Ever since the social-networking giant was launched, it has become a major part and parcel of our lives. Be it staying in touch with friends, sharing pictures, or using it as a platform to promote something, Facebook is an obvious choice. However, lately, it is also being used for another unlikely purpose --- shopping.
Yes, the advertisements that are displayed on the right-hand side of the FB page have joined the list of things that are most visited. It not only makes shopping a lot easier, but also provides us with a host of offers that we probably wouldn’t be able to find in a store.
Agreeing with this is Dipika Datta, a student from the city, and also a regular online shopper. “Shopping online saves me a lot of travelling time, because it provides a wider variety of choice, plus shop-hopping is not my cup of tea. Also, the advertisements on Facebook are great --- there are a lot of offers available. There are some that are offered at flat 50 per cent or lesser than the market rate. I definitely visit those sites. Recently I came across this site called chumbak.com on FB. And after browising through it, I picked a tin-jewellery gift box for my friend which some catchy quotes on it. It not only saved me the travel time, but my friend simply loved the present.”
While this was Dipika’s story, another online shopper Neha Sahani, shares, “I love shopping after having a look at those ads on Facebook. They have really nice offers. However, I avoid buying clothes because of size issues. And, it is not just me who gets influenced looking at these advertisements. My dad, sister and brother also end up buying various products.”
It may come as a surprise that it is not just women, but even men, who spend hours surfing through different sites and buying stuff. One such online shopper is Vinod Achanta, an entrepreneur. He says, “I think that the advertisements on Facebook are more than an influence on me. I buy everything online. Right from phones, gadgets, to clothes also sometimes. Facebook is a good market place and we get good deals.”
While Vinod spends his time in a productive manner by not only looking through, but also purchasing online, Subhash Moitra, a chemical engineer likes to be cautious while he shops online.
“I do check out the ads on FB but, I’ve never shopped from there, because I don’t trust them. There’s a lot of money involved, so I’m very careful where I shop from. I have a list of websites I trust and I shop from there only. But, there’s no harm in checking stuff out right? So I like going through the FB ads.”
Most people may have their reasons to buy stuff off the net, but Tanushree Ghosh, a research student from the city, finds Facebook ads creepy. Ask her why and she recalls an incident, “Once I was looking for Baggit bags online. After that, when I signed into Facebook, there were ads related to just bags. I was so creeped out by it. It’s something I’ve noticed many number of times. I mind that I am being monitored on a social media website.”
Well, whether one minds it or not, Facebook with its monitoring, is only going to make shopping online more popular and online shoppers couldn’t be more happier.