Since the advent of online stores in Nigeria, it seems like you can buy pretty much anything online:electronics, kitchenware, household aplliances...you name it. But just exactly how much has online shopping helped those that need to buy clothes and accesories?



The Up Side:



That shopping online has it's advantages is no lie at all. The convenience of shopping from your bedroom/sitting room/dining table/toilet seat is a huge incentive for ditching the waka-waka round Balogun market or Mandilas where you'll constantly get tugged and pulled by traders insisting that all their ware fit you perfectly. You just boot up your computer/mobile phone, go online, make an order and bam-voila! you have it delivered to you at home without having to tell Chukwudi and Iya Ramota that you really don't want to see where their stores are.



Asides that is the fact that shopping online for clothes usually means you get original items; usually, not always. When purchasing goods from reputable online retailers like Konga.com or , they would feel a bit compelled to give you the best of quality clothes so that you don't tarnish their image on twitter after that shirt you bought two days ago ends up with a long slit down the middle where it got hooked while you were trying to get off a Danfo bus. Most times, you find brand names such as Nike, Addidas, Longines (for lovers of wristwatches) and the like online and these top class online retailers do sometimes deal direcly with the brand. You'll be more hard put to find such in the market where the likes of "Kine", "Aioiads", "Guggi" and the likes of them stare down at you from the rafters of roadside stalls.

The Downside



Cost. Seriously, have you checked out the cost of clothes on Jumia and Konga? It's almost prohibitive and you wonder just how many clothes you can buy with that same amount of money if you took the stress of bussing it to Balogun market. I understand that they want to sell quality but i'm sure there's something like affordable quality. Except they're trying to target the rich and famous with their clothes, they might just want to cut down the prices of some clothes. Haba, shey the clothes were sewn with silver or gold thread ni?



Still on cost is the fact that out in the market, you can actually haggle the price of an item you want to buy to suit your pocket. As you are physically there with the seller to purchase the product, you can try to reason with them to consider you and you can even get discounts for purchasing several items at once.



There's also the variety factor. If one store doesn't have the item you want to buy or the price is not favourable, you can simply move on to the next one and purchase your item there. However, when you think of the number of online stores that you can actually trust, you come up with a pretty limited shortlist. Infact, right now in Naija, online shopping is limited to Jumia and Konga....I heard of one named Kaymu but I think it's affiliated to Jumia. Asides the store variety factor, there's the item variety to think of as well. Say you want to buy a pair of jeans or chinos,,,fact is, it's less likely that an online store would have a wide range of choices as compared with an actual store....and even if the store doesn't have what you want, again, store variety, you move on to another. Between 3-4 stores, you'll find what you want.



And say okay, you don't want to haggle over prices and don't want to have to wash off the finger stains that you get from people pulling you towards their stores. Or you really don't want to undergo the stress of meandering through a crowded market to purchase just a scarf or a pair of jeans. Well, there's a solution for that too: offline stores at shopping malls. I'm sure the name "Mr Price" is no longer news to anybody's ears that have been to any of the major shopping malls across Lagos (and the rest of the country). Then there's Peps, a store I only recently cam across in Surulere, Lagos and got to learn that they have branches across the city. Stores like this offer the stress free experience of online shopping while you can actually get to see and even test the item you are about to buy. Which brings us to another issue: fitting.



At offline stores, you can actually size and even try out clothes you want to buy, so when you leave, you're sure you have something that actually fits you and if it doesn't you know where to go back to. Just imagine you purchase a shirt online and it's delivered to your home, only to find out it's two sizes too big and would more likely to fit that your fat cousin and not you. Now you certainly wouldn't want to give out a shirt you bought for thousands of naira to your cousin...you have to return it. Returning it would take time and even if you don't want the item again, getting a refund is another issue entirely.



Our Verdict



Balogun market, all the way!!!! (ehn, maybe Mr Price too)

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