybuddy

SF VIP
Location
The Sticks, Northeast PA.
Well, if you're a member of this age group, once you had to drive to a mall and wander through Sears to buy stuff. And, if you're reading this, you're computer literate. So, you probably buy stuff online. What was the first thing you bought online? Are you buying more stuff online than in stores?
 

Sure. I buy stuff online. The first things I bought were so many years ago. But it was after 9/11 and there were so many rumors and fears circulating about anthrax attacks and medicine you could buy to protect yourself so that was one of my first online purchases over twenty years ago. I know I followed up with discontinued cosmetic items I liked. Eventually I branched out to buying lots online.
 

fuzzybuddy said:
What was the first thing you bought online? Are you buying more stuff online than in stores?
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:unsure: Hmmm.... well according to good ol' Amazon (which apparently keeps records forever!) the first thing I ever bought was a book for my daughter called The Last Silk Dress by Ann Rinaldi. A 14 year old girl wanted to support the Confederacy in the Civil War, so she collected silk dresses from ladies in Richmond. She made a balloon with them that was used to spy on the Yanks. ☺️

The book was bought in October of 1997 and my daughter was a newly turned 13 year old.
 
A regional grocery chain here has a web site. During lockdown I had ordered online for delivery. Now I use it to see what's available, see the weekly flyer (not mailed out any more), and check stock to see whether I can get an item at the nearby store or go to a larger one further away.
 
If I don't absolutely have to have it today, I'll buy it online and look for the guy in the big brown truck to throw it over the fence. Fresh food of course has to be bought at the grocery store in town.

Tons better product selection online, nothing worse than having to spend half the day driving around in the city, searching for a product that might not even be in stock, anywhere.
 
I can't even remember when I first started buying online, but do remember that it was around 1996 and that it was something electronic from Amazon. Friends were surprised that I'd buy online, but at Christmastime they scrambled aboard the online express!
 
Yesssss. Most of my purchases are done online. I personally love online shopping. It’s convenient with exceptional service. What’s not to like about it. I don’t have to deal with anyone.
 
Way back around 2001 was the first time I bought online but I think it was from Ebay .. I can't remember..

I buy all my groceries in store... I buy things online that would take me time to search for in Brick and mortar stores.. but overall I prefer to buy in stores, especially for clothing and shoes..

off to look at Amazon to search my history for the first thing I bought on there
 
The first time I bought anything on Amazon according to my search history was December 2007...almost exactly 16 years ago... and it was a Hardback book...
Sepulchre by Kate Mosse

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I prefer to do my shopping in local stores but Covid/arthritis/hip replacement put paid to that for a couple of years so I had to do online shopping. I've just had a look on my Amazon account and the first item(s) I purchased were 4 x Percy the Park Keeper books in 2008 then Teletubbies bath island and Teletubby telephone.....not for me I hasten to add. ;) I was looking after my young grandson at the time.
 
If my buying habits are judged by my Amazon purchases, I started buying on line around 2008, but didn't really go "full steam ahead" until about 2012. It escalated at an alarming rate after that! 😵‍💫
 
CallMeKate said:
Looks good! Do you recommend it? I've been wanting to try some new authors. @hollydolly
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if you're thing is good old fashioned historical novels, you'll enjoy that book...

I noticed that for the first 4 years after I first bought from Amazon.. that almost every purchase was a hard back book. I only bought about 5 times a year.. but at the time I was working hard and had stopped having the time to get to the library
 
My shopping is done locally first. If I can’t find it here, then I check Amazon.

My history shows that I bought three bridge books in 2010.

Many years ago I bought a pair of Birkenstocks online. Definitely knockoffs. They were so hard I couldn’t wear them. In the early 2000s I bought a camera from an online Camera shop. I knew what I wanted and couldn’t get it locally.

I average about a dozen online orders per year. The availability is appreciated. When we couldn’t shop easily in grocery stores during the pandemic, I took advantage of the service and it’s nice to know it’s still available.
 
I now buy almost everything online. My husband (typical man who hates wandering around a store shopping) will take me, but I know he does not enjoy it, and he worries about me going by myself. So, what I do now is take all the time I want shopping online and then Amazon or Walmart delivers. I have Walmart+, so we get free delivery.
I miss just shopping at the grocery store, especially for produce. the last head of cauliflower they brought me was mot much larger than an orange (no kidding !), so I much prefer to pick out my own fresh items.
Sometimes, we do go to Aldi’s and they have good fresh produce, and it does not take a long time just to buy produce and it is on the way home from the fitness center, so okay with Hubby.

I love Amazon Warehouse, and you can find almost anything there in like new condition , and about half-price, which definitely works better with my frugal budget.
 
My Amazon history doesn't show how far back I started purchasing from them, for some strange reason. I started using Amazon several years ago. It is a very convenient way to shop.
 
I remember the first thing I bought online was on EBay because I was so pleased with it and that it was even possible to do it. It was handmade covers for paperback books. I paid for it with PayPal. It took about a week for it to arrive in the mail and I wasn’t sure I would actually get it.
 
I no longer visit stores. And I mean, at all. I've no use for them. Honestly, what stores would I even want to visit? I'm a man of simple pleasures. I'd visit music stores to buy my music. Grocery stores, obviously. I buy online and find it much better.
 

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