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I'd rather not! Give me a brick and mortar store over online shopping any time

 

So, I finally bit the bullet. After resisting for years on end, I succumbed to the lure of buying clothes online – but only because the website of one of my go-to stores had much better merchandise available than that on offer at its physical stores. So, I clamped down on my doubts and went click, click, click, and then waited with bated breath for delivery.

 

And how did it go, you ask? 

 

Well, it wasn’t entirely an unmixed blessing. I tried on all the dresses that I had ordered, but even though they were ostensibly the same size, they all fitted differently. Some were perfect for my size, some were loose, and some others were tight – go figure! Some looked exactly as advertised on the site; others were nothing like the images that I had clicked on. Some of the fabrics were soft and smooth while some others were rough and harsh.

 

Let’s just say I had a 50 per cent success rate, with just half the outfits being keepers. The others had to be returned, but no matter how hard I tried to do so online, I could not crack the system. Eventually, I conceded defeat and carried the rejects to the brick-and-mortar store to return them and ask for store credit.

 

So, given that my first attempt wasn’t quite a hundred per cent success, would I do it again? To tell you the truth, I am conflicted on this one. I cannot lie, there is something truly addictive about being able to buy something by just clicking on an icon on your phone. There is a dopamine rush that comes from that sense of having an entire world of possibilities literally at your fingertips.

 

And yet, the process lacks the element of instant gratification. After paying your dues, you have to wait for a couple of days for your merchandise to arrive. And this is quite unlike the thrill of paying for something in a shop and walking right out with it.

 

Then, there is the whole thing about touch and feel. Shopping for clothes is essentially a tactile act. You run your hands over the contents of shelves, you riffle through racks, you rub a fabric between your fingers, you slip on a dress in the changing room to see how it falls – and feels – on your body.

 

You can’t do any of this when you are shopping for clothes online. Instead, you have to rely on images in which the outfits are shown on willowy bodies that bear no resemblance to your own. You have to imagine how they will work on your less than perfect frame – and then hope to God that you got it right.

 

Perhaps that was why I reverted back to type on my last trip abroad. I went to the physical store of the same brand I had ordered online from in India. And then, I went totally old school. I picked up a collection of clothes, tried them on, rejected some, kept some, and then kept repeating the process till I had all I was looking for.

 

And you know what? It felt great! So, I guess you have my answer. Online shopping for clothes? Yes, at a crunch. But proper shops are where it’s at, as far as I am concerned.